This blog reflects on what influences our food choices and how can we use imagery as a powerful marketing tool.
Food. Is there anything that can conjure up memories of childhood, turn a simple meeting into a celebration, comfort and sustain us as much as cake or a dish of wholesome stew? Food is more than just an essential means of survival; it unites us; it stimulates all our senses, and it evokes a visceral, emotional response. As José Andrés said, "Food is memories". But if you are in the food business, how can you provoke these emotional responses by a two-dimensional image of your product and in a digital world awash with mobile phone images of seemingly every meal ever eaten, how do you make your food product stand out?
The use of props is a simple way to help capture the atmosphere of a home cooked meal, a high-end restaurant experience or a handmade sweet-treat such as this image of freshly baked mince pies with the added use of movement (in the dusting of icing sugar) to suggest a comforting Christmas baking session.
In addition to using those props that are in actual use during the manufacturing process, you can hunt out attractive, traditional utensils such as spoons, plates or brass cookware in second hand or charity shops. For this image of a chocolate and hazelnut bake I used an old, battered baking tray which was destined for the skip and I really like the dark and moody effect created.
Taking this idea further; the strategic placement of ingredients in photographs can help inspire confidence in your potential customer that your product is fresh and made using quality raw materials. I love carefully arranging eggshells, chocolate slivers, flour, orange segments so they look like they have just been used in the bake or meal.
A more direct mechanism to involve the viewer and to establish your hospitality business as a high end, creative environment using the very freshest ingredients is to actually capture the chef or baker in action. Having experience in photographing chefs at work in many different types of kitchens I am full of admiration of their agility and speed working under extreme pressures. I use a very mobile, compact lighting setup so I can get the very best effects in a tight often dark space whilst making sure I stay out of the way of those in the kitchen.
Photographing the finished meals helps complete the story and again I have the best equipment to allow me to use various angles and perspectives to make the food look as inviting as possible and to help the viewer experience the dining experience. After all, as the Irish Proverb says, "Laughter is brightest in the place where the food is."
I hope this gives you some ideas on how to make the most of your food based product but if you are interested in clean, fresh and contemporary imagery that capture more than just a product to really make a difference in growing your business get in touch and see how I can help you at contact@largeaslifephotography.com . I can offer a range of packages to ensure that your content is updated regularly and would love to hear from you.
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