Food photography is a relatively new subject yet one of the quickest evolving. Owing to the rise of “Instagramable” images, the endeavor is to capture food in its most appetizing form. We often hear people say “you eat with your eyes first” and that’s exactly the job of a food photographer – Make the food look awesome!

With the rise of social media, came the rise of several niches in photography. However “food photography” as a genre really took off.

Food photographers are expected to deliver both print quality photos and digital images. However, digital is the strongest hook today since we often hear clients speaking about posting the images on Facebook, Instagram, or their website!

Understanding the What the Client Want
For a client to invest in photography services the most common use is advertising – be it online or offline. With e-commerce, there has been a surge in the requirement of images shot against a “white backdrop” where essentially a food item is shot in the same way as a product photo. Clients use these images on their website or different restaurant aggregator sites. White background shots are also easy to use in graphic design, menus, and in-store branding material.

On the other hand, there are clients who come up with the requirements of executing a food shoot specifically for social media! It’s here where the importance of props and style becomes even more important. Another requirement, that emerges often is food photography for editorial coverage. In most such cases, the images that are shot for social media purposes are leveraged for editorial coverage as well.

However clear the client brief is, some food items may not ever look good or appetizing in a plain white setting backdrop. In these cases, the photographer may have to resort to a minimally stylized shot.