5 Tips for taking amazing food photos with your phone
Unlike food marketers of old that used stylized drawings to advertise, photography and videos are how modern marketing happens. High quality visuals are a huge part of how items are sold to consumers and how loyal customers are created. Platforms like instagram, tik tok, and twitter use these visuals to market to their customer base. Old school marketing was heavy on print ads, and more modern ways focus on blogs, online media platforms, influencers, and being more inventive with campaigns. And we all know how the saying goes - we eat with our eyes first. This is why how you photograph your food matters.
Hiring a professional photographer will give you a variety of shots for your website, email marketing, instagram, etc, but sometimes you’ve got to take some shots of your own to fill in the in between. Picture this, you’ve just had a big launch or holiday season, but now you’ve got to take some shots of your own to keep showing up and staying present on your customers minds. Taking better photos with your phone will keep your feed looking on brand and cohesive when mixed with professional photography.
5 tips to take better shots with your phone:
Angle
Lighting
Check what’s in the frame
Find your focus
Double check shots
Let’s break them down -
Angle - Look at your food or product from all angles and find the best angles that keep it looking flattering. Don’t zoom in too close as it can make things look unflattering and leave your customers wondering what they are looking at. Take at least 3 shots - straight on, overhead, and 45 degrees. This will give you lots of options and ability to reuse content without filling your feed with the same photo.
Lighting - Find a window and let it light up your food. Making sure that your photos aren’t too dark will help to highlight the deliciousness you’ve worked so hard on. No matter if the sun is shining bright or it is shaded by clouds - being near a window will help to make your food look extra delicious! Watch for overhead lights; they will cast weird shadows on your plates. Try to avoid it when possible.
What’s in the frame? - Is there a dirty napkin? Smudges on the plate? Are your garnishes wilted? Cream drooping? All of these things can make your food look less than appetizing. Be sure to wait to garnish until just before taking the photo. If the item is sauced, hold off until just before snapping a picture. Make sure your surface is clean. If you don’t have a backdrop, no worries - just make sure the food is the main item in the frame. Take a step back if needed to capture the full dish.
Find your focus - not all food works great with the portrait mode. It can blur parts of the dish and make it look less than appetizing. Are you too close? If you didn’t know what was in the picture could you describe it? This may seem silly, but if you focus on a part of the dish that isn’t very flattering it won’t be appetizing to your customers. These photos will be your customers first experience with your food or product. It will benefit you to take a bit of extra time to make it look its best!
Double check your photos - This may seem like a no brainer, but if you take your shots and don’t give them a quick double check when you go to post them you may realize that they aren’t conveying what you need. You’ll be left with less than ideal images. It will save you a hell of a lot of time to just double check before moving on so that you know you’ve got great content to share.
When it comes to selling your food to customers, the photos matter. There are tons of options for what you can capture when it comes to your food or product. They can convey a happy customer enjoying your food, the dish or treat itself, a full table of delicious food ready to be devoured, or perhaps even some of the ingredients. The important thing to remember is that the photo needs to be a clear representation of what the customer will be enjoying when they come to your space or buy from you and take home.
These 5 simple tips will help to make it that much easier for you to capture and share what you bring to your customers!!
Go forth and snap some quality photos & get those sales.
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