Food photography: shooting food for restaurants and brands

Food photography for restaurants and food brands works when each image is planned for the place where it will appear: a menu, a delivery platform, packaging or social media. Food stays fresh for only a short time, so the styling and the order of the shots decide the result as much as the light does.

If you are looking for food photography in Athens, start with a list: which dishes or products, for which channels, in which formats. The plan for the day comes out of that list.

A food photo that sells conveys texture, freshness and atmosphere, and shows the portion honestly. The customer should understand what they are going to eat before they read the description.

What each use needs

• Menu: the same angle, the same light and the same tableware for every dish, so the menu reads as a whole and does not look improvised, however good the images are one by one. For a printed menu you need high-resolution files; for a digital or QR menu, lighter versions.
• Delivery platforms: the image appears small, often in a list next to other venues. The dish must be recognisable at a glance, with a clean composition and few props. Each platform has its own guidelines on dimensions, framing and text on the image, so check the current ones before the shoot.
• Packaging: accurate colour, high resolution and a frame with room for the logo and text. Agree the shape and dimensions in advance with whoever is designing the packaging.
• Social: vertical frames for the feed and Stories, close-ups that show texture, and shots with movement, such as a slice being cut or a sauce being poured. These also work as Reels, the short vertical videos on Instagram and Facebook.

These channels do not need the same images. A hero dish for a campaign can have rich styling and atmosphere, while the same portion on a delivery platform needs simplicity. So decide in advance which frames you want for each use, and shoot them in the same session while the dish is fresh.

Styling and timing: the race against freshness

A dish looks its best in the first few minutes. After that the greens wilt, sauces dry out, cheese firms up, the head on a beer collapses and ice cubes melt. Food styling is the work of making sure everything is ready for those few minutes. Some practices that help:

• Set up the frame, the light and the props with a stand-in dish, and bring out the final one only when everything is ready.
• Plan the order: first whatever deteriorates quickly, such as hot dishes, ice cream and drinks with ice, then whatever holds up, such as baked goods and packaged products.
• Prepare more portions or ingredients than you think you need, so you can replace anything that spoils.
• Choose surfaces, tableware and fabrics that suit the brand and do not compete with the food.
• Keep portions realistic. The customer who orders should recognise the dish they saw.

That last point also matters commercially. A photo that promises more than what reaches the table comes back as disappointment, and often as a review. Good food photography makes a dish look as good as it is, not like something else.

Drinks have their own challenges. Glass reflects like jewellery, labels must read straight and clearly, and the condensation on the glass or bottle, which shows the drink is cold, has to look natural. That is why lighting a drink often takes longer than lighting a dish.

In the studio or at your premises

The location depends on the dishes and the aesthetic. In the studio you have full control of the light and the surfaces, which suits packaged products, drinks and campaign compositions. In the restaurant kitchen, dishes reach the frame fresh and the space itself becomes part of the story. At THPAUL Studio, the location, either the studio or your premises, is agreed in the brief.

If the shoot takes place at the restaurant, schedule it outside opening hours. The kitchen cooks only for the shoot, the dining room is empty and you can choose the time with the best natural light.

How we approach food photography

Before the shoot, we plan for freshness time, props, surfaces and the key compositions. We work with you on preparing the products and choose the frames according to how they will be used: menu, packaging, campaign or digital. The final photos and formats are agreed in the approved brief. To get started, we need the dishes or products, where the photos will be used and how many shots you want.

When needed, the shoot becomes part of a campaign. For Benvenuto, THPAUL took on the creative concept, art direction, food styling, photography, copywriting and the design of the advertising visuals, in the Freshly Made campaign starring the Peinirli Special and in the campaign about the dough's 24 Hours in the Making.

For packaged food and drinks, the cost estimator has a “Food / Drink” category, with a 30% surcharge on the indicative price per product code and one extra working day on the delivery time. For restaurant dishes, how many fit into one shoot depends on the styling of each dish, which is why the proposal is based on your list.