All-you-need food photography training at budget-friendly prices.

Designed for aspiring photographers ready to become the go-to that every food brand is dying to hire.

Already a student? Login here

If you're ready to take your passion for food photography to the next level and turn it into the creative business of your dreams, you're in the right place.

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Let me guess... you thought food photography was gonna be easy, but...

  • Finding clients can be a minefield, and how do you know how much to charge?
  • You feel like all the pictures you take look the same, and you don't know how to spice things up.
  • You get confused on which composition techniques to use and when
  • You're secretly embarrassed that you don't fully understand manual mode.
  • You feel stuck using all the same tools when editing your photos and you don't know what to do differently.

If any of these thoughts have ever popped into your head... I get you.

As a food photographer, I struggled with the same things.

I don't know about you, but I got fed up of seeing:

  • Expensive online courses you have to pay for separately every time you want to learn something new, it sure adds up, doesn't it?
  • Having to piece together information from different places and different courses to actually get the overall picture.
  • Lack of personal follow up and guidance. Let's be honest, Facebook groups aren't where it's at anymore.

 

A peek at my own transformation...

Lauren Short Food Photography Transformation

That's why I created Food Photography Academy

Food Photography Academy Course Mockup

The Most Comprehensive Professional Food Photography Training On The Market for Creative Food Photographers Who Want to Go Pro

In the Academy you'll find all the insider secrets I've learned as a full time professional food photographer. I reveal the principles behind how to execute your creative choices like a pro. And I invited my mentors and working professionals to share their expertise too.

 

Join a proven, laser focussed curriculum so that you can master your new food photography skills in months (instead of years), with support so you don't get overwhelmed.

... all for the same cost as a single, standalone course

* We're all familiar with those $500 courses that only teach you one of the many topics covered in the Academy

Food Photography Academy will help you:

Unlock the strategies to mastering food photography in a matter of months, without the overwhelm.

Go beyond the surface level tactics, and instead learn the intricacies of what it takes to actually produce stand-out work that gets you noticed.

Consistently create looks you envision, knowing you have the skills to master different styles.

Build solid strategies for your business to help you set pricing confidently and systems to turn your hobby into a thriving business.

What Makes Food Photography Academy Different?

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It's not an online course... it's a whole school

With your membership, you'll get access to our full suite of courses, masterclasses, the community and monthly live calls. School's back in session.

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Access to the Experts

I invited my best pals from the industry to share their unique perspectives and expertise with you on a range of topics.

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Peer Support

24/7 access to our exclusive member forum. Get your questions answered directly and build supportive relationships with your peers.

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Live Feedback

Every month we host a live call for our members for image feedback, Q&A and general mingling! Life's better with a friend.

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Your Personal Learning Experience

You can design the learning path that's right for you. If you want complete guidance through the content, you got it! But if you prefer to go at your own pace with a hands off approach, go for it!

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Flexible Membership

You are totally in control of your membership. You can cancel at any time with 2 clicks of your mouse!

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It's not an online course... it's a whole school

With your membership, you'll get access to our full suite of courses, masterclasses, the community and monthly live calls. School's back in session.

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Access to the Experts

I invited my best pals from the industry to share their unique perspectives and expertise with you on a range of topics.

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Peer Support

24/7 access to our exclusive member forum. Get your questions answered directly and build supportive relationships with your peers.

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Live Feedback

Every month we host a live call for our members for image feedback, Q&A and general mingling! Life's better with a friend.

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Your Personal Learning Experience

You can design the learning path that's right for you. If you want complete guidance through the content, you got it! But if you prefer to go at your own pace with a hands off approach, go for it!

FPA-Icons-ManualMode-1

Flexible Membership

You are totally in control of your membership. You can cancel at any time with 2 clicks of your mouse!

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Student Feedback - Alessandra

I started my journey in the photography academy a few months ago and I am absolutely thrilled. All the courses are very comprehensive and interesting but the ones I love most are definitely the one on composition and Business Roadmap. The Composition Course helped me a lot to understand how to compose a photograph, where to place my Hero, how to create leading lines, shapes textures, etc. The Business Roadmap gave me all the elements to start my journey as a photographer thanks to the many suggestions starting from how to build the portfolio, how to calculate costs, prices and make proposals. After joining the academy I'm able to style a scene within minutes and I feel more confident taking photos that stand out. I start to feel more confident pitching clients as well.

Alessandra Zanotti - pastafantasy.com

Alessandra Zanotti Before and After
Here's the deal...

