Restaurant & food photography

The session happens before service or on a closed day. That is the only way the kitchen can plate one dish at a time for the camera and the photographer can move a table to the window, where most food is photographed. The dish list and the shooting order are agreed with the chef in advance, so plates arrive fresh: anything that wilts, melts or foams goes first, braises and rice dishes later. Hero dishes are photographed from more than one angle, and the remaining time covers drinks, hands at work in the kitchen, the team and the room.

Thirty finished photographs sounds small next to a full menu, and it is deliberately so. A restaurant usually needs strong images of the dishes that sell, not a catalogue of every plate, and a 3-hour session spent on fewer dishes produces pictures that hold up on a printed menu as well as a phone. Files come in square, vertical and horizontal crops; each delivery app publishes its own image rules, so check them before the day.

The chef plates as for a guest, and the photographer adjusts angle, garnish and light. A separate food stylist is worth adding for packaged products, cookbooks or advertising, and is quoted on its own. For a whole hotel with several outlets, hotel photography covers the property; for short video of the kitchen for social channels, the social content service adds clips.