7 food photography tips for restaurants

By Thanh Hai

Last updated March 14, 2022

Why is food photography important for your restaurant?

We all know that it is a visual word, and your restaurants can not be outside of this rule. Following the Hubspot study, people can remember only 10% of information three days after hearing it. However, it would be 65% if a relevant image is paired with that same information. That is why visual marketing is considered very important to marketing strategy by 49% of marketers, as Important by 22%.

Did you know that articles with images will get 94% more attention than those without? If you still do not understand the importance of food photography for a restaurant. Let’s discover in detail!

• Photo builds customers’ truth.

First of all, we have to say that the first impression is essential and your food photos play this role. You expect that your customers keep in mind your professionalism, so strive to make a great impression online (on your website or social media) and let your photo images speak a thousand words.

People generally want to see what will be served, and it is not an exaggeration to say that a gorgeous photo can help you build customers’ trust in the dish. If you have high-quality, mouth-watering images, people will remember your restaurant.

• It increases sales

The most important goal for a restaurant is ensuring sales. So when you focus on making a good photo of your food, it will help you increase your sales. For instance, a quality picture of high-profit food items highlighted on printed menus lets you direct customers’ attention and then upsell items. Besides, digital food pictures are good for SEO and improve website conversions. When restaurants changed from text-menus to image-based menus on their online ordering platform, their sales increased more than 25%.

• Photo help to shape your brand identity

It has to say that brand building is absolutely a challenge for restaurant owners. So how to be different from thousands of restaurants in the market? And food photography can be one of the best solutions for you to be highlighted by your competitors. The photos can reflect what your restaurant is and tell your story.

The more important it is, the more considerable attention we must take. Unfortunately, not all restaurant owners have a big budget for professional photographers. However, with your camera phone and our tips below, you can significantly change your food pictures.

From some essential tips …

1. Natural light

Everyone talks about the power of natural light, and maybe you have heard it before. But the important thing should be repeated as well. Your photo will look much better in daylight. The flash is to be banned from your gastronomic if you want them well defined. Therefore, it is best to get a table on the terrace of a restaurant or near the window to have the ideal lighting that will allow you to capture your dish.

Source: Taylor Grote (unsplash.com)

2. Angle

As with walk-up photos, it’s all about the angle. Depending on the nature of the dish you ordered, there are two options. The first is to photograph your plate from above. It is ideal for so-called “flat” words such as a pizza, a salad, or several talks in the same shot, such as during a brunch. The second is to take the photo from the side, with an angle (more or less exact) of 45 degrees. This method is perfect for capturing raised dishes like a burger or sushi platter. It allows you to take a picture from your own perspective and give the viewer the impression of being there.

3. The rules of third

It is one of the most well-known rules of photographic composition. The rule of thirds divides your image into nine equal parts with two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. At the intersection of these lines of force, we place the main subject rather than right in the center. The rule helps to draw the viewer’s eye to the subject matter in a visually pleasing way.

Fortunately, most smartphone cameras allow you to use grid lines and follow the rules of thirds when you want to take a photo. So the only thing you need to set up is going into camera settings, looking for “grid” or “grid lines,” and choosing “3×3” if there are multiple options.

… to the more professional ones

4. Focus on your primary food and … breath space

We all say less is more. So the focus should be the food and nothing else if you want your food to be the hero in the shot. So many foods on the plate or many things in a frame are not good. It could be more complicated for the audience to know where they should focus.

And to show more details about your food, get close up. Then you can show the texture, and the food will be more attractive. Like the photo below, you can see the crispy taste of the fried chicken or the sauce’s texture.

Source: Eiliv-Sonas Aceron

5. Food story with the ingredients

Let your food picture tell the story. You can use the ingredients and garnishes to help the audience understand more about the food. You show not only your end product but also how it became.

6. Human elements

Another food storyteller is to add some human action (or movement) in the picture. Instead of a boring photo, human elements can bring a touch of life to your product. Just a tiny change, you can see the efficacy that you would not imagine.

8. Editing your food photos

We need time to edit a perfect photo a little more to have an ideal shot. For example, adjust the lighting, reduce noise, enhance the color, or many things else you could miss when taking a photo. We can recommend some popular applications that are used easily, such as Foodie, Snapseed, or Lightroom. These applications have pre-created filters, and you can profit from them to shoot pictures directly or apply after.

We hope that you can now be more confident in food photography with these tips below. Apply our suggestions and tell the story of your food made by love. Let’s think out of the box and practice as much as possible; you can do it. We await your following products and do not hesitate to share them with us.