Food Photography: You may only get one shot!

Fresh, appetizing photos of food are crucial to your business, and supermarkets can also get customers involved who enjoy food photography.

If you were an actor trying to break into show business, you would find that one of the most crucial components of launching your career is your headshot. Casting directors sift through thousands of submissions and based on the actors’ photographs alone, choose a few hopefuls to come in and audition. Most times, actors don’t get an opportunity to pitch themselves through conversation or examples of their talent, and if that picture is a poor representation, they will never get in the door.

Let’s apply that same idea to food! A photograph doesn’t smell like the food or taste like the food, but if it is visually appetizing it can not only attract customers based on appearance, but it may also trigger other senses of smell and taste that make it even more enticing.

Food photography has grown immensely in popularity in the past few years, and for most it’s simply a hobby. However for food retailers, it’s not just a hobby, it’s crucial to your business. Publishing unprofessional photographs of products in circulars, on store websites, and on menus, could in a matter of seconds, cause you to lose your one shot at capturing that potential customer’s business.

On the other hand, a great photo can lure customers in to your store. And even better than that, since having a passion for food is currently hip, you may find your customers sharing your photos throughout their social media networks, ultimately attracting even more customers. And aside from the cost of getting professional pictures taken, that’s free advertising!

And here’s another idea! Once you found a fantastic photographer, host food photography workshops for amateurs at your store. Provide dishes for them to practice on in the store, and host contests for the best photos.

There’s a lot more to taking an appealing photo of food than a good camera and a tasty dish. There’s lighting to be considered, angles, color balance and more. Check out this site for some great tips!