Instagram was once a medium to showcase snippets of your life, and share them with your friends. While those kinds of “Instagrammers” still exist, more and more foodies are taking over the Insta-scene with quality, professional food photos that make our eyes pop out of our heads like cartoons and our mouths water.

Double chocolate cupcakes adorned with freshly picked strawberries, homemade vegetable pot-pie, and overflowing smoothies taunt us with their digital counterparts. But for every tantalizing food photo on Instagram, there’s an equally lackluster food photo right below it on your feed. Usually foodie amateurs post these photos, but even some quality food professionals and bloggers struggle with the art of food photography.

Let Lighting Lift Your Photos

You don’t need to have expensive photo equipment to harness good lighting. In fact, natural light is often the most flattering, not to mention the cheapest. Turning off the lights in your house and opening a window can transform your food photos.

For a better balance of light, you may want to consider buying or making a reflector. A reflector can quickly be made yourself with a piece of tin foil and cardboard, or by using white poster board.

(Without a reflector)

(With a reflector)

Play with Angles

Just as you need to try different angles to learn what looks best in regular photography, Instagram food photography follows the same rules. Finding the best angle may take some work, but the right angle can make or break your red-velvet cake.

Don’t forget to keep in mind the square photo frame on Instagram differs from the average photo frame. Therefore, make sure you set your camera to take the photo in a square frame, or leave enough cropping room.

Keep the Set-Up Simple

Don’t let clutter crowd your Cool Whip. The more mess in your photo, the less your food will be highlighted. Having a simple set up goes beyond de-junking the scene. Pay attention to what the food is sitting on. If you use your grandma’s ornate 1940s plate to display your cupcake, it might steal the show. You don’t want your food to have to compete for the spotlight. Instead, try basic colors, like black or white. Sometimes, a simple piece of black or white foam board mounted under and to the side of the photo works like a charm.

What you can add to the photo are “scene setters.” For instance, if you photograph a batch of decadent chocolate-chip cookies, placing a cup of milk in the background could prove beneficial by making the photo look less staged and more natural. Just make sure these pieces are used to frame your food photo, not overwhelm them.

Whether photographing your morning smoothie for your vegan blog, or snapping your birthday dinner to share with friends, keeping these tips in mind can elevate your Instagram photos to the next level.

Happy Snapping!

Practice shooting food around the house with different lighting and composition. Could you make a can of SpaghettiOs or a Nutri-Grain Cereal Bar look appetizing? Challenge yourself! Share your favorite food Instagram photo below, and let us know why you loved it.