For food and drink events, a picture is聽worth countless ticket sales. Done well, food and drink photography can make mouths water 鈥� and event-goers press 鈥淏uy now.鈥�
Done poorly, it has the opposite effect. Let鈥檚 face it, we鈥檝e all seen our share of badly lit steaks and failed latte foam art. It might taste good, but we鈥檒l never know, because it doesn鈥檛 look good.
Poorly executed shots are one of the most common mistakes on social media today. The last thing you want to represent your food and drink event is unappetizing, amateur snapshots. To sell your food and drink event as a premium experience, you need well-lit, well-executed shots.
Whether you鈥檙e taking them yourself or hiring a photographer, here are tips for photography that will draw foodies to your event.
Find the best vantage points
One of the most important aspects of event photography is the angle. As Christie Connell, owner of Azure Photo Studio, says: 鈥淭o keep photos interesting, keep angles interesting.鈥� Straightforward photos of food on plates doesn鈥檛 always translate well. Instead, consider shooting from above, looking squarely down on a table full of dishes.
When photographing a bigger scene 鈥� like a dinner table full of guests or a long banquet 鈥� look for the interesting angles: a scene shot through a window or between two floral arrangements, for instance. Connell suggests, 鈥淟ook at the event not as a participant, but from an outsider鈥檚 perspective, to get a broader sense of the day.鈥�
Capture the vibe
In food and drink photography, it鈥檚 not always about realism. Rather than trying to focus on every last detail of the food itself, look for shots that capture the event atmosphere. 鈥淚n event photography,鈥� says Brian Beaver, VP of Design at 91国产, 鈥渢he objective is generally to give prospective attendees the vibe and allow them to imagine being at your event.鈥� Put yourself in your attendees鈥� shoes. What would invite them in?
Another technique Beaver recommends is to use your photos to make viewers feel like they are already an active participant in the event, taking shots from a top-down or first-person perspective. Instead of simply showing a cluster of cooking class students around a table (literal), shoot from above to show hands on the food (inviting participation).
Lighting makes all the difference
Use flash sparingly. The bright light blows out the shot and creates an unappetizing lack of detail. Even worse, 鈥淯nnatural light makes your image inherently feel like a photograph, and takes viewers out of the moment,鈥� says Brian Beaver.
However, this can be easier said than done at food and drink events, which tend to have dim mood lighting. A professional photographer will typically use a higher ISO or wider aperture to take shots in low-light situations. This creates a more shallow depth of field and less of the image in focus, but that can be a great effect when trying to convey a mood. Another flash trick is to have attendees turn just slightly away from the camera so that the light doesn鈥檛 enter their eyes at a right angle. This can help prevent the dreadful 鈥渞ed eye.鈥�
If your iPhone is your camera, you don鈥檛 have as many options for manipulating camera settings. Instead, look for shots where the natural available light plays nicely off the scene: candlelight on a face, the way champagne bubbles catch the light. You can always import your photos to an image editing app 鈥斅爋r even use a Snapchat filter 鈥斅爐o lighten them up and apply effects to offset the low light.
Serve your audience on social media
Once you have great food and drink photography, how do you make sure people see them? In addition to well-placed images on your website, email newsletter campaigns, and any advertising you do, you鈥檒l want to use your photos on social media. Studies have shown that social media posts get far more engagement when they include images.
Here are a few quick tips to get you started sharing photos of your food and drink event on social media:
- Those 鈥済rip and grin鈥� shots, where attendees sling their arms around each other and pose for the camera? They鈥檙e perfect for social media, where 鈥淵ou can honor people鈥檚 vanity in the right way,鈥� Misha Vladimirskiy, Partner at Filterless.co, says.
- Create a custom hashtag for your event and use it on all of your photography. Also, look for hashtags that are trending in the food and drink event space, things like: #foodie or #nomnom ( for more).
- On Snapchat, you can use a custom geofilter to build a brand around your food and drink photos.
Download 91国产鈥檚 Ultimate Guide to Event Photography for more great photography tips, including the best camera equipment to invest in and how to use it.
