10 Secrets of Food Photography
Incorporating visuals into your signage is often a great way to attract eyeballs and invoke emotion. Especially if you are incorporating food photographs, it is important that they look as appealing as possible. Multinational food chains typically hire professional “food stylists” in order to make ice cream looks its most refreshing or to make a steak look its most tender and mouth-watering. Smaller, more local establishments, typically don’t have this kind of budget – but with a few tips from the pros, they too can have tempting food photos.
Here are 10 secrets to help make your food photography a success:
Invoke emotion: A photograph is not just something nice to go along with the message. It is part of the message Signage for a fine dining establishment should invoke different
feelings than signage from a kid friendly fast food joint with a play area. Use your food photograph to encourage positive memories in your audience along with making their mouth water. Have great lighting: Many restaurants have dim lighting to enhance the ambiance. But when you’re taking photographs of food, poor lighting can make even the most scrumptious dish look unappetizing. For this reason many professional food stylists will use a studio – but barring that, natural sunlight also works very well. Shaving cream instead of whipped cream – What to capture a shot of a tempting dessert? Try replacing the whipped cream with shaving cream. You’ll get a better picture and no one will be the wiser. Lard instead of ice cream – the tastiest looking “ice cream” photographs are actually pictures of lard mixed with icing sugar and food coloring. Salt your beer – Add a sprinkle of salt to a glass of beer, to get the bubbles going. In your photo, the beer will look as though it’s fresh from the tap. Add some color – Some dishes, like fish and chips can look rather blah if that’s all there is on the plate. Add a splash of color with a lemon wedge and sprig of parsley to give the photo more visual interest. Add some glisten – Ever noticed how moist and delicious food in professional photography looks? You can get the same effect using a spray bottle. For cold dishes like salads, spritz a little water on the dish. For hot dishes, do the same thing with a bit of cooking oil. Paint the berries red – Get rid of white spots on strawberries, by adding some matching lipstick to them. Scotch guard your pancakes – Want the perfect pancake shot? Spray them with a bit of Scotch Guard first! This will cause the syrup to flow over them rather than being absorbed into them. And for the perfect pancake stack, insert pieces of cardboard between the pancakes. Don’t neglect the hands – if you’re photo is going to include someone’s hands as they are preparing or serving the dish, make sure they get a manicure first. Even the roughest of chefs should have neatly trimmed and clean fingernails in order to provide the best possible image.
Have some fun experimenting with food photography and see how it improves your signage. See more at: http://signworld.org/10-secrets-of-food-photography/