I vividly remember a riveting dialogue with a local restaurant owner in my early days as a food photographer. I told him what I do and how I can help his business and he asked me to send along my portfolio as a first step. Fast forward to a few days and he calls me back and goes: “Sahil, I really enjoyed going through your work but I’m not entirely sure if I really need professional food photos. My server uses his iPhone and takes our pictures. Why don’t you educate me a little as to why this service would even be of use to me?” A completely reasonable rebuttal, I thought, and walked him through some of the key reasons why high quality imagery is extremely vital for any food business. That conversation then made me dive a bit deeper as a photographer as well as draw from my own experiences as a consumer, thereby serving as the catalyst for this article.
1) Be Seen In A Visually Driven World
Did you know that us humans are amazingly adept at remembering pictures way more than just plain text? We hear about a new piece of information and 3 days later, we’ll remember no more than 10% of it. Throw a picture in the mix and we’ll remember a whopping 65% (source: http://www.brainrules.net/vision). Don’t overlook the value of good quality food photography for your business since you may run the risk of compromising your brand image. Research from Skyword suggests that if your content includes compelling imagery, you could average 94% more views than your mundane counterparts which is a massive metric to go by since the last thing you’d want is for your content/brand messaging to be lost in an already crowded visual world.
2) All You Have Is 0.05 Seconds
Let’s face it: First impressions really do matter and people form an impression in all of 0.05 seconds. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve decided against trying a new restaurant simply on the basis of their food pictures. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that you always need super fancy photos with elaborate styling and vintage props and the whole nine yards but a well lit, well composed and approachable photo showcasing the quality of your product goes a long way and heavily influences buying decisions, whether you like it or not. Without diving into too much detail, I can tell you food photography is a technical and time consuming process and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell apart a professional shot from an amateur one that has been rushed up just to get something out there (poor resolution, confused focus and lack of composition are some of the common traits of such shots and we've all seen those). I’ll move away from food for a second. Think of the last time you were out shopping: You look at a beautiful storefront and within seconds, you’ve formed a perception of that brand and before you know it, you’re already in their doors. That’s window dressing for you. In contrast, if you come across a storefront with falling mannequins (I’ve seen that), dusty display and just overall lack of passion in showcasing the best of their pieces, you’d probably think it’s a shady store and overlook it if not cringe. It may have the best designs in the world but in that moment, you as a customer weren’t impressed and lost trust without even building it. Much like retail, the culinary world is no different and relies heavily on first impressions and window dressing.
3) Boost Your Shareability
According to PewResearch, 35 percent of people on the internet are willing to share images they find on the web. Personally, if I like a food picture, I usually share it right away with my wife and friends either on WhatsApp or Instagram (DM/tag) Think of this as new-age bookmarking! As a food business, there couldn’t be a better way for you to organically promote your product and eventually boost sales.
I’m sure you would have heard the phrase “people eat with their eyes first”. In my case, my eyes look at and fantasize the food, I gorge and I’m holding my stomach since I’ve eaten so much of it. All through the eyes. Let me give you a real life example: The Mrs. and I were on our way back from a Diwali (a massive Indian festival also known as the festival of lights) dinner and I had eaten beyond capacity. (Hey don’t judge; we all do that sometimes!) As I was browsing through my Instagram feed, I stumbled upon a tantalizing pasta shot posted by Via Cibo, an Italian eatery here in North York. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I was on their website, shared the photo with my wife and a couple of our friends and we were at the outlet the very next day! Bottom line is that although I was far from being hungry at the time I saw that picture, I immediately thought, okay this is a dish that I have to try. Now had that been a dull picture without a story as opposed to a professional shot urging action, I may very well have reflexively missed it on my feed.
4) Be In Google’s Good Books
Google’s algorithm loves original & high quality photos and they are key to healthy SEO. When I first started out, I was naive to think that all food businesses use their own photos. To me, that was a given, until I actually met people who told me they were using stock photos on their websites. Stock images are fantastic for personal projects or corporate PPTs but they are far from ideal for a food business since they can, at best, be a semblance of your product but it ISN’T YOUR ACTUAL PRODUCT and that less-than-accurate representation can be misleading for your customers. Your pictures need to tell your story and stock shots can’t possibly achieve that no matter how good they are. Moreover, original pictures can help you rank up in Google image search and if your potential customers like what they see, they’ll be drawn to trace back to your website and eventually convert. Isn’t that your penultimate goal?
5) Witnessing A Photoshoot Could Be An Exciting Experience For Your Team As Well As Customers
In my opinion, people love BTS (behind the scenes) stuff! I know I always have. Even before I got into professional photography, I was the kid in a candy store that enjoyed being around a film/still set, enthralled by the process & the hustle-bustle. We were on a full-day restaurant shoot a couple of weeks back and the last slot of the day was reserved for cocktail shots. Actually before I move forward, when I say we, I’m referring to myself and my wife (who is also my partner in creative crime and often assists me with styling). Anyway, back to the story. So, the establishment sent their best bartender to help us with the mixing and we actually ended up using his services as a hand model (yup, that’s a real thing!) Although our sketches for that particular scene didn’t have any hand shots. we improvised since both of us loved his tattoo and thought it would make for a far more dynamic frame (see the image above). In fact, he found the process so engaging that he ended up staying a little while longer.
Many a time, I’ve had patrons of a cafe/restaurant gather around our setup all fascinated and sometimes even give me live feedback as they watch the screen. I live for days like these! Owners, for the most part, don’t mind this since we make it a point to never be in the way of daily operations and mostly since we abstain from using any artificial chemicals to add any extra zing to the shots. I mean sure I’ll use water spritzers every now and then to give an extra lease of life to them greens or some cooking oil to glisten those meats but no motor oil I promise. Which means that a majority of shoot-food doesn’t go to waste and is edible for consumption so you can even have a little staff party at the end of the shoot.
6) BONUS: Reuse, Recycle, Repeat
You have the opportunity to own highly engaging pieces of content when you work with me and the best part is that you can feature these photos on your website, share them on your social media accounts and blogs, use them in your email newsletters, print them on menus, flyers, standees, tent cards or even on outdoor banners. You get the point; the ways you can use these pictures are endless.
All said and done, you want your food photos to evoke emotions and reflect the same amount of passion that you have for your product. Can you do it yourself and save some money? You most definitely can but it is for you to decide whether the quality compromise and opportunity cost is worth it for your business.
I am a food & beverage photographer based out of Toronto and would love to tell your brand story. Take a look at my portfolio and if you like what you see, give me a shout (sahilkharbandaa@gmail.com) for a no-fee consult about your next project. An essential part of my workflow is also a pre-production meeting (video/in-person) with you & your team to scope out project specifics including but not limited to lighting, desired aesthetics, location, props and most importantly, timelines.
I couldn't find a more befitting conclusion to this article than by quoting the legendary TV personality Andrew Zimmern: “Food is good. Food with a story is better. Food with a story you’ve never heard of is best of all, and food with a story you’ve never heard of but that you can relate to is the holy grail”