Monetizing Your Food Photography

I recently read Steve Heap's Selling Your Fine Art Photography, which so motivated me to sell more wall art that it eventually led to this blog post. I have been selling print-on-demands products and wall art through Fine Art America and similar sites for several years, but Steve's book is so informative that I had to try it again. All my recent food photography is available as wall prints through the agency that I now upload to, but I thought of new ways that I could sell my images, such as these triptych-style (or the popular 'three in a row') digital prints that I can sell directly through my Payhip store.

There is a high demand for beautiful wall art but with all the landscapes around, food photography is often forgotten and much needed for rooms such as kitchens, dining rooms, and even restaurants. So, this is definitely an area worth considering. You have different options to choose from: sell instant digital downloads directly through your own site, open a shop and sell either framed physical products or digital downloads on platforms such as Etsy or Shopify, or sell through print-on-demand agencies such as Fine Art America. With the later you can also sell your photography printed on merchandise such as phone covers, mugs, notebooks, totes and t-shirts, which are also in demand. 

Rather than continue with all the ins and outs, I highly recommend Steve's book, which will take you through everything you need to know from choosing the right platform, pricing your artwork, social media marketing, and much more. Just click on Steve's link for more information about his book: Selling Your Fine Art Photography. 

If you've been creating your own scrumptious recipes, you can turn them into cookbooks and recipe cards. If you are a food photographer, then perhaps you can team up with a food blogger or family member who creates wonderful original recipes or new takes on traditional ones.

Cookbooks may seem a bit daunting at first, but it is probably much easier than you think. There are so many resources out there that can help you. I made this quick mockup of a recipe page (that can also be used for recipes cards) and book cover by using Canva. Canva is an online designer's platform that is incredibly easy to use and has a lot of easy shortcuts and features, plus templates that you use. Some of the templates are free and some you have to pay for.  You can start off with a free account and if you find that you are using it more and more often, and its helping generate income for you, you can change later to a paid account, which costs $12.99 USD per month, with a host of even more great features. 

To start, just open a free Canva account and start looking around. Do a search for 'cookbook' and you'll find lots of templates of both cookbook pages or covers that you can use. The ones with a small crown in the bottom right-hand corner of the icon mean you have to pay to use these, but there are also templates, like the example that I've used for Sourdough Bread, that are free. Canva also offers lessons and design courses to help you get the most of their platform.

But first things first. What do you need to know about producing a cookbook?  So I did some research and found this wonderful article that takes you through the whole process, step by step: How To Write A Cookbook That Captivates Your Readers – Jericho Writers

Once finished, you can download the PDF file of your cookbook and sell either through your own site as a digital download eBook, or even have it published on Amazon as a Kindle eBook, Paperback or Hardback, although the physical books may need a slightly higher learning curve. Amazon also has taken all the mystery out of self-publishing and offers great resources and step-by-step guides. You can start here: Getting Started with Kindle Create.

Recipe cards can also be created on Canva, or simply use the same format you used for the book pages, and sell them as a digital PDF file that can be downloaded and printed by the buyer.  They should be sized to fit 4 to a page for easy printing. 

If you are anything like me, once you start working on some of these, your enthusiasm and ideas will naturally grow, so my only real advice is to just make a start and see where it will lead you.

A lot of the above ideas are perfect avenues for passive income that will provide a backup that allows you to explore new ideas or focus on or expand your core business. 

As I said above, always think big but start small. In that way you will have the luxury of experimenting without unnecessary costs. 

Always do lots of research, find out what your competitors are doing, do not copy them but look for niches that have not been covered yet - and always, always know your target audience. 

I haven't discussed stock photography agencies in this blog article, which is another form of passive income, but that is a field unto itself, but I have discussed that in my Delicious Photography handbook with links in my resource list.

So, good luck, be creative and enjoy the process!

May 8, 2025