You've taken online courses before and then thought... what next?

I know what it's like to take a course, learn about a subject, then not know what to do next or how to find the next missing piece. What you need is guidance on your whole food photography journey.

That's where Food Photography Academy is different. We don't leave you wondering what to do next, we have a full suite of courses to take you through all the important subjects, and then guidance and follow up through the community and feedback calls to keep you on track and moving forwards.

Meet Lauren

Creator + Founder

Hey You! I've been where you are right now, desperately wishing to make food photography my full time career, but navigating the ins and outs alone.

I got there through a lot  self learning and online courses, but I would have given anything to have one place where I could learn everything I needed to know. So I created Food Photography Academy. The first online school that's really like a school.

Take all the courses, masterclasses and join us for our live monthly member calls and image feedback!

I know investing in yourself can be scary, but Food Photography Academy is the fast track to where you want to go. Plus, it's a heap of fun in here!

Lauren

Lauren Short, Food Photographer and creator of Food Composed - Food Photography Composition and Food Styling Course

Ready to get instant access to the entire Academy today?

Join today and get instant access to the entire course library, masterclasses, monthly live calls and the exclusive community. We can't wait to meet you!

All prices in USD

All Academy Members automatically get access to:

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Full Suite of Flagship Food Photography Courses

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With your Academy membership you get access to all our online food photography courses covering

  • Artificial Lighting
  • Composition
  • Setting up a profitable business
  • Lightroom editing
  • Manual Mode
  • Foundations & more...

All courses are video based with English CC captions.

A Supportive Community of Peers

Community Support Food Photography Academy

You're not going this alone. Our active members-only community forum is a place for you to ask all the questions you have about food photography. Lauren and the team are in the community every weekday to make sure your questions are all personally answered.

Community Support Food Photography Academy
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Live Monthly Member Online Calls with Lauren

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We host monthly, live, image-feedback Online calls where Lauren reviews a selection of member images for personalised feedback. These calls are also a time to bring any questions you want feedback on, and meet other Academy members!

Plus you can ask questions 24/7 in our members-only forum.

Tutorials, Resources, Cheatsheets, Workbooks & More!

Food Photography Academy Resources

Everything you need to complement your Food Photography Academy education including:

  • Printable Composition Planning Kits
  • Capture One Overlays
  • Lightroom Presets
  • Job Pricing Calculator
  • Business Cost Planner
  • Pitch Email Templates
  • Customisable Marketing Templates
  • Portfolio Planning Guide
  • Tethering software walkthroughs

Plus lots more inside our resource library

Food Photography Academy Resources

30 Day Hassle Free Guarantee

If you're on the fence, I know it's scary investing in yourself. And I don't want anything to get in the way of you accessing the training you need to master food photography. You can enroll in the Academy and explore all of the trainings for a full 30 days. And if, for whatever reason, you're not satisfied, just send my team an email within 30 days of your enrollment and you will get a 100% refund, no questions asked.

Yearly Monthly

Academy Membership

$397$37
  • Instant access to 6 professional food photography courses
  • Expert Masterclasses and continuing education
  • Live Monthly Online Calls with image reviews for personal feedback
  • Membership community and forum to get personalized feedback and advice
  • 30 Day Hassle Free Money Back Guarantee
  • Keep your special rate as long as you're a member

The Course Library

The cornerstone of Food Photography Academy is the course library. Here you have access to all our premium online food photography courses covering every important aspect. Whether you're a beginner or want to go deeper, all our video based courses are designed to take you from the foundations to advanced principles so you can shoot like a pro.

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Composition

Harness the power of composition techniques and other strategies to create images that stand out from the crowd

Food Composed

Food Composed Course Overview

In Food Composed, we'll cover the foundations of great composition step by step, before moving into advanced techniques that are going to elevate your work to the next level.

Through practical guided activities, you'll be able to put what you're learning into practice, and start composing creative, unique food photos. Here's what you'll learn:

Module 1: Design Principles & Ratios

We'll start off studying the technical side of composition, analysing ratios, grids, how they work and how you can use them to bring cohesion and intention to your compositions.

Module 2: Framing Your Food

In this module you'll learn how to choose the right lens for your composition, creating the right depth of field, choosing the best angle, focal point and much more. You'll learn how to "feel" your images, creating work that truly excites you.

Module 3: Using Light & Colour

Learn how to use light, colour and contrast to tell powerful stories in your composition. We're taking a deep dive into light and shadows in this module, looking at how the direction of the light, and the way you manipulate it affects your photo.

