Top Tips on Submitting Photos to Foodgawker and Tastespotting
July 18, 2012 in Events
Anyone who’s ever had a photo accepted to Foodgawker and Tastespotting knows how beneficial it is for your blog in terms of traffic and exposure. Both sites have very high standards, but here are a few tips on how to increase your changes of getting a photo accepted.
1. Both sites tend to favour bright photos, so use a good light source to begin with (which you should be doing anyway!) and/or bump up your exposure in your photo editing software. No Photoshop? No problem! You don’t need fancy software to do this – an inexpensive app like Big Lens can simulate a DSLR effect and has filters that warm up or cool down a photo with the touch of a button.
2. Both sites use square thumbnails, so shoot your photo with a square format in mind. This means you can’t shoot the food too close and will probably need to step back a bit or zoom out. You should also crop your photo into a square before uploading it to the site, although both sites do have cropping tools that will allow you to do this (doing it yourself gives you more control).
3. Do a little homework first. If you need some inspiration for how to style your photo, do a search on the sites themselves of what you’re cooking to see how other bloggers have approached the same dish. You’ll also get a sense of what kinds of images have already been accepted.
4. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! If your photo gets rejected, they’ll always give you a reason, e.g. dull lighting. If the photo is rejected because of its composition, there’s not much you can do about it other than recrop it if possible. But if it was rejected because it’s dull, unsharp, etc., try adjusting it in your photo editing software or app and resubmit it. Don’t forget too that it’s real live people, not bots, who are making the final call on these sites, so there’s a personal and subjective element to which photos get accepted and which ones get rejected – or even why one site will accept a photo but the other will reject it.
Do you have any hints or tips on getting photos accepted to these sites? Please share them in the comments!
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Wholesome Ireland said on July 18, 2012
I’ve only recently been getting accepted after a long road to get there. The “lightbulb moment” occurred when I found my style and stuck with it. Once I was more comfortable in how I was photographing then the acceptances started to come in. I can now pick out in advance which shots (and food) are more likely to be accepted – mind you I still chance my arm with others!
Mark said on July 19, 2012
Great tips!
I’d like to add #5. Don’t take it personally.
I’ve had many images rejected for stated reasons…that I didn’t necessarily agree on. In the end, it’s their site, so let them moderate and just keep shooting and submitting.