Food photography tips for food trucks might not be at the top of your to-do list, but it should be.
Here's a quick example. Would you rather find the food truck serving this dish...
...or would you rather find the food truck serving this one?
What if I told you that it was the same truck and the same sandwich? The only difference is the quality of the picture.
If you want to attract new customers to your food truck, you need to showcase premium food photography for your menu items. High-quality pictures can be used in multiple ways: in your social media feeds, in the wrap for your truck, on your menus and promotional flyers, and for online ordering or your customer kiosk. The investment you make in these photos pays off in more buzz, more traffic to your food truck, and ultimately more orders.
Food Photography Tips for Your Food Truck’s Menu
Photographer Deron Gordon has a few food photography tips and tricks to share for taking better photos of menu items. We want to make sure you’re presenting yours in the best way possible!
Here’s how to photograph food that customers who find you on Goodfynd will want to click on and order immediately.
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#1 Use quality lighting
“Always take the picture in the best light,” said Gordon who uses DSLR lighting for his food product photoshoots. If you don’t have a professional setup Gordon recommends using natural light and diffusing it.
Artificial lighting can cast color onto your food and alter its appearance.
How to diffuse natural light
Color casts from artificial light will ruin the natural beauty of your subject, but daylight also provides a much more neutral colored light. A light diffuser scatters the light, making it softer in much the same way that clouds do.
Most of us don’t own fancy light equipment but the good news is that there are some inexpensive DIY hacks that use items we've all got lying around the house. MasterClass shares 4 budget-friendly options to diffuse your light source:
- Frosted shower curtain
- Semi-transparent white bed sheet
- Pillowcase
- Parchment paper
#2 Stage the food
Not all foods look attractive on their own. Some require a little help.
A brown bowl of chili or a squash soup won’t look appetizing online in its Styrofoam to-go container. The goal isn’t to present the food exactly as the consumer takes it home. Instead, the goal is to make the customer’s taste buds water because the presentation represents the experience.
What do you do with a plate of food that is ugly? Not all dishes are camera friendly.
For these camera-shy dishes, Gordon advises adding something to the side of it, something that makes it more tangible. Take a formless custard as an example. A sprig of mint and a few berries change the entire appeal.
According to Shutterstock, meat is one of the most difficult and visually unappealing subjects for food photographers. Dark backgrounds can help, as well as capturing the preparation and process of cooking meat. It's enough of a challenge that you can find whole guides devoted to the subject, like this how-to guide on capturing pictures of meat from Expert Photography.
#3 Think outside of the box
To add intrigue to the photo, Gordon says to literally think outside of the box. Customers don’t want to see the Styrofoam they are taking the food home in, they want to see a culinary story that promises to satiate their hunger.
Take into account the overall atmosphere of your dish. Is it a breakfast dish or a late night snack? Stage the lighting to reflect that time of day.
Enhance the beauty of the food by placing it on a decorative table or by showing its complexity during assembly. Find the most attractive moment for that dish, perhaps it’s while it’s in the soup ladle or being shared with a friend.
Sometimes a dish’s most attractive moment is right after the first bite when there are stuffed cheeks and a smile behind it.
#4 Multiple angles
You’ve got the lighting just right, you’ve staged the food and gotten it out of the box. So now what?
Gordon’s advice is to “Hit it from all angles.”
It’s going to take more than just one shot to find the perfect one so take it from above, from the side, from every direction you can. The light will react differently, the shadows will change the feel, and the food will take on a drama all of its own.
This is one of those times when playing with your food is exactly the right thing to do.
Food photography
Take out your iPhone and use the above tips Gordon has shared to create your own stunning food product photography, or if you’re in the D.C. area give Deron Gordon Photography a call.
While you’re planning your food photo session don’t forget to list your menu first. You’ll want to see the difference between online orders without images and those that have high-quality delicious images like the ones you’re about to shoot!
- Professionally taken photos in your menu boost sales by 30% (grubhub)
- Drives up customer traffic and builds brand loyalty (brainrules)
- Menu images improve organic search traffic
- Items with images have an avg boost in sales of 6.5% (foodscene)
Show us your food pics!
Once you've taken some great pictures of your menu items be sure to add them to your online menu. There are hungry people right around the corner searching their phones for their next favorite meal. Help them find you!