Module 4: Creating Powerful Food Stories

In this module we'll cover how to create two types of narratives, how to choose and use props and backgrounds to create different moods, and we'll walk through styling several food scenes.

Module 5: Style Exploration

Ever wondered how to capture the perfect action shot? Or how to nail the dark and moody look? In this module we'll learn exactly how to execute some of the most creative techniques to create breathtaking images.

Manual Mode Master - Food Photography Camera Course

Manual Mode

Become the Boss of your camera and create well exposed images with confidence

Manual Mode Master

Manual Mode Master - Food Photography Camera Course

As a creative, you should be making the decisions, not your camera. In this course, we'll go step by step in a logical way through how to go fully manual, so you feel confident in your camera settings, and can bring your creative visions to life.

Lesson 1: Getting to know your camera
Lesson 2: Recommended Equipment
Lesson 3: The Exposure Triangle
Lesson 4: Aperture
Lesson 5: Shutter Speed
Lesson 6: ISO
Lesson 7: Custom White Balance
Lesson 8: Focus Modes
Lesson 9: Metering Modes & The Histogram
Lesson 10: Putting it All Together

Lightroom Food Photography Editing Course

Lightroom Editing

Learn to edit your food images in your own unique style using Lightroom Classic

Lightroom Uncovered

Lightroom Uncovered Course

In this course, we'll go end to end through Lightroom Classic. I'll teach you how to organise and import your photos, how to set up a great workflow and how to process your images like a pro.

Lightroom Classic is the editing program of choice for most professional food photographers, and now you can harness the power of this program in your own work.

Module 1: Organisation & Importing Workflow
Module 2: Useful Editing Tips
Module 3: Composition Perfection
Module 4: Colour Magic
Module 5: Local Adjustments
Module 6: Exporting Workflow

BONUS: Advanced Editing
BONUS: Creating & Installing Presets
BONUS: 6 Full Edit With Me Tutorials

Food Photography Business Course

Business

Through my step by step roadmap, you'll identify your unique offers, get your systems setup and get your business up and running

The Business Roadmap

The Food Photography Business Roadmap

The Business Roadmap is my 5 stage program to get your food photography business up and running, equipping you with systems, marketing tools and all the templates you need to start making money from your passion.

Stage 1: Setting up your business
Stage 2: Building your Portfolio
Stage 3: Marketing & Finding Clients
Stage 4: Pricing & Proposals
Stage 5: Getting the Job Done

Shoot for Success

By covering all the important basics, this course is designed to get you set up with the foundations for the best start

Shoot for Success

Shoot for Success - Food Photography Principles Course

In this foundational course, we'll cover all the important basics to start your food photography journey off on the right foot.

Lesson 1: What you need to get started
Lesson 2: Shooting in RAW Format
Lesson 3: How to read your Histogram
Lesson 4: Create a Storage and Backup System

Food Exposed

Lighting

Learn the principles of of light, and get rid of all limitations by mastering artificial lighting

Food Exposed

Food Exposed

In this course, you'll learn the principles of light, and then master flash as we go through the technical side step by step. Ready to get lighting?

Module 1: The Principles of Light
Module 2: Technical Setup – Flash
Module 3: Technical Setup – Continuous Light
Module 4: Light Manipulation
Module 5: Flash Demonstrations
Module 6: Video Lighting

Live Member Calls

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Need advice and feedback tailored to your specific situation? We hold a live call for members every month where you can ask your burning questions and get individual feedback on images. Connecting directly with you is an important part of the Academy, we want to get to know you and support you as your journey develops. I think all members agree these live calls are one of our favourite times of the month!

 

All this sound good?

Join today and get instant access to the entire course library, masterclasses, monthly live calls and the exclusive community. We can't wait to meet you!

All prices in USD

Friends Make the World Go Round

The community is an exclusive members-only forum where you have 24/7 access to ask any questions you have, and get personalised feedback on your images. Lauren and the team are in the community every week from Monday-Friday to make sure all your questions get answered. You'll also meet fellow food photographers and build relationships in the industry.

Weekly "Question of the Week" discussions to get you talking and thinking about lots of different topics related to food photography

Course forums - got a question about any content in our courses? Ask it here!

Image feedback requests - if you need some help analysing an image, post your pictures for review. This is a supportive environment designed to give you constructive ideas and feedback.

Share your wins! We want to celebrate your wins with you, so we have a dedicated forum for you to share your successes and celebrate with the community.

