- 8590 Group
3 Tips For DIY Food Photography For Your Restaurant.

There are two kinds of photo shoot for restaurants, the first is an advertising shoot and the second is a content shoot. The first is way more expensive than the second and the second can still cost a few thousand dollars if done right.
Our Digital Media and Social Media Agencies for Restaurants along side Food Photographer for Restaurant Lemon Snaggle have decided to put together the 3 essential tips you need to know to produce some good quality content and images for your restaurant using food photography.
LIGHTING
Lighting is everything in photos and video (think about all the lighting that goes into shooting a movie), as such, that is why you will often see multiple light stands and light boxes at these professional food photoshoots in order to recreate the perfect mood and effects.
The best DIY solution for food photography is quite easy, shoot your food in natural daylight. Wait for a nice, clear and bright day and shoot the items you need next to a window that gets plenty of light while avoiding shadows.
Here are some examples of what NOT to do for lighting in food photography:





Here are a few examples of great shots of food photography taken with phones and without lighting rigs. These pictures were not edited neither. (pictures taken by food photographer for restaurants Lemon Snaggle)



Plating and Ingredients
Many restaurant owners would say that this goes without saying but this happens in food photography way too often to be overlooked. It is the basis of the end result, without executing this properly, the final product will look terrible. Here are some quick tips on what to shoot and how to plate it during a food photoshoot:
Use fresh, high quality ingredients
Use additional ingredients that will make the photo pop with color
Place the ingredients on the plate in a way that they compliment each other
Place the ingredients on the plate in a way that they compliment the lighting source
Make the plate look mouth watering without being overdone.
Think about what you want the photo to look like before you start shooting. Create a shot list for each item.
Make the plate and photos look natural, compliment the plate with things you would normally see at the restaurant table.
Shoot from many angles and from different distances.
Take more pictures than you need, that way, you will not feel bad about deleting all the bad ones. You really need to delete the bad ones - DON'T USE THEM!
Take your time and be a perfectionist.
Here are some examples of what NOT to do in food photography followed with a comparative image that Food Photographer for Restaurants Lemon Snaggle took :






Photo Quality
This part of food photography is fairly easy as it is about how you setup your mobile to shoot properly. Most new smart phones now have a "pro" photography version which lets you shoot in really high-res. That also allows you to edit the photo if you need to. With the tips from above, you don't necessarily need that but you should definitely shoot in hi-res so you can get photos that are 3mb-5mb. This will allow the photo to be used on all digital platforms without becoming distorted or blurry. The platforms will resize accordingly so don't worry about being "too big". This will give you a final product that is crisp, clean and provides the look and feel you want.
Here are some pictures that were not taken properly:


You can see the difference here using the same items and phones but shot with the proper resolution (lighting and plating is also improved):


Now you know it is possible to shoot good quality photos of your restaurant food and menu without compromising, high expenses or additional equipment. You can also drop us a line and we can do the food photography for you. Good Luck!