How to be a Cookbook Photographer with Kara Blake Chin

Kara Blake Chin is a food photographer and graphic designer for brands in the food industry. She recently sat down with me to share her experience photographing cookbooks! I loved how generous Kara was with sharing helpful tips for new food photographers, or anyone who is new to cookbook photography. She also has such an encouraging perspective on appreciating your growth as an entrepreneur, so listen at the end for that. You can watch the full interview on my YouTube channel, and the interview highlights are written in the notes below!

A cookbook that you photographed, Middle Eastern Delights, was recently released! How did you get into cookbook photography?

Kara: “The project came about pretty unexpectedly actually. I never thought that I would be doing a cookbook like this at this stage in my career, my business. I thought it’d be like 5 or 10 years down the road. But actually the publishers approached me. Partially, it was due to my location to the author. So I actually photographed the Middle Eastern Delights and then I photographed another book that comes out in September. Both last year. And both of them are local authors to me. I think knowing that I had a strong portfolio and that I was close enough to the authors where I could easily travel. There are a lot of photographers in the Bay Area, but that’s kind of a longer distance to travel. It can be upwards of two hours one way depending on traffic. So I think it was a combination of definitely luck, and a good strong website, SEO, strong portfolio, all those things.”

What do you think the difference is, if any, with photographing a cookbook versus when you’re photographing and you share it on your blog or on social media?

Kara: “I think there are definitely similarities and differences. Photos that were in cookbooks have been shared on social media, but the intention is for them to be in print. With social media, you could take a photo with your phone. But with print, I remember in the contract they said specifically, no phone photography. It had to be with a professional camera. ‘Cause of resolution.”

Photo Resolution for Social Media vs. Cookbooks

Kara: “Photographing for print is definitely different than photographing for social media where it tends to be larger, and with social media, it tends to be compressed. With print, you’re looking at something that’s letter size paper – larger or around that size. So you need to make sure that those shots are the right resolution. Having enough pixels to be able to print well. They have very specific specifications you have to meet when photographing for cookbooks. So definitely not shooting where you’re too zoomed out – if you end up cropping in, you don’t have enough resolution to work with. You also don’t want to be too zoomed in where you don’t have enough to crop to work with. Having a design background helped with understanding those print specifications.”

Trends vs. Timeless Storytelling

Kara: “Also in social media, you can be a little bit more experimental or try things out. Whereas in the cookbook they are looking for images that are gonna be slightly more evergreen. They required the food to be in focus and that had to be the main subject. Whereas in social media you could be a little bit more open in terms of how you wanna tell that story.”

What’s your favorite part of the cookbook photography process?

Kara: “Photographing it is definitely up there! It’s really cool to go in and it’s a blank slate, and then at the end of the day you have this image that you’ve crafted along with the author to try to showcase that dish the best. I also am really fond of the editing process. I think that also provides another creative edge, that just photographing doesn’t allow. So editing is a really good way for photographers to express their individual style as well.”

Do you have to cook and style food for a cookbook photoshoot yourself, or do people/the author come and help you with that?

Kara: “It really depends on what type of cookbook project you’re on. There’s some where, if you think of like big names like Ina Garten or Martha Stewart, there’s huge teams that are putting together that book. They’re gonna have food stylists, assistants, lighting people, the author, the photographer, all those sorts of people. The ones I did tended to be smaller publications, so it was just me and the author. I also have developed styling over the years as well. So what happened was the author cooked everything and then I ended up styling and photographing everything.”

What was the hardest part of photographing a cookbook?

Kara: “Some dishes are definitely challenging. Things like ice cream – ice cream is very time sensitive. There’s a certain point where you gotta add ice cream in, then it starts to melt. So you gotta be on your toes and photograph super fast. There are other desserts where you pour something on it and then afterwards it’s ruined you could say. So then you either have to start with a new slice or be happy with what you have. So yeah, doing those more time sensitive photo shoots can be kind of stressful.

Choosing the photos can be hard as well. At the end of the photo shoot you usually have a bunch to choose from, but you wanna make sure that you’re not repeating the same composition or the same styling and making sure that it flows well. So it can be tricky, you have your favorites, but sometimes they don’t make the book.”

