Starting a blog?
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Choosing a theme
The decision to go with a Worpress was easy. My advice in picking a theme is to go with something clean and responsive . Having a responsive theme is important as it smoothly adjusts its layout based on the screen size and resolution. This is very key as people will look at your blog from a variety of devices and you want the look and feel to adjust and look good. I have built Food in Color using Foodie Pro Theme.
Foodie Pro Theme is a child theme of the Genesis Framework. Complicated speak I know. Think of it like layers in a cake. WordPress, Genesis Framework and Foodie Pro Theme. all work together to make a nicer cake/blog.
Food Photography
From a very young age, I have always loved photographs or taking photo so I guess it’s no surprise that this one of my favorite parts of developing a food blog. Whilst a point and shoot camera could certainly do the job, my strong recommendation is that you invest in a DSLR . This will allow you to have more control over your images. I started out with the DSLR that we bought to take good pictures of wild life on our safari trip in South Africa. Yes I was being a tourist in the place I grew up. More recently something broke camera and it cost more to fix than to get a new one. Now I feel like a photography queen with my D7200. I REALLY wanted to ramp up my skills with food videos and this baby has opened that door.
When it comes to lenses, there are a ton of options. I went for the nifty fifty lens made by Nikon.
Getting better at taking photos has been about practice, practice, practice. I try to take photos and lots of them at every opportunity you can. I receive constructive feedback with open arms and have a willingness to correct and make changes.
I path before me and am taking notes. A fellow blogger Lindsay Ostrom from Pinch of Yum created this Tasty Food Photography eBook that provided a great starting point for me. She has simplified the process and given excellent examples that you can implement into your work immediately. Thank you Linsday!
Food Photography and Styling Books
Start and grow your food blog with Food Blogger Pro
From the creators of Pinch of Yum comes Foodblogger Pro. Their free podcast got me into the land of Food blogging knee deep. They have a great resource to help you on your food blogging journey.
Blogging as a business?
When I started out, this was for me and it still is for me. It’s a creative outlet, something I can do in the free moments of my days that makes me feel alive, creative and enjoy my little space in the internet world. The more I began to dig into this blogging thing, the more I realized that people actually made and income from blogging. Get paid to do what you enjoy? Sure, why not?
Books that have challenged me to get this game on and to blog seriouly include:
The eBook from Chelsea’s Messy Apron. She’s a go get ’em kind of girl and her month by month strategies in her eBook based on her experience challenged me and made me consider the options for my blog.