5 Food Photography Tips for Social Media

If you haven’t been incorporating photos of your dishes into posts, now is the time to start! With limited seating available in most areas, a great photo can be what draws a customer to the table.

You don’t need to be a professional photographer to take a great photo. With just your smart phone and a little patience, you can take great photos that draw customers in. Here are a few tips for getting the perfect shot:

 

1. Keep Your Background Clean & Simple

You want the background you are photographing against to have a color contrast with your food. Wood can be a good neutral background to shoot against for food photography. When in doubt, stick to a white background.

 

2. Use Natural Lighting

Whenever possible, take your photo using natural lighting. For this reason, it is usually best to take your photos during the day and near a window where you can get plenty of natural light. Turn off any overhead lighting that would get into your shot. You can view a full video series on taking professional quality food photos for social media with your smart phone, including how to best use natural lighting, through Unilever’s UFS Academy here.

 

3. Play with Angles

There is no one-size-fits-all shot that works best for food photography. An overhead shot will flatten the depth of your dish and allow you to get a lot more into the frame than if you were photographing at an angle. Foods that are “stacked” such as burgers, pancakes, or other tall foods should be shot head-on so you can get a good view of their layers.

 

4. Evaluate Your Props

Before you set a prop into your photo, ask yourself if it’s serving you. If it’s not part of the story you want to tell or the general aesthetic at your restaurant, take it out of your shot.

 

5. Make the Proper Edits

You might feel like you’ve taken the perfect photo, only to realize it does not look quite as professional as you imagined. Luckily, most smart phones have photo editing tools built right in that will let you adjust the shadows, highlights, exposure, and more! You can also download some professional or free programs for photo editing on your computer. You can find a list of popular options here. You’ll also want to adjust sizing depending on what platform you are posting your photo to. Keep in mind a photo posted to Instagram will need to be square!

 

You’re ready to get started!

Customers are waiting to see your mouth-watering meals. Show them!

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