When done well, food photography can have you salivating over the image before you, it can look so real, and so delicious that you can even smell the food in front of you. A great food shot can be a powerful tool that speaks to the senses and makes you want to taste the food whether it is an image in a book, on a social media platform like Instagram, an item on a menu, or simply a food advert in a magazine, or on the television. Of course, a bad food photo can have the completely opposite effect, and instead, send you running for the hills.
If you are looking for inspiration for your food photography, then why not check out some of the amazing photos of food on free online photo-sharing websites. Or, if you are wondering about the uses of food photography in a commercial environment then read on as we look at the top 3 uses for food photography.
1. Cookbooks
Whilst some types of books may be decreasing in popularity, cookbooks still remain an incredibly strong seller in most bookshops. Whilst the title and writer of a cookbook may well be the initial thing that attracts a potential buyer, there is a bit more to it than that. People who purchase cookbooks want amazing recipes that they can recreate at home to wow their families, and this means clear instructions and plenty of step-by-step images to go along with that.
The clincher however for many people is being able to see the finished product and a color image of the finished dish can be enough to make the sale. Cookbooks with wonderful images of every recipe and also a fantastic cover shot have a way of luring people in and making them want to try recipes and therefore buy the book.
The same can be said for recipes on the internet. How often have you googled a recipe only to dismiss several options because there was no image of the finished dish, or worse still an awful photo of the finished dish that didn’t instill confidence?
2. Cookery inspiration
There is nothing better than trying new ingredients and experimenting in the kitchen and food photography in advertising can be a very powerful tool when it comes to making us experiment. Food photography is also really important when it comes to the ingredients, meal kits, and even ready meals that you pick up from the supermarket. The packaging usually offers you more than just an image of the actual product.
Quite often there will be a glossy picture of the item as you might expect to see it when cooked with, often plated up nicely and with accompanying items as well – usually labeled as a serving suggestion. If the image is just off the ingredient in question it will have been taken in such a way that the image does not look flat but rather leaps off the packaging to entice you.
3. Menus
If you have ever read a menu and wondered what a dish actually looks like, perhaps because the description is a little vague or unusual, then this is where the third use comes in. Restaurants often illustrate their menu with stunning food photography of dishes that will make you salivate whilst reading the menu. This is particularly true of the takeaway menu you might get from your favorite restaurant, there are often images where the menu in the restaurant didn’t have any. You might be surprised to learn that research suggests that adding images to a menu has a positive effect on the attitude of the consumer towards those choices.
Whether you’re looking to use food photography for your own business, or want to photograph food for a living, hopefully now you have an idea of the impact of great food photography.
