Win Customers and Sell Your Location With These Seven Food Photography Tips

In today’s operating environment, it is more important than ever to reach your customers online and market your food options to a broad audience. With food delivery, take out and curbside pickup, customers are deciding what to order while browsing online. What’s more, the majority of U.S. adult internet users head to the web to learn about a company before they make a purchase or visit a business. Photos of delicious and appetizing dishes posted online can sell your location and make someone choose you over your competitor.
More
Win Customers and Sell Your Location With These Seven Food Photography Tips
 

In today’s operating environment, it is more important than ever to reach your customers online and market your food options to a broad audience. With food delivery, take out and curbside pickup, customers are deciding what to order while browsing online. What’s more, the majority of U.S. adult internet users head to the web to learn about a company before they make a purchase or visit a business.

Photos of delicious and appetizing dishes posted online can sell your location and make someone choose you over your competitor. For images to be effective, they need to make your dishes look appealing and highlight their best qualities. Get good shots with these seven tips.

1 Shoot in natural light: Color is vital in food photography as you want the colors to be accurate. Natural light is food’s best friend when it comes to photography. The flash from a camera can add too much light from the front, which can flatten a dish. Artificial light, such as that from a lamp, can cast an orange or yellow hue. If you’re shooting indoors, use natural light from a window by positioning a table nearby. If you’re shooting outside, try shooting on an overcast day to avoid harsh shadows. Soft shadows are more flattering and create subtle depth.

2 Consider the whole shot: The food is the star of the show, but everything in the image can speak to your customer, even if it is on a subconscious level. The tablecloth, background, plate and cutlery can all contribute to the overall mood and feeling of a photo. Garnishes, such as flowers or fresh herbs, also can make a big difference in the overall appearance of a dish. Sometimes it is fun to have a few of the ingredients that you used when cooking the food in the background to add interest to the shot. No matter what you chose, you’ll want to hand-pick what makes it into the frame.

3 Freshen up food: Some foods may look fresher with a light mist of water. Use an atomizer to give foods a few spritzes of water. This can work well if you’re taking shots of fruits and vegetables.

4 Choose a background: The right environment can help food stand out. Dark food often works best on a dark background, while light-colored food looks work well on a light background. Wooden backgrounds, such as a cutting board or table, often look good with almost any kind of food. A tea towel or tablecloth also works well. If you’re shooting food from the side, a neutral wall can make a dish stand out. You can experiment with the same meal in different places or with various backgrounds to see what looks best.

5 Shoot from the best angle: Different angles can showcase different elements of a dish. Try different perspectives—top, bottom, diagonal, left and right—to see what works best. Shooting from above can show a beautiful arrangement of food while eliminating any distracting backgrounds. A diagonal or side shot can show off interesting layers, such as those in a yogurt parfait or cake. Shooting from the side may also capture textures, such as those in a slide of bread or a muffin.

6 Clean your plate:  Since details are essential, give the edges of a dish a final wipe down to ensure there aren’t any spills or fingerprints that might distract from your primary focus.

7 Enhance colors with editing: You may not be able to get the best shot right out of the camera. If you haven’t captured the colors the way you wanted, you can turn to a photo editing tool or filter to help you.

Subscribe to Updates

NATSO provides a breadth of information created to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the needs of the travelling public in an age of disruption. This includes knowledge filled blog posts, articles and publications. If you would like to receive a digest of blog post and articles directly in your inbox, please provide your name, email and the frequency of the updates you want to receive the email digest.