Want to learn from the experts and up your game in food photography and blogging? Not sure who to turn to or where to start? Well, I’ve developed a comprehensive list of the best courses in the industry.

Investing in yourself is key to developing your skillset. So check out my list of Courses for Food Photographers & Bloggers. I have no doubt you’ll find yourself at least one, most likely two or more courses to learn from.

Starting out in a new career can be overwhelming. There feels like there’s SO much to learn, and you have no idea where to start. You could research on google and U-Tube and piece together information that way. But that takes ages and A LOT of energy.

So my advice is INVEST. Invest in educators who are leaders in their respective fields. Industry experts are willing to share and impart their knowledge to YOU. This is a surefire way to develop and enhance your skills and springboard you forward on your journey.

Learning isn’t just for newbies in an industry. We never know it all, and there is ALWAYS room to grow. Educating yourself applies to those firmly entrenched in an industry swell as newcomers.

I’ve created this list of Courses for Food Photographers and Food Bloggers so that you know exactly who to turn to. I know that you’ll find a course you love. Whether it’s furthering yourself in Advanced Foodtography, delving into SEO or learning a new skill such as Cinematography...you’ll find something.

I haven’t taken all of these courses (even though I wish I had). Where I have, I’ve mentioned it and offered a little insight. Otherwise, I've included courses I know other industry colleagues have taken and loved. All opinions are, however, my own.

Jump to:

• iPhone Photography
• Food Photography
• To Conclude
• 💬 Comments

iPhone Photography

iFoodtography School by Broma Bakery

Details: A course developed specifically for those that don’t own a DSLR and want to improve images taken on an iPhone (or Android!). The course delves into the fundamentals of shooting on a smartphone, styling and compositional principles, editing on your phone and shooting in restaurants.

My thoughts: Fantastic for those who can’t commit to spending much money on a DSLR camera. The iPhone can work wonders- you just have to know how to use it. Sarah teaches you how plus the technical aspects of styling.

If you do enrol in iFoodtography School, using THIS LINK, I can offer $50 off this price by using my DISCOUNT CODE: EMMA 

Food Photography

Foodtography School by Broma Bakery

Details: Foodtography School is an online food photography course that turns your passion for food photography into a business. The course teaches you the relevant skills to transform your food photography and guides you through the social media and marketing skills to successfully create your own business.

My thoughts: I took this course at the start of my food photography journey when I decided that I wanted to create a career for myself. The course was invaluable to me. It taught me all the relevant skills to photograph and style food to create eye-catching imagery.

On top of that, the course delved into social media, marketing and business know-how to set me up as a business. I haven’t come across another course that combines these two aspects. I would say it was the springboard to launch me into now working with large industry food brands and working for myself. I’ve written an in-depth review of the Foodtography Course.

If you do enrol in Foodtography School, using THIS LINK, I can offer 15% off this price by using my DISCOUNT CODE: EMMA 

Advanced Foodtography School by Broma Bakery

Details: For the more advanced photographer, this course delves deeper into more advanced principles of compositional theory, colour and lighting.

Sarah takes you on ‘set’ to shoot a variety of sweet and savoury foods and teaches different editing styles in lightroom. The business side of the course goes into detail about branding, content strategy, social media growth and the intricacies of brand partnerships.

My thoughts: This is not for the beginner. It's a great next course from Foodtography School Course. You don’t have to have completed the prior course, though to take this one. What you do need to have, though, is a strong understanding of your DSLR on manual mode and editing in Lightroom.

I’m halfway through the course and seeing the added value in this course. It does deep dive into more evolved learning on the subject matter. I have yet to get onto the business units, but I can’t wait for that part. I know it will help push my business forward.

If you do enrol in Advanced Foodtography School, using THIS LINK, I can offer $50 off this price by using my DISCOUNT CODE: EMMA (Look out for group deals purchasing two courses in one go at a discounted rate)

Food Photography Academy by That's Sage

Details: An online academy developed by Lauren Caris provides resources to improve your food photography skill set to a professional level. The academy comprises 100+ videos from Lauren and many other industry experts covering food photography aspects such as mastering manual mode, composition, portfolio building and editing.

