culinary photography
Jams from our grandmothers, brioche still hot from the oven, rump steak cooked to perfection… These simple evocations are enough to awaken all our senses. And indeed, today, the trend is towards culinary photography. People like to see and share audiovisual content representing food (dishes, unprocessed foods, etc.). These photos make people want to, whet their appetite, awaken the senses of your potential customers.
It is therefore a good way to promote your business: restaurants, food processing, bakeries, chocolate shops. Making culinary photos will allow you to put your business in the spotlight. We will see in this article why to bet on these photos, how to use them in your communication strategy and finally some tips to make beautiful food photos.
in which frame is it relevant to take culinary photos?
If your company has an activity related to food, whether it is a simple industrial transformation or a catering / direct sale, it is interesting to make culinary photos to promote your activity.
Indeed, nowadays the photographic/video contents are very impactful, especially on the digital, because they capture the attention of Internet users. In addition, a photo or a video often allows you to make a greater impression. What could be better than showcasing your products to make people’s mouths water?
Moreover, food is as much a pleasure for the taste buds as it is for the eyes. We like the products we consume to be beautiful and well presented. This makes them more appealing. Between two pastries with the same taste, a customer will choose the most beautiful one. Making a good culinary photo shoot will therefore allow you to enhance your work of raw product processing and presentation, and thus improve your sales. A beautiful photo can go even further, it can also allow you to transcribe a smell, a taste, a texture, especially thanks to the staging. The capture of these peripheral elements, combined with the right moment of publication of the photo, will create a desire among your potential customers. Indeed, who has never had a sudden craving for hot chocolate or boiling tea in the middle of a snowstorm?
For these reasons, it can be very effective to integrate the right culinary multimedia content into your corporate communication strategy.
how to use your culinary photos within your corporate communication strategy?
Once the photos have been taken, it is important to use them in a way that will give you the greatest benefit. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your culinary photos.
highlight your website
Today, most companies, whatever their size, have a website. This gives your company a wide visibility. If your company is part of the food industry, it is important that your website contains pictures of your products to show the type of products you use, their quality, your different preparations.
For example, a restaurant could put forward photos of its most characteristic dishes and their presentation on the plate. This will make Internet users want to come and taste them. A food processing industry can show products before they are processed, to highlight their quality, and after processing, to convince their customers.
Visuals are crucial when it comes to food because all our senses are stimulated when we eat.
In addition to being used to illustrate your website, food photos can also be used for decorative purposes in your restaurant. Printed in large format and framed, they allow you to personalize your interior design, while whetting the appetite of your customers. Many online printing sites today allow large format printing of high quality at a lower cost. The same culinary photo shoot can therefore be used several times.
compile a catalogue
Culinary photos can also be used in B2B food companies. Indeed, for food, it is important to put visuals in your product catalogue so that potential customers can visualize what they are buying. You can therefore use your food photos in this context to present your different products and make people want to buy them.
boost your social networks
Finally, to give visibility to your company, social networks can be exploited. We think in particular of Instagram where the food trend is very present. Thus, beautiful culinary photos will be shared and thus seen by a larger number of Internet users.
For example, a chocolate maker will improve his notoriety by regularly presenting his creations. If these are well highlighted by the photo, they can lead to many likes, comments, sharing, and thus increase the number of customers.
It is also possible to make culinary videos. They can notably highlight the process of realization of your products, the transformation of your food from A to Z etc.
On social networks, the trend is towards photo and video formats. A well thought-out strategy and quality photo/video content will allow you to take advantage of your social networks at a lower cost.
how to make beautiful culinary photos?
Beautiful culinary photos should allow you to find the flavours of a product only by seeing it. For this two things are important: the staging during the photo shoot and the post-production.
Food photography is first of all a staging game. The image produced must tell a story, immersing the spectator in an ocean of flavours and scents through sight alone.
For example, old utensils can be used for food photos that must transcribe the “traditional dishes” and “flavours of yesteryear” side of the story. Wood and warm colours will also give this feeling. For more modern, experimental creations, the director will prefer a more minimalist style of photography with colours in shades of white/grey, flat surfaces, fewer utensils.
A cool coloured background can give a feeling of freshness to the food, while a black background will bring authenticity to the scene.
To give a more human side to these photos, the photographer may also decide to show an arm, a hand or an entire person cooking. By integrating this in a diagonal, a strong dynamic can be created.
Then, the post-production plays a crucial role. You have to play intelligently with colours, filters, shadows in order to convey the right feelings without distorting the photo and by extension the product. For example, adding a touch of brilliance to chocolate will make it more gourmet.
For the rendering to be of quality, this work of direction and post-production must be carried out by professionals, for example by an audiovisual communication agency. This makes for a more artistic and professional culinary photo, and therefore more impactful. A good post-production gives life to the image, allows to retranscribe the smells, the flavours, the textures.
Our photo / video studio Lakeprod offers you to realize your food photos and their post production for a stronger communication. Our professional photographers have indeed already had many customers in the culinary field and are therefore specialized in this sector. You can see some of our achivements on our website to get an overview.
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