I Need Better Food Pics

In some cases, I just plain need pictures - good or not.  I've been using Pinterest for a while now, and I started thinking that it would be a great way to handle the 'table of contents' on this blog.  Currently I have the tabs at the top linking to all the different categories - using Blogger labels.  And that works OK.  You click the tab for soups, and you get a page with all the posts I've labelled 'soup' - simply scroll down through the posts to find a recipe that looks good.

I thought it would be nicer to create a Board on Pinterest for each of my categories.  Clicking the tab would give you a page - like this one I created for Soups - with all the recipes in that category.  The only problem is that it's not quite that easy.  Why?  Because I don't have pictures on all my recipes, and that means either I can't add those recipes to the Pinterest board, or I have to use my header, which doesn't quite convey the idea.  It's that yummy picture of the recipe that is going to make people look in the first place.  I know I love the pictures in a cookbook - whether I'm cooking or not, I can still get a lot of enjoyment out of looking at the pictures.  Of course, my favorite cookbook - The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals - has no pictures at all, but...

Anyway, I have been trying harder to take pictures of everything I make, but I don't always remember - sometimes not until it's half gone, and sometimes not at all.  And, my husband has been known to laugh at me for taking pictures of food.  My problem is that I don't really know what makes a good food pic.  I know one when I see one, but I don't really understand why it's good, and how do I go about taking some of my own?  So it's time for some research into food photography and getting better food pics.  I found a couple posts to start with:

1. Food Photography Techniques and Tips
2. 25 Food Photography Lessons You May Have Missed

and most of all, I just need to remember to take some shots of everything I make - good or not.  Practice makes perfect, right?

In the meantime, what to do about those Pinterest Boards?  Do you think it's a good idea for the 'table of contents' part of this blog?  What do you use to organize your recipe posts to make them easy to browse?