My thoughts: Unfortunately, I haven’t had an opportunity to look behind the scenes in the Academy. But Lauren is a brilliant educator on That’s Sage with many free resources, so I have no doubt the Academy will be brilliant.

Photography, Styling & Branding by Eva Kosmas Flores

Details: Eva is an industry leader in storytelling through her imagery. Her imagery is rich in detail, depth, mood and atmosphere. Learn how to create such imagery and develop your consistent style with your learnt skills.

My thoughts: Choosing a course and educator that suits your own personal style is important, in my opinion. Eva’s stunning style is rich, full and moody with a strong lifestyle emphasis, very different to my own style. This course is perfect for those leaning towards this type of imagery. (But also for those looking to explore another style too.)

The Art of Light Ebook by Two Loves Studio

Details: Not so much a course, but an e-book created by Pro-photographer Rachel Korinek. Her technical prowess in photography and her understanding of light is combined in this e-book. Learn how light impacts your photography and how to manipulate it to your advantage.

My thoughts: A must-read for any food photographer. Light plays an important role in imagery, and Rachel teaches you everything you need to know.

Styling & Composition

The Style Edit by Foodtography School

Details: A 12-month online experience delving primarily into styling and editing. Each month you receive an hour-long video taking you behind the scenes on a food photo shoot with Sarah, Foodtography School founder. Each month the shoot and food subject matter are different (think tacos, to ice-cream, cocktails too, and brownies), and you’ll see how she styles, what shots she takes and how she edits.

My thoughts: Being a food photographer or food blogger entails working by yourself. This is an invaluable insight into how a professional runs their shoot and edits those images.

Composition Essentials by Two Loves Studio

Details: Delving deep into all aspects of composition to understand the fundamentals of structuring your shoots. Learn how to develop your own personal style and use these skills to plan, style and shoot with confidence.

My thoughts: I haven’t taken this course, but I have had a sneak peek into it, and it's jam-packed with info. Great for deep diving into this specific area of food photography.

Restaurant Photography

Restaurant Photography by Foodtography School

Details: For the food photographers, bloggers, and social media influencers wanting to up their game in restaurant photography. A chance at setting yourself apart by taking exceptional photos outside of the home and in the restaurant environment and diversifying your income.

Restaurant Photography delves into styling and compositional best practice in a restaurant setting, working with the restaurant's aesthetics, behind-the-scenes shoots with Sarah, running their social media and how to price.

My thoughts: Once again a brilliant course geared toward shooting outside the confines of your at-home studio. I’ve taken this course, and I love the on-site shoots that Sarah takes you sharing how to shoot tablescapes, cocktails, space shots and more.

If you enrol in Restaurant Foodtography School, using THIS LINK, I can offer $50 off this price by using my DISCOUNT CODE: EMMA (Look out for group deals purchasing two courses in one go at a discounted rate. Every little helps, right!)

Lightroom

Lightroom Magic by Two Loves Studio

Details: A course designed to understand the ins & outs of the powerful editing tool Lightroom to food photography. Workflow, developing your editing style, editing theory, and much more.

My thoughts: I’m a big fan of Rachel’s teaching style. She is undeniably a technical whizz, and this course will push you forward on your photography journey. It’s on my hit list next!

Photoshop

Retouching Food Photography by Two Loves Studio

Details: Geared toward retouching food imagery specifically in Photoshop. This course teaches the retouching fundamentals to remove distractions and improve imperfections to create natural but stunning magazine-worthy images.

My thoughts: I just started this course a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had photoshop in my adobe subscription for five years now and never learnt how to use it. I’ve finally bitten the bullet and am so glad to have picked this course.

Rachel and her husband, Matt, are clear, concise and approachable in their teaching style. The videos and PDFs provided are perfect for someone like me who is starting from scratch. They also provide a bonus class on creating GIFS. I can't wait for that!!

