Are you running a food business? Is it lacking in F&B marketing and F&B branding? Well, fret not, because here are 15 marvelous tips for you to use and learn from before you wear the shoes of the friendly neighborhood food photographer!

#1 Choose the Right Camera Settings

Knowing what your camera needs, and how you can use its abilities to the fullest is step 1 to mastering food photography. Most people use a Nikon or Canon. Fujifilm and Sony are also other options.

What you need to do, is figure out the right accessories and the right settings to use – stuff like how wide or narrow the lens needs to be and the modes that allow the perfect shutter speeds.

Shutter speed refers to how fast or slow the shutter of your camera opens and closes. If the shutter speed is slow, it will allow more light to let in and will result in a bright and vivid picture. But if the shutter speed is faster, lesser light will get in and you will end up with a darker picture.

#2 Use Your Imagination

As I’m sure you already know, F&B marketing isn’t just limited to posting photographs of your food online. You have to REALLY get into the creative mindset. Is the decoration good enough? Is the garnishing placed neatly and beautifully? Is the color composition attractive and alluring enough?

Question everything on the plate and rack your brain towards what your delicious dish is lacking in appearance and what more can be added to it – or removed from it; after all, simplicity IS key ;).

#3 Consult a Professional

Contacting someone who participates in F&B marketing and food photography on a daily basis can be just what your business needs! Run your ideas by them to make sure that you’re not missing something or doing something too extra. And don’t hesitate to ask for their help when your mind is blank either, just trust the experts. They know what they’re doing!

#4 Use a Tripod

Since I discussed camera accessories earlier, it is probably best to highlight the most popular and useful one: a tripod. This device saves you from shaky and blurry pictures while also allowing you to examine the picture in a much better and more clear way. It can also encourage you to come up with more ideas to enhance your food photography techniques!

#5 Experiment with Multiple Angles

Getting the perfect angle will score you a magnificently mouth-watering picture for your newsfeed! Click photographs from the top, bottom, and side of the plate and see what works best and makes it look more pleasing to the eyes.

Not only this but also remember to experiment with different lighting and props.

#6 Know your Goals

What is the purpose of your business or restaurant? What is your origin story? What type of food do you serve? Are you trying to become a professional and partner with other brands? Or are you just doing food photography for the sake of letting your business to take part in F&B marketing and F&B branding? Decisively answer these questions and keep them in mind while attempting to take the perfect photograph!

#7 Choose the Perfect Background:

Knowing what complements your dish is essential. We talked about the stuff like garnishing and decoration, that should be ON the plate. Now, let’s talk about what should be AROUND the plate.

Buy or design a bunch of props that you think would go with the dish or the theme of your business. Once you have figured out the angle of the picture, determine what the background is and what could be added to it to make your food look more stunning.

#8 Paint a Picture

What message are you trying to spread? Think of the camera as a paintbrush – paint a picture with the things in front of you; food and all! Just provide the write colors and props, and let the food narrate its own story!

#9 The Perfect Lighting

The perfect lighting is natural lighting. And if your surroundings don’t provide that easily, get an artificial light that can act as the natural one. The right lighting will not only illuminate the food on the plate but will also make your picture a thousand times more tempting!

#10 Color Compositions

Getting the colors right will only enhance your F&B branding. Be the judge of your surroundings and the food, and determine which colors in props, plating, garnishing, sauces, editing, and the background will be impeccable.

#11 Edit! Edit!! Edit!!!

It’s really not as complicated as one might think – you just have to download an app or two and mess around with the brightness, saturation, (and more), until you find your style and what suits the picture best.

And if you are entirely foreign to the world of editing, there are always YouTube tutorials and lessons to familiarize yourself with the subject to give your pictures the extra something they need to stun your audience!

You would be wasting your opportunities and talents as a food photographer if you don’t edit the pictures you click.

Recommended post: 8 Major responsibilities of a food photographer in Singapore

#12 Form a Team

Gather at least four to five people from the team behind your food business and work with them. Jot down the ideas on a notebook and brainstorm for a good amount of time – the more, the merrier. Remember, F&B branding is not a one-man job!

Collect as many big-brain ideas as you can, and save them so you can use them in the future as well.

#13 Fresh as a Daisy

Of course, you won’t be photographing some stale food that has been sitting in the fridge for a few days, but you shouldn’t be using soggy or “somewhat” stale either.

Be sure of the fact that even the ingredients that you use to cook up those dishes are fresh as well.

#14 Explore Other Works

Explore the work of other food photographers and pay attention to the techniques they have used to improve their pictures. This will not only give you more ideas but will also help you discover new tricks to exploit and have fun with while posing as a food photographer yourself.

#15 Shoot your Customers! (not literally)

And last but not the least, including your customers and the visitors of your restaurant in the pictures will add that missing sense of trust and reliability.

When any new potential customers will find your page while browsing the internet, looking at another foodie next to one of your amazing dishes will only instill more trust in their hearts and minds towards your food and hospitality.

Recommended post: 12 Ways to promote your restaurant on social media platforms