Here is what some of our happy Food Photography Academy Students asked us before enrolling…

faq
Do I really get access to everything with my subscription?

YES! There's no hidden payments or secret sides here, your subscription gets you access to all the courses, masterclasses, resources, live calls and community.

I have a full time job and don't have a lot of spare time. How many hours a week will Food Photography Academy take?

The Academy is designed for you to go at your own pace. You can spend as much or as little time as you want on each of the trainings.

There is so much material in the Academy how will I keep it all straight without getting overwhelmed?

The Academy is structured and organized so you can always find what you are looking for within seconds. You can filter trainings by topic. You can also bookmark and favorite videos you want to refer back to. And there is an easily accessible feed of all the most recently released trainings, so you'll never miss anything.

We also have the "Getting Started" pathway for newbie photographers, to guide you through the foundational content to get you started, so you'll never feel lost or like you're on your own.

Will my subscription renew every year?

Yep! Your subscription will auto-renew every year. You'll have access to your billing history and your subscription status inside the Academy.

And don't worry, you can easily cancel your subscription any time with 2 simple clicks inside your account.

I want to cancel my membership, can I do that?

Absolutely, you can cancel your membership any time with just 2 clicks inside your account. You will retain access to the academy until the end of your current billing period, so don't worry, you won't lose access immediately.

What if I don't have a full studio and fancy equipment will I still be able to follow the trainings inside the Academy?

Yep! The principles of good food photography are the same regardless of equipment and software. And the Academy is designed to meet you where you're at and grow with you. So there are training and resources for newbies, intermediate and expert.

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Student Feedback - Valeria Reategui

[Food Photography Academy] was a huge discovery for me... all the information given in here made my food photography leap a huge step. So if you struggling to learn more about food photography and don't have the time and patience to research by yourself, I highly recommend having a course like this when you can search for what you need at your own pace.

It was awesome to have Lauren giving tips and other ways to see my own photography [in the live calls]. And also hear other photographers' pictures and critiques to learn more about different types of approaches to a subject.

[Food Photography Academy] is a must if you want to know the behind the scenes of every composition technique, Lightroom, etc. it is value for your money for sure.

Valeria Reategui - @cangurocriollo

Valeria Before and After

Learn from the Experts

I've gathered up some of my best food photography pals to share their wisdom and secret sauce with you in expert masterclasses. These bite sized workshops cover an array of topics so you can learn from the best.

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How to Shoot a Cookbook

In this workshop, expert food photographer and author Joanie Simon talks us through what it's like to be the food photographer on a cookbook shoot.

Joanie Simon - The Bite Shot

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Capture One Walkthrough

The queen of Capture One, Darina walks us through her top 5 tools as well as giving a demo on how they work. If you've wanted to start dabbling in Capture One, this workshop is for you.

Darina Kopcok - Gastrostoria

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Copyright, Licensing and Contracts for Food Photographers

If you're unsure on whether you need a contract (you do), or what to put in it, or what belongs to who, then this workshop breaks down all the important essentials for you

Fanette Rickert - Frenchly Photography

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Live Styling Session - Easter Cake

Join Lucie in a live behind the scenes styling session, as she styles a beautiful Easter cake

Lucie Beck - MyLucie

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Shoot Preparation

Quiana takes us through her preparation workflow so that you can make the most out of your time, and your shoots, so you walk in feeling prepared

Quiana Adams - The Qui Ingredient

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Student Feedback - Francois

I joined FPA with the mindset to become a professional food photographer. I had shot a few images for magazines and even a couple of products before but never felt any measure of confidence. I was looking to feel more confident by mastering composition and lighting techniques. I cannot thank Lauren and the rest of the FPA enough for everything I learned. Trying to absorb their knowledge base is akin to trying to take a sip of water from a firehose. Not only do I feel much more confident about my composition and lighting but I learned a lot about topics I thought I already knew.

Francois de Melogue - vtsnapshot.com

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Food Photography Academy isn't an online course... it's more.

It's a transformational continuing education program that will give you the skills you need to graduate from confused amateur to confident pro in record time!

Food Photography Academy Transformation
Yearly Monthly

Academy Membership

$397$37
  • Instant access to 6 professional food photography courses
  • Expert Masterclasses and continuing education
  • Live Monthly Online Calls with image reviews for personal feedback
  • Membership community and forum to get personalized feedback and advice
  • 30 Day Hassle Free Money Back Guarantee
  • Keep your special rate as long as you're a member