Food Photography : Bringing clarity to your brief
Whether you run a restaurant, are a talented chef, or work as a home-cooking influencer - food photography is a great way to inspire and showcase your services, quality and recipes.
However, food photography needs to be carefully considered and well planned, especially if you are looking to create consistent, high-end imagery that fits with your brand identity. Getting it right and ensuring you get tummies rumbling will take a considered brief and a clear outline of what you are looking to achieve. This brief guide will help you:
Find the right photographer for you
Save you, your staff and the photographer time
Get great value for money
Select and maintain appropriate and consistent photography
Yes, writing the perfect brief takes time, but it is well worth doing. Below, I will take you through a number of questions, points and ideas to give you the tools you need to create a successful brief. These prompts will guide and encourage you to carefully consider your options and provide a brief that photographers long for!
Alternatively, you can submit a Food Photography Form to me directly by clicking the button below. If you wish to acquire my services in photography or creative consultancy, this form makes it easier to create a clear and inspiring brief, getting you closer to shooting your new food photography.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR VISION
Give an in-depth insight into your business - the more information you can offer, the better the photographer can fulfil your basic wants and needs for the project.
Your Company
What is the name of your business?
What does your company do?
What are you trying to sell?
Who are you trying to sell to?
Who are your competitors?
What’s your website?
The Project
How many dishes do you need shooting? (A list will need to be provided to attain an estimated cost)
Do you need the method, cooking and ingredients photographed?
Do you need the recipes shot from multiple angles?
Do you want people involved - preparing food or enjoying it?
Are group shots of multiple recipes required?
What is your deadline?
STYLES
Do you have brand guidelines that determine the company’s visual look?
Are you looking for a style that is consistent with existing food photography or do you need a fresh look?
A mood board will help a photographer achieve the look you need/want. If you are uncertain of what you are looking for, all the information you provide in the brief will help the photographer guide you.
Here are some style options you may want to consider. However, be aware that this list is just an overview - there are more styles that combine different options and there really are no rules! However, a knowledge of the basics will help you envision something unique and present your product in the best light!
Ingredients & Provenance:
Ingredients: Raw and fresh ingredients are great for reflecting true quality in the food you use.
Provenance: From foraged to farmed, it’s great to have photography of how and where your ingredients grow. This style of shooting can involve people such as farmers or the chef themselves sourcing and preparing food.
Cooking & Method:
Whether your dish is diced, marinated, proofed, fried or flambéed, a photograph is an amazing opportunity to demonstrate a chef’s skill and craft in cookery.
These shots work well with the chef in the shot, with lots of movement and action to demonstrate energy and passion for food.
Finished Dish:
These are shots of the final masterpiece in all its glory.
Sometimes presented as a single dish, the same dish with a few servings or set as a spread with a variety of meals or sides.
Lifestyle:
These shots are especially useful for restaurants that want lifestyle food photography of food being served and enjoyed by people.
Hands tucking in and groups passing plates offer energy and a feel for the atmosphere of a restaurant or cuisine.
Each style offers a different experience for a customer. You may want to consider shooting in all these styles. Food has a real story to tell when sourced sustainably, prepared with pride and cooked with creativity - and is therefore worth documenting!
PURPOSE
Where and how your images will be presented will dictate the style they need to be shot in. For example: if your website requires banner images then you will want to shoot landscape and if images are also required for Instagram then you may also want portrait options too.
Therefore, ask yourself the following:
Website:
On the shop page are the images landscape, portrait or square?
Do product pages feature a carousel/ multiple images of the same product?
On the blog are the images landscape, portrait or square?
Will these images be used for a banner?
Will the style you want work well with the layout, colours and other content of your website?
Social:
Do the images need to optimise well for square (Instragram) posts or banners (Facebook)?
Will the images fit well with your current Instagram theme?
Print:
Do you require high resolution images for printing purposes?
Do you have strong options for magazines to work with?
Conclusion
If you have a clear idea of what style you would like your photography shot in, we recommend that you create a mood board of images for the photographer to take inspiration from. This mood board will also help you:
Narrow down and choose a photographer whose style is in keeping with your ideas
Create a more direct brief
Create a clear vision
If you are uncertain of the style, then select a skilled photographer who is willing to take the time to get to know your business and create a mood board that is befitting to your branding. The process of creating an accurate mood board is crucial to the brief and will make the success of the project more feasible.
Now that you have answered and considered these questions you should be well on your way to forming a detailed and useful 2-3 page document for your photographer.
If you would like to work together, you can fill in the briefing form (see below) to submit your brief to me directly.