How to Shoot Food Videos Using Your Smartphone

First things first: before you begin recording, prepare your workstation. Clean your countertop, add a backdrop if you're using one, and prepare your ingredients so they're close by.

Remove any clutter from the background. A clean setup will make your dish stand out without looking messy.

Because you'll need to move around and compose your shots between recipe steps, make sure you have enough space around your workstation to move the tripod and phone freely, without bumping into anything.

If you don't have a lot of space, don't worry — make the most of what you've got. Try different lighting and camera placements that look good on screen and still allow you to move around comfortably.

When your space is neat, you can go to sleep. Just kidding — it's time to set up the equipment.

After prepping your workstation, it's time to set the scene. I start by arranging the light source — in my case, it's the Neewer CB120B with a softbox, mounted on a light stand about 1 to 1.5 meters away from the workstation. I usually set it at a 45-degree angle to create a soft, natural look in the footage.

Of course, the distance and intensity of the light will depend on the look you're going for. I'm sharing my workflow with you here, but feel free to experiment with different placements to achieve the desired result.

Once the light is set, it's time to mount the phone on the tripod. To do that, I use the Ulanzi ST-27 Iron Man IV phone clip, which lets me secure the phone to the tripod plate. I then lock it onto my tripod, the SmallRig AD-01, which I also use with my camera setup.

With the light and phone ready, it's time to position the setup for filming. Depending on the format you're shooting — vertical or horizontal — the distance between the phone and the workstation will vary. I usually keep more distance for horizontal videos and move in as close as possible for vertical shots — sometimes even with the tripod touching the table.

Since a phone setup is much lighter than a camera, you can easily use a smaller tripod — like this K&F Concept tripod with a ball head — which makes it easy to reposition between shots.

In some cases, I'll even use a magic arm, like this one from SmallRig, which has a clamp that mounts directly onto the workstation, allowing me to get super close for tight, action-focused shots.

For overhead angles, you have a few options. You can go with the heavier setup: a C-stand with a ball head attached. Alternatively, you can use something much lighter, such as the Neewer table-mounted tripod, which clamps to the workstation and features telescopic arms — perfect for capturing that classic top-down food shot.

Remember, this is just how I prefer to work — you can adjust things to suit your style and space. Try it out, tweak the setup, and get the punchy look that best suits your content.

As I consistently emphasize in our videos, we aim to achieve a professional look that showcases our recipes and makes them stand out. To do so, we must act like professionals — and that means having complete control over our camera settings.

If we go with auto mode, our videos will have inconsistent exposure, white balance, and color reproduction. To avoid that, we have to operate our phone camera in Manual Mode or Pro Mode.

Both iOS and Android phones come with a built-in camera app, which is excellent for taking photos or shooting a video of our cat doing goofy things. But to have complete control, we need to use a pro app. My recommendation is the Protake app, which is available for both iOS and Android, and provides the same control as a professional camera.

There are various apps out there, including free ones. If you prefer another app, you can use it, as long as it gives you enough control over the camera settings. You can still follow what I do in the Protake app.

Open Protake, and the first thing you have to do is switch to PRO Mode in the bottom-right corner. Now you can see all the settings we can tweak to get the desired look.

In the top-left corner, you have the Resolution and FPS settings. Based on your phone's specifications, you should opt for a 4K resolution and an FPS that matches your phone's capabilities — in my case, that's 30 FPS.

Next, we have the Shutter Speed — set it to double the frame rate for a natural look. In my case, we are going to use a shutter speed of 1/60 (30 fps × 2).

Then we have the ISO — we want the ISO as low as possible to minimize noise in the image. However, ensure your image is well-exposed, even if that means adjusting it slightly.

The next one is the White Balance. I recommend setting it based on the value of your light source. This way, you'll get accurate color reproduction. Get creative and try different settings if you want a warmer or colder look.

You also have Lens Selection, which is very important. You need to use your primary camera lens, which, in most smartphones, is the Wide-Angle lens. This camera produces the best image quality, and we must keep it at its original settings — no zooming in, as that would compromise the image quality. It's best to move the phone closer to the action if you want to get a zoomed, clear image.

On the left side, mid-screen, we have shortcuts for Shutter Speed and ISO, in case you want to tweak them quickly. On the right side, we have the Zoom — which I don't recommend using — and the Focus settings, where we can choose between Autofocus and Manual Focus. Based on the scene you're shooting, you can switch and set them up accordingly.

In the bottom-right corner, we have the Orientation Button, which allows you to switch between horizontal and vertical orientations. Next are the Record Button and the Pro/Auto Mode switch. After that, we have the Always-On Assistant, which allows us to use features like Focus Peaking and Zebras to help better monitor our image. Then we have the Grids Button, which helps us apply the Rule of Thirds when framing our shots.

After tweaking and setting up all the settings, and once we're happy with the image quality and composition, we can go further and hit record.

Let's hit the record button! Now we start cooking.

You can stick to one angle and reframe in post-production (to make it more engaging), or switch between wide shots, close-ups, and medium angles to keep things mesmerizing and add some flavor to your content.

You don't have to film every single moment. Once you've captured an ingredient intro or a step that repeats, stop recording and press record again when you're ready to move on.

Keep an eye on your phone screen — watch your framing, focus, and exposure. If something looks off, pause the recording, make the necessary adjustments, and then continue.

With the Protake app, you can even use a second device to monitor your image while recording. Just set it up and you'll be able to see exactly how your shot looks as you cook.

Above all, pace yourself and don't rush. Take your time to get shots you're proud of. Remember, nobody gets everything perfect on the first try. That's why we're here — to improve, one step at a time. With every new food video, we level up our food content. Mistakes happen — don't let them hold you back. Keep going, and you'll see progress with every new video.

And that's a wrap on filming a recipe with your phone using Protake!

You don't need all that fancy equipment — just your phone, a stable tripod setup, a good light, and a bit of know-how. Lighting is the most important. Phone settings come second.

Thanks for watching! Now let's make some delicious food videos! Godspeed!