If you are in the restaurant business, it is likely you've spent a good amount of time considering (and reconsidering) the design of your menu. The menu is, after all, one of the first things a person sees when visiting your establishment, and a poor presentation has the potential to turn them off to your business immediately.
So what's in a good menu? Well, tasty food is a good start. However, those foods' descriptions and their readability should also be taken into account. Finally, we must point out that every good restaurant menu include pictures of the meals being offered.
That said, simply putting a plate of food on the table and snapping a photo with your phone isn't going to cut it. While it's probably safe to say that your food presentation is top-notch, there is more than good presentation that goes into getting those mouth-watering menu images you see in the best eateries. Because mouth-watering is definitely what you are going for, menu photography is something you will want to leave to the professionals.
Want to know what a professional photographer can do for your food that you can't? Check out the list below.
Training
To begin with, professional photographers are well-trained on how to make everything they shoot look appealing. This applies to food just as it does to anything else.
Photographers have the know-how needed to find just the right lighting to show off the tempting qualities of your food. Not only that, but they also have the ability to create that perfect lighting should the natural lighting be lacking.
By using their extensive knowledge, a professional photographer can find all the best angles. Angles are an important part of a picture, and photographers know just which ones to shoot from in order to ensure you get the most delicious pictures possible.
Equipment
A professional photographer will come equipped with all the right tools to display, light, and shoot your food in the most flattering way possible. With a variety of lenses to choose from and a high-quality camera to work with, they will be able to capture every delicious detail of your menu items, ensuring visitors can see the textures of each item and imagine just how amazing their selection will taste and feel as they take their first bite.
Additionally, tools such as tripods, light boxes, and portable lights all help in the creation of these succulent images.
Tricks
In addition to training and equipment, professional photographers also have a handful of tricks up their sleeves when it comes to food photography. We have ways of making fluffy foods appear even fluffier, and moist foods seem even more moist. Not only are delicious details shown in professional photographs, they are actually exaggerated and emphasized in order to avoid the flat, bland look so often captured by simple snapshots of food items.
If you don't believe that professional photography can make a serious difference when it comes to the look and feel of your menu, we encourage you to snap some photos of your own and compare them to pictures you find in various menus at local eateries. It's likely you'll see just how important this aspect of menu building can be.
Are you ready to invest in commercial photography for your menu or another aspect of your business? We would love to be of assistance.
Here at Miceli Productions, we offer only the highest-quality service and all of our finished images are 100% edited and ready for press. Knowing this, you can feel confident in your decision to work with us. Please contact us today for more information!