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You may have done this, or know someone who does. Don’t be embarrassed, it’s pretty common to see people take photos of their meals before digging in. After all, it’s like how they say “you eat with your eyes first ” – it just goes to show how important photography, and specifically food photography is today.
Once you’ve chosen your preferred social media platform to feature your business, you definitely need content to fill it up. This is where food photography comes in, and no, it is not just “taking your camera, and pointing it at the food!” There’s more skill to it than that. And this article is going to teach you just how to do it!
We don’t even need statistics to prove this – because picture this scenario. There are two newly opened restaurants. Both the restaurants have exactly the same type of menu, but one of the menus has pictures that almost made you drool, but the pictures from the other restaurant are comparatively mediocre. Ask yourself which restaurants will have a longer queue?
For the sceptics, here is a statistic for you – research has been done on restaurants and it was found that restaurants that went from text-based menus to photo-based menus in online ordering increased their conversion rates by 25%. The rationale is simple – visuals give consumers a sense of reassurance of what they can expect to eat, so they are more willing to take the risk of trying it out. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Did you know that people generally remember information better when it is paired together with an illustration? It’s true! When people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. If the image is paired with that same information, people retain 65% of the information three days later. Crazy how images can make such a difference, right?
This just proves that food photography is crucial to help potential customers to not only be aware of your establishment, but actually remember it too!
Visual marketing is on an upward trajectory. As early as 2018, an estimated 84% of communication was visual. If you add pictures to your content, you can actually stand to get 94% more views than without! Food photography is so important especially if you are just starting out, for this can propel your business forward with increased reach, which may translate into increased patronage.
Now, let’s move on to the tips for your food photography!
Use the tools you have – you don’t need fancy equipment! You have a powerful camera right in your pocket. Pick your best looking utensils and cutlery, and frame your store as the backdrop. Most importantly, use natural lighting as much as possible to keep the natural hues which might get altered from the harshness of camera flash. You don’t need expensive lights, let nature do its thing.
This is useful if you are planning out your social media feed.
You need to decide on what kind of aesthetic you want for your photos. Do you want it to be a simple photo that just highlights your food, or do you want to include a certain colour palette?
Would you want the food itself to be themed – for example rainbow themed food displaying the colours, or something that fits a specific occasion or festivities? To be honest, the possibilities here are endless and it really up to how you want to market your brand!
These are things that are worth considering when planning your photos, as well as your social media feed. Generally, if you are planning to use social media for outreach, it will be the biggest factor in creating the first impressions for your potential customers. People will associate your theme with your brand, giving your brand visibility.
Avoid clutter – make your dish the focus. They are the main characters of the story your photo is telling!
Just try not to have too many things in your photo, as it may clash with your main dish. Keep it simple, and just let the food speak for itself.
You can also avoid such clashes by adding items or props in colours that complement the actual dish. This helps the colours to stay balanced. If you want your dish to ‘pop’, you can also consider using a muted background.
If you don’t have much equipment, you don’t need to worry! You can just use your dish as the prop itself.
Play around with the plating of the food. For example, you can switch up the pattern of how you drizzle the syrup for your desserts. The possibilities are endless here too – all you need is some creativity and patience.
You can zoom in further into the food, get up-close-and-personal to show details as well!
Don’t be afraid to try out new angles for your pictures!
Take multiple angles – instead of head on – present food in angles not seen from.
A bird’s-eye-view? An ant’s eye view? Move around your food and show it off – after all, it is what will make customers want to visit your store.
We hope that this article has given you more insight on Food Photography! With these tips, you can get started right away with your journey into creating an amazing social media feed for your store, with better photography, and a real potential to boost sales. You can thank us later! 😉
There are many social media platforms out there – however Facebook still holds the position of the most popular social media network with over 2.9 billion active monthly users as of 2021. You do not have to limit yourself to one platform though! Find out more in our article about the best social media platform to use for your business.
With your food photography tips covered, as a small business owner you definitely have more things to cover. Let us at Qashier help you out with solutions that fit your business needs!
Our all-in-one Point-of-Sales (POS) provides software sleek, compact and portable hardware for F&B/Beauty/Retail stores. Our system covers the full spectrum of functions including
Speak to us to see if Qashier’s Smart POS can meet your business needs. Schedule a meeting with us here, call us at (+65) 3165 0155, WhatsApp (+65) 8882 8912, or email [email protected]/sg.
