Stimulating the Senses with Product Photography Our Approach to Photographing Food

Product photography plays a major role in marketing, and a number of our commissions have involved photographing food. In London alone, there are well over 5,500 restaurants, not to mention bars, pubs, hotels, cafes and takeaways offering delights from all over the globe. With so many eateries competing against one another and with new businesses emerging all the time, tempting and innovative product photography goes a long way to helping to entice diners into a London establishment.

Consumers are exposed to pictures of food on a daily basis – on menus, posters, leaflets, brochures, and online. Commercial food photography is not just restricted to beautifully prepared restaurant meals, it springs up in all sorts of places from cookery books and blogs to packaging and shop advertising. Appealing snaps of fresh vegetables, meat, baked bread, delicious cakes and scrumptious cooked dishes go a long way to attracting hungry customers and we have 30 years experience in this field.

Food photography is a fairly complex art that involves many different aspects including composition, presentation, lighting, texture, and getting the correct angle. The key to product photography in London and elsewhere in the UK, is in the detail – the way the light shines, a spritz of water on a fresh vegetable, or a loaf of granary bread set against a textured, rustic background  – can all make the difference to whether a consumer decides to part with their money or not. Here, Stillview takes a brief look at just some of the key things we take into consideration when photographing food. 

Product Photography London – Click here to take a look at colourful examples from Stillview's food and drink portfolio.

Presentation and composition – A major influence on whether or not we buy a product is the way it is presented. As food photographers, we look to display the food in context and to think about what sort of market it will attract. An upmarket sushi restaurant, for example, is aimed at the sophisticated dinner, and sushi and minimalism goes hand in hand. So, with this in mind, one way to present a dish is to line up a few pieces of sushi on a contrasting, Eastern inspired plate, place matching chopsticks by the side and add a creative, decorative garnish to bring out the colour of the ingredients. This approach not only shows the food itself, but suggests a complete dining experience.

Food photography should fuel the imagination. With cakes or biscuits, again, it is important to think about the market they need to attract. Cakes or biscuits that are brightly coloured or decorated are generally aimed at children and could be piled high and haphazardly on a plate with a few sweets placed alongside. Cakes aimed at the older, adult market, could be presented on an attractive cake stand, or served on a polished silver tea tray.

In our approach to photography, we also think about how to bring out the flavours in the food to make a picture even more alluring. With a strawberry cake, for instance, a few strawberries by the side is an appealing addition; for a lemon cake, a few slices of lemon can make all the difference.  All sorts of props can be used to show the food in its best light including cutlery and crockery, furniture, garnishes, herbs, spices, condiments, fruit and vegetables. In photography, only the imagination is the limit!

With food, the composition doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect. For instance, it may be that during the course of a shoot, one or two cake crumbs fall on to the plate. Instead of brushing them off, crumbs that appear in the picture may make a positive difference to the finished result.

When we are approaching a food shot for a menu or brochure, we also take into account the description of the product: in other words, the food should be presented in a similar way to how the customer would receive it. If a customer gets three pieces of salmon on a plate for a starter, for example, it is important not to mislead them by adding more as they will expect to receive what they see on the menu. 

Texture and background – Just as above when we have talked about putting food in context, texture can play a big part in this. A country stew may be placed on a rustic wooden table, and a home cooked cake could be served on a doily or plate that stands on a pretty lace tablecloth. This all adds to the composition and fuels the taste buds as it serves to stimulate four of the five senses – sight, taste, touch and smell.

The background is just as important in a food or drink picture and again, it should be very much part of the overall context. An example of this is our picture of the Lemon Refresher drink. It shows drink on a table with cricketers in the background, which demonstrates that the product makes a refreshing break on a summer’s day. On the other hand, the company’s Spiced Ginger drink is set against the background of a cosy fire and evokes thoughts of drinking it indoors on a relaxing, but chilly evening. Food is a play on the senses and both these pictures stimulate all five senses as you can also imagine the loud ‘pop’ of the ball hitting the bat or the comforting noise of the fire crackling in the hearth.

Angle, focus and lighting – Photographing food is not just about taking a picture from eye height before moving onto the next shot: food can be taken from various angles. While some shots look best from a low angle and close up, others look better photographed directly above, or from the side. We are able to experiment with a range of angles and presentations to achieve exactly the result our clients are looking for.

In the same way, it is important to be creative and imaginative with the lens and to not always show the whole shot in sharp focus. It may be that a picture is improved further if one object stands out more than another – such as a plate of biscuits with the one in the foreground in sharp focus and the remainder in soft focus. Or, it could be that a dish and accompanying drink is best presented against a blurred background.

Lighting is another major consideration, although we will only briefly touch on it here. A top trick is to make the most of natural light, as and where we can, and to avoid using a flash at all costs as this will only make the food look flat.

For high quality product photography and food photography, contact the experts at Stillview. Just click on the link to find out more about Stillview and to see our commercial portfolio.