Artificial Lighting

Artificial Academy by The Bite Shot

Details: Joanie Simons is a super passionate educator with a highly successful u-tube channel providing informative resources on everything to do with photography. Artificial Academy is her course geared towards shooting solely with Artificial Light. From your set-up to what gear you’ll need to shoot different styles...you’ll be up and running in no time.

My thoughts: I leapt to do this course one week before I started shooting my cookbook. Some may say that’s crazy, but Joanie’s teaching ability is next level. I learnt, and I learnt quickly and photographed my whole cookbook with artificial light. And now I’m an artificial lighting convert - I adore its flexibility, especially on dark winter days!

Cinematography

Food Cinemagraphs by Roberta D'Alba

Details: Wondering what it is? Roberta calls it The new hyper-creative way to communicate in digital marketing. It's the middle ground between still life photography and video. A way of creating a movement with an image to grab the viewer's attention.

My thoughts: A brilliant new string to your bow to set yourself above the competition. If you want your social media to stand out from the crowd, or be able to increase your offering to clients, then this is it!

Food Blogging/Business

Food Blogger Business Blueprint by A Sassy Spoon

Details: Created by successful food blogger Jamie Silva, this course teaches you the steps to grow your food blog into a profitable business. Jamie goes into the best practice workflow, systems, SEO strategy and monetisation and more.

My thoughts: I would love to take this course and wish it had been available at the start of my food blogging journey. For me personally, my career is as a food photographer for brands, not as a food blogger. I would love this to shift at some point in the future and turn my blog into a money-making business. I believe Jamie would be able to give me those tools to do this. Another one on my hit list!

SEO

SEO Mastermind by Hash Tag Jeff

Details: A brilliant portal by Jeff Hawley, teaching everything you need to know regarding SEO for bloggers. The course provides all the tools and power to unlock SEO, apply it to your blog and grow.

My thoughts: An invaluable course to take at the start of your blogging journey. SEO is complicated, and Jeff de-mystifies it.

Pinterest

Pinning Perfect Pinterest Course by Blog Clarity

Details: A course teaching you the ins and outs of Pinterest and how to use this powerful search engine to grow your traffic and audience. You’ll delve into the fundamentals of Pinterest, pin descriptions, pin images, groups boards, tailwind, and google analytics.

My thoughts: I’ve looked behind the scenes, and it is a rock-solid course to understand all things Pinterest and Food blogging. If you are serious about increasing those page views to monetise your blog through ads, then this is a must.

To Conclude

I want to finish off by saying that to be successful in this career, you don’t need to have completed these courses. Of course, you don’t. You can get there without having done any of them. I know many a food photographer and blogger who are top of their game and highly inspirational but haven’t done any.

I, for one, though, decided on a complete career change at 40. There I told you my age, well that was last year (!), and the reason I’m telling you this is that I didn’t want to spend five years growing my skills with the hope of one day earning enough money to call it a career.

I wanted to fast-track that process through desire and need. Relying on industry experts has allowed me to fast-track that progress and create this career A LOT quicker than if I'd done it by myself. My learning continues every day, there is more room for growth and more courses to take!

Enjoy your own personal journey, and let me know if you sign up for any of these Courses for Food Photographers & Bloggers in the comments below. HAPPY LEARNING! If you want to learn the ins and outs of Setting Up A Food Blog, I have an interesting post here too.

To be 100% transparent with you, I’m an affiliate member of Foodtography School. I’m super proud to be a member of their program as it’s the result of learning, growing, and developing into a photographer that Sarah and her Team trust to promote her business.

I only ever affiliate myself with products or services I wholeheartedly believe in. Foodtography School is one such business. If you purchase through my affiliate links provided, I do earn a commission of the sale at NO extra cost to you. If anything, by going through my affiliate link and applying the DISCOUNT CODE: EMMA, you’ll gain a further $50 OFF the single payment price. This applies to all courses: Foodtography School, Advanced Foodtography School, Restaurant Foodtography School and IFoodtography School.