Food and social media go together like bread and butter, gin and tonic, chocolate and almost anything. Foodies can’t resist scrolling through their digital feeds, looking for new feeding possibilities. Whilst restaurant websites still have a place, consumers are much more likely to be drooling over Instagram posts than pouring over web pages when looking for culinary inspiration and new dining destinations.
The hashtag #food is used on Instagram over 250 million times a day, so in such a popular and increasingly saturated market, how can you create stand-out content to capture the hearts, minds, and stomachs of potential customers?
Recent research from Barclaycard Payments, a UK payments provider, showed that on average, people spend 40 minutes researching restaurants on social media before booking, with food presentation topping the list of most important content, followed by decor. And good content doesn’t just increase hunger. It also ups profits, with diners saying they would be willing to pay around £28 (US $35) more per head when eating out if the content they browsed beforehand was appealing.
Angles - Different dishes need different poses
Think about what you are actually photographing and adjust the angle accordingly. Is it something fairly flat, on a flat plate? Think pizza, pasta, salad, grilled fish, etc. Then most of the time, shooting from above will probably show it off to the best advantage. Is it a juicy burger, a layered sandwich, a fabulous cake, or a cocktail? Angle your shot to show each component off in all its gastronomic glory. Turn on the grid function on your camera or phone to help with the overall composition of a shot, and play around with centering or off-centering the food to see which works best.
Lighting - Keep it natural
The way a picture is lit can make a world of difference. Daylight is absolutely the best bet for food photography, so try and take your shots by a window, or outside. Gloriafood.com recommends shooting when it is cloudy, to make the light softer and keep the shadows more subtle. The same effect could be achieved by shooting near a frosted window, or with very lightweight curtains or blinds drawn. Ask whoever is taking the shots to wear a white top - this helps to ensure the light bouncing off them is also as soft.
For iced drinks or desserts, it is also worth trying a shot in a more direct light, trying to capture the frost of a glass or dish. Perhaps wait until a single bead of condensation rolls down the outside of a chilled beverage and capture that as a short video or GIF to have viewers picturing the refreshment of it and flocking in to cool off. For darker, colder weather shots, especially drinks, try soft lamp light or candles, to give a feeling of coziness.
For all shots, avoid the use of flash, which will make even the tastiest of treats and plushest of surroundings look flat and harsh.
Props - Less is more
When you want your signature dish to be the star of the show, the best bet is usually to keep props to a minimum. Plain crockery will keep the focus on the food, as will simple wooden boards, but if you offer special dishes on specific show-stopping plates or unusual bowls, make sure you capture that as part of the picture. Try shooting complete dishes without cutlery in the picture, but also experiment with adding it to shots where the intended effect is a bite already taken. This is particularly good if you want to showcase the filling of pies, cakes, or other desserts.
Like the iced drinks, you might want to try shooting short videos or GIFs to show an egg yolk gently running over a brunch dish, or the liquid centre of a dessert flowing enticingly as it is cut into. Perhaps even a pinch of seasoning being added as a final flourish. And of course, make sure any hand showing in such shots is as immaculately presented as the dish itself!
Background - Enhance without overtaking
Much like props, less is more when it comes to most backgrounds. As a general rule, lighter backgrounds work well with lighter food, and darker with dark foods. Natural materials like marble, wood, and linen leave the food as the star, whereas polished metal surfaces, particularly with more dramatic lighting, can add drama to cocktails.
Equipment - Experiment with options
If you have access to a good quality digital camera, try shooting on that to give the best possible quality to your shots. Of course, a lot of smartphones now have photographic capabilities to rival even some professional standard cameras, so you can get stunning results using them too. Try taking the same shot on a couple of different models, if you can. Different brands might excel at different types of shots, or have the ability to adjust focus or contrast in ways that make certain dishes pop.
Editing - Keep it subtle
There are some great photo editing apps, as well as tools within Instagram and other platforms themselves, that can take a shot from good to outstanding. Stay away from over-filtering though, as diners want the true essence of your offering to be visible. Instead, try tweaking the colour balance, contrast, and focus slightly, to make your food pop.
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