If you sell food or drinks, the best content you can use is photos of your products. But we’ve all seen some pretty bad pics of food show up in our news feed. That’s why it’s important to present the best photos so your customers are excited, engaged and want to see more.
If you’re trying to post to social media and tempt your audience with mouth watering pictures of your delicious morsels you don’t always need the best or most expensive photography equipment – you can use the camera in your mobile phone.
I’m going to show you 4 simple things that you can do and do right now to make your food photography really stand out on social media. And you can download a free guide that i’ve created that will give you more info on how to get great pictures of food for your business using just your mobile phone.
DOWNLOAD THE SOCIAL PICS GUIDE HERE
Tip number 1. Take your photos in sets of three. You’d be surprised how, when you’re busy getting the best shots, you might miss some tiny detail that you only see once the shoot is over and everything is packed up. So be safe, take your best shots in sets of three to save yourself the pain later. I always snap a picture from above, from the side, and I get one close up.
Tip number 2. Don’t be afraid to move it! This is for two reasons. The first is that food has a good and bad side just like you and me. So spin the plate and shoot from different angles to get a different perspective of each dish. The second reason is for lighting, so move the plate to different areas to catch natural and artificial light, and move yourself to experiment with light coming from behind, above or beside the dish.
Tip number 3. Fresh is best. Don’t let your dish rest for too long before you shoot it. The longer you wait, the more tired the food will look so be quick and capture the freshness. Hot food will congeal, coffee will settle, and ice cream will melt so get the picture while the steam is still rising and it looks it’s best. You want your audiences mouth to water when they see it.
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE WE USE FOR SOCIAL FOOD SHOTS
Tip number 4. Filters and framing. Don’t use filters when you’re taking the pictures. If you need to, you can add any filters or effects after they’ve been taken but you can’t remove a filter that’s added when you take the picture. Until recently Instagram only allowed square photos to be uploaded, or they would crop them to square. They’ve removed this requirement now, but it’s still a good habit to stick to because square pictures will present better in social feeds. So select the square option and remove the filter before you take the pictures.
Bonus tip: this one has to do with framing too. It’s a great idea to make sure you get the whole plate in the pictures you’re taking. Unless you’re taking a super close up of one of the ingredients, it gives the viewer the whole picture of what to expect and it’s a more balanced image.
I hope you found these tips useful and you’re able to apply these to the food photography for your businesses social media. I cover a lot more in the guide to food photography for social media that you can download HERE. In it I cover things like how to stage your photos with props, and give you a hit list of simple rules to follow to get your food pictures looking their best for your businesses social media.
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