You’re also a graphic designer! How has being a designer helped you as a photographer?

Kara: “Having an understanding of how a book is laid out and how photos will interact with the text helps. For example, on the cover you’re gonna have to have the title and the author’s name. So making sure you’re leaving enough white space for that in the composition, but also making sure it looks natural. In addition, having just a understanding of print and file setup is really important. And you know, the different color systems – for web, it’s always gonna be RGB, but then for print it’s going to be a CMYK color system. And then just a general knowledge of color theory and composition always helps.”

If someone is new to food photography, where do you recommend they start?

Learn how to capture light using your phone camera

Kara: “Photography in general can be intimidating because you’re like Canon, Nikon, Sony…which camera to choose, what is the difference? There’s a lot of technical terms to sift through. And then also our phones take pretty good photos. So I think starting off with understanding, what is good light? Photography is capturing light. I think sometimes people forget that because we have a camera on the back of our phone and we carry it around in our pocket all the time. For food especially, lighting food is different from lighting other things. So finding a soft window light and placing that to the side of your food, you can start there.

Lighting Tip: use soft window light, and avoid any competing light sources

With a source of window light, make sure that any overhead lights or ambient lights are turned off so there’s not contrasting shadows or colors as well. It’s just one source of light that you’re working with. Because I think you’ll be a little bit frustrated if you’re like, ‘I don’t understand why this isn’t working.’ And it might be because you also have another light on as well and that’s interfering with your subject and the shadows.

Our kitchens are often really horrible for food photography because they tend to have overhead lights and you don’t want overhead light for food. Usually it doesn’t cast great shadows. So it can be natural to say, ‘I’m in my kitchen and I wanna photograph food.’ But usually, moving to another room or another space where you have better light will will improve your food photography like immensely.

Learn how to use a camera in manual mode

If you wanted to move into learning how to photograph with a camera, it is really switching from just using it in automatic mode to using manual mode and mastering that so you can be flexible and get the shots that you want and be able to work in any sort of environment that you like to.”

Any tips for getting better at food styling?

Kara: “So if I’m really wanting to food style something, I have break it down layer by layer. So let’s say it’s like a three layer cake or something like that. Making sure all those cake layers are even, the amount of frosting in between each layer is the same. And then when it gets to the outside of the cake, doing a crumb coat. Then, when you do the final coat of frosting, it’s deciding, ‘Do I want it to be smooth? Do I want it to look more rustic?’ And then decorating it however is relevant to whatever the story I’m trying to tell.

Plating & Props

Some of it comes down to the plateware. There are people out there who are prop stylists, that’s what their job is to find the props that fit whatever the the subject or the client. Sometimes plates are extremely reflective – that could be hard. Or they have a pattern, and it doesn’t match the dessert or whatever you’re trying to showcase. So you can always try styling food on something that’s not plateware. For example, a crumple bit of craft paper or rack or something. See if that changes up how you feel about the dessert. You can keep the food how it is naturally and it’s just really up to the surface that you’re photographing it on.”

What’s the best piece of encouragement that you’ve received about entrepreneurship?

Kara: “The best piece I would say is there’s always gonna be ups and downs in our entrepreneurial career. I mean, high highs and low lows. But if you zoom out and just think back like where you were 1, 2, 3, 5 years ago and like say, ‘Oh I really made progress on that.’ Or, you know, my design’s better, my photography’s better. I think as long as you’re improving. It can be easy to be stuck in the moment that we are in and wish we were somewhere else.

Working for yourself, the workflow is not as constant as perhaps it would be in a full-time job. There might be slow periods and there might be busy periods. But I think sitting in those times and enjoying it and being grateful for where you are is always helpful as well. ‘Cause I don’t know about you, but sometimes when it’s slow I wish it was busy. And when it’s busy, I wish I was slow.”

Connect with Kara

Kara Blake Chin is a graphic designer and food photographer based in Sacramento, CA.

Instagram: @karablakechin

Website: karablakechin.com