A pie, camera, tripod and other equipment on a marble table.

A thanksgiving turkey on a white plate with grapes and cranberries.

A slice of chocolate cake on a white plate.

A plate topped with lemon cookies and powdered sugar.

A bowl of chicken with sauce and green beans.

Jennifer Pallian

Food | Last Updated: October 30, 2023

Hi! I’m Jennifer Pallian. I’m a registered dietitian and food scientist working full-time in digital content creation.

I got into food photography as a creative outlet during a particularly science-heavy part of my career, and then, woohoo, it became my career.

I’m honestly a bit of a minimalist with gear. When I find something that works, I stick with it.

I DIY for a lot of my shoots using shower curtain liners as diffusers, cardstock as reflectors, and even a bag of rice as a weight.

I think if you invest your time in getting the right skills, you don’t need the fanciest equipment to create something beautiful.

I use a Canon EOS 6D, which I originally bought as a more affordable alternative to the EOS 5D. It was still a full-frame sensor, and it has served me so well for the past decade that I’ve never considered upgrading.

I primarily use my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art DG HSM to get a nice wide shot that I can crop in on. It has a nice soft bokeh for front-on shots, which really helps to make the food look pretty.

For photos, I use my trusty Godox TT520 II Speedlite, along with the Wireless Trigger Transmitter. It is just a great inexpensive small flash that provides plenty of light for my purposes in the studio.

I often use it on a 36” Softbox placed straight on about four feet away from my subject. It gives me really nice dimensions and shadows. I love it!

I use Lightroom to edit with my own presets. It’s what I learned, and I feel like I can do everything I need to do both technically and creatively.

When it comes to food photography, I wish I’d known ten years ago that styling the food and shaping the light around what you want to highlight on the food is much more important than styling the photo with vintage napkins and cute piles of plates.

When the light glimmers just so on the tender crumb of a buttercream-slathered slice of Moist Chocolate Cake, nothing much else is required.

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