Foodtography School Review + Discount Code ⋆ Growing Up Cali

Update May 2024: Foodtography School is now closed. If you have bought anything from Foodtography School, you will still have full access to any purchase you’ve ever made through your private membership area until February 2025.

Looking for some help improving your food photography and finding ways to get paid for it? I got you! Today, in my Foodtography School review, I’m sharing my first-hand experience with Broma Bakery’s food photography and business courses. And spoiler alert — these classes were a game-changer for me!

Plus, you can use my special discount code CALI to get 15 percent off all of the Foodtography School classes!

UPDATE August 2022: Since I first posted this review, the Foodtography School has launched two new products — Influence, a class focusing on proven growth strategies to grow your social media engagement, and The Growth Collective, a monthly subscription-based service that offers live coaching, exclusive training videos, customizable social graphics, and monthly trend reports. I’ve included more about these below. I’ve also included the new bonus package being offered with the purchase of Foodtography School.

Foodtography School Review

When I was starting my food blog a few years ago, I knew I had a problem.

I was a total beginner photographer, and my photos were pretty horrible (you can see for yourself the before and after photos below!). I didn’t know how to shoot in manual mode or how to edit in Lightroom. And I had no idea of how to find clients or how much to charge.

I knew I really needed to up my game if I wanted to turn my hobby into a profession! So that’s when I decided to sign up for Foodtography School.

So how did it go? Keep reading my foodtography school review to hear all about my experience!

Just a heads up before I start. While this is my honest review of my experience with Foodtography School courses, this post does contain affiliate links. This means that if you decide to purchase Foodtography School through the links in this article, I will receive a commission — at absolutely no additional cost to you!

What is Foodtography School?

Foodtography School is a virtual food photography school founded in 2017 by Broma Bakery’s Sarah Crawford. She offers several food photography lessons and products, all focusing on improving your food photography skills and turning your passion into a successful business.

Foodtography School Courses:

Foodtography School: This is the original course (and the one I’m reviewing in this post). This information-packed course covers the fundamentals of photography, composition, and editing. And it includes advice on branding, social media, and marketing. It’s designed for a variety of backgrounds and skill levels.
Advanced Foodtography School: This class is for the advanced food photographer who already understands how to use their camera manually and how to edit photos in Lightroom. It focuses on more advanced compositional principles and theories.
Influence: This class was a game-changer for me! It focuses on how to skyrocket your social media engagement and build a profitable online business. This class covers how Reels and TikTok videos and how to incorporate a video strategy while saving time in the process. Even if you’re just starting out, I’d recommend this class!
The Growth Collective: This is a subscription-based online community. For a fee of just $9.99 a month, it offers exclusive coaching and content. This includes live coaching, customizable social media graphics, caption ideas, and trend reports. This is a brand new product, and I’m so excited to give it a try! I’ll update this once I’ve been able to test drive it for a few months.
iFoodtography School: This version of the original Foodtography School is designed for those that take photos with their smartphones.
Restaurant Foodtography: This food photography course focuses on restaurant photography.
The Style Edit: This is a favorite of mine! This food styling class includes 14 behind-the-scenes, in-studio sessions focusing on styling and editing. In these hour-long classes, you’ll get to see Sarah style, shoot, and edit photos step-by-step.
Website Food Blog Templates: These gorgeous website templates are designed for food bloggers and are easy to install and use. No coding is required!
Foodtography School Presets: There are four Lightroom editing preset packs to choose from to help give your work a consistent look and feel. Plus, they’ll save you loads of editing time. These presets are for both light and bright and dark and moody photography styles.
Template and Guides: There are also several templates and guides available, including customizable media kits, sponsored post pricing guide, and a brand pitch guide. These are especially useful once you start working with brands.

What Does the Foodtography Class Cover?

The original Foodtography School class is designed for varying skill levels and is great for beginner photographers. It’s divided into 7 units, 4 editing sessions, and 4 styling sessions. And it also includes a workbook and access to the private Foodtography School Facebook page.

Here’s the breakdown:

Fundamentals of Photography: This includes a review of your DSLR camera settings, recommendations on how to set up your photography scene and what props to use, and a walk-through of Lightroom.
Composition: Learn the basic food photography composition techniques, as well as what angles work best for which types of food.
Light: Light can make or break a photo. And in this section, you’ll learn how to find, manipulate and shoot in different lighting situations. This does not include artificial light, which isn’t coved in this course.
Branding: This section focuses on how to find your individual style and how to use it to create your visual brand.
Editing: Learn how to master Lightroom in this session. This includes editing both light and dark photos.
Social Media: Master the social media game so you can show off your work, grow your audience, and attract clients.
Business and Marketing: This covers the basics of how to work with brands and price your work.

The best vanilla cake with buttermilk and buttercream frosting — BEFORE

chocolate cake with salted chocolate ganache — BEFORE

How Much Does Foodtography School Cost (With Free Bonus!)?

The cost to enroll in the Foodtography School course is $997 (one-time payment). Or you can take advantage of the payment plan and pay 12 monthly payments of $97.

This includes this awesome $900+ value bonus package including:

Influencer Pricing Guide
Photographer Pricing Guide
Lightroom Basics Mini-Course
3 Studio Styling Sessions
Reels & TT Training
Product Styling Bonus
Fully Editable Workbook
Brand Pitch Guide
SEO for food bloggers training
Ad Monetization training
Essential Presets
Customizable Media Kit
What’s in Your Camera Bag

>> FOODTOGRAPHY SCHOOL DISCOUNT CODE:

And you can get 15% off when you use my special Foodtography School discount code CALI! This takes the price down to $847.45. (One note: Foodtography School doesn’t allow discounts on payment plans. But the code will work on everything else offered.)

Is It Worth the Money? My Foodtography School Review

I get it! Foodtography School is a big commitment money-wise, especially if you’re just starting out. I was there too! But here’s why I think this food photography and business class is so worth it.

GET PAID: With the skills I learned in this class, I was able to turn my hobby into a business! Within the first few months of finishing the class, I’d already earned back what I spent on it. These days, my income comes primarily from paid brand sponsorship and from my work as a food photographer and recipe developer for other bloggers. (Want to work together? To contact me or request a copy of my media kit, email me here.)
GAIN EXPOSURE: My social media presence and my blog traffic have grown significantly since I took the course. And I’ve been featured on multiple brand and media feeds, including Foodtography School, NYTCooking, The FeedFeed, Sur La Table, and the Bake Feed.
MAKE FRIENDS: When I signed up for Foodtography School, I didn’t realize how incredibly supportive the Foodtography School community would be and how many friends I would make. Not only have fellow Foodtography School students cheered me. But they’ve also referred me paying clients!

A Few More Things to Know:

Do I Need Special Equipment? I’d recommend using a DSLR camera in this class. It doesn’t have to be the fanciest one. I started out with a $450 Canon EOS Rebel before upgrading to my current Canon EOS 6D Mark II. And you’ll also need a computer or phone to use Lightroom. You can check out all my equipment recommendations here.
Is This Class Only for Light and Bright Photography? No! Obviously, Sarah is known for her gorgeous light and bright style. But the skills you learn in her courses are applicable to all styles of food photography. And there are a lot of amazing photographers to come out of Foodtography School who specialize in dark and moody photos!
Do You Learn Artificial Lighting? No, this class does not cover artificial lighting.
Does Foodtography School Offer Scholarships? Yes, there is a Foodtography School scholarship program. Students can apply for a scholarship to Foodtography School, Advanced Foodtography School, and Restaurant Foodtography School.