PM> Install-Package Serilog.Sinks.File

// Instantiate the logger
var log = new LoggerConfiguration()  // using Serilog;

    // using Serilog.Formatting.Json;
    .WriteTo.File(new JsonFormatter(renderMessage: true), "log.json")

    // using Serilog.Formatting.Compact;
    // .WriteTo.File(new RenderedCompactJsonFormatter(), "log.json")

    .CreateLogger();

// An example
var position = new { Latitude = 25, Longitude = 134 };
var elapsedMs = 34;

log.Information("Processed {@Position} in {Elapsed:000} ms.", position, elapsedMs);

{
  "MessageTemplate": "Processed {@Position} in {Elapsed:000} ms.",
  "Level": "Information",
  "Timestamp": "2016-09-02T15:02:29.648Z",
  "Renderings": {"Elapsed": [{"Format": "000", "Rendering": "034"}]},
  "RenderedMessage":"Processed { Latitude: 25, Longitude: 134 } in 034 ms.",
  "Properties": {"Position": {"Latitude": 25, "Longitude": 134}, "Elapsed": 34}
}

{
  "@t": "2020-05-20T04:15:28.6898801Z",
  "@m": "Processed { Latitude: 25, Longitude: 134 } in 034 ms.",
  "@i": "d1eb2146",
  "Position": {"Latitude": 25, "Longitude": 134 },
  "Elapsed": 34
}

PM> Install-Package NLog

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <!--
  See https://github.com/nlog/nlog/wiki/Configuration-file
  for information on customizing logging rules and outputs.
   -->
  <targets async="true">
    <!-- Write logs as Json into a file -->
    <target name="json-file" xsi:type="File" fileName="application-logs.json">
      <layout xsi:type="JsonLayout">
        <attribute name="date" layout="${date:universalTime=true:format=o}" />
        <attribute name="level" layout="${level:upperCase=true}"/>
        <attribute name="message" layout="${message}" />
        <attribute name="exception" layout="${exception:format=ToString}" />
      </layout>
    </target>

  </targets>
  <rules>
    <!-- Log all events to the json-file target -->
    <logger name="*" writeTo="json-file" minlevel="Trace" />
  </rules>
</nlog>

using NLog;

namespace Datadog
{
    class Program
    {
        // Initialize a logger
        private static Logger logger = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger();

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Log a simple debug message
            logger.Debug("This is my first step");

            // your code continues here ...
        }
    }
}

PM> Install-Package log4net
PM> Install-Package log4net.Ext.Json

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>

  <configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
  </configSections>

  <log4net>
    <root>
      <level value="DEBUG" />
      <appender-ref ref="JsonFileAppender" />
    </root>
    <appender name="JsonFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
      <threshold value="DEBUG"/>
      <file value="application-logs.json" />
      <encoding type="System.Text.UTF8Encoding" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.SerializedLayout, log4net.Ext.Json">
        <decorator type="log4net.Layout.Decorators.StandardTypesDecorator, log4net.Ext.Json" />
        <default />
        <!--explicit default members-->
        <remove value="ndc" />
        <remove value="message" />
        <!--remove the default preformatted message member-->
        <member value="message:messageobject" />
        <!--add raw message-->
      </layout>
    </appender>
  </log4net>

  <!-- The rest of your configuration starts here ... -->

using log4net;

namespace Datadog
{
    class Program
    {
        // Get the current class logger
        private static ILog logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Program));

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {

           // Load the configure fom App.config
           XmlConfigurator.Configure();

           // Log a simple debug message
           logger.Debug("This is my first debug message");

           // your code continues here ...
        }
    }
}

{
  "level": "DEBUG",
  "message": "This is my debug message",
  "date": "2016-05-24 15:53:35.7175",
  "appname": "Datadog.vshost.exe",
  "logger": "Datadog.Program",
  "thread": "10"
}

<param name="ConversionPattern" value="%date{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} %level [%thread] %logger %method:%line - %message%n" />