INTRODUCTION

It is a well-known fact that one of the most effective ways to increase engagement on social media platforms is through the use of quality photographs. And what better way for a restaurant to show off its offerings than through the use of photography?
EXCEPTIONAL FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
Both in print and online is an important aspect of a restaurant’s branding and marketing yet may restaurants overlook this. Either they use stock photography that doesn’t represent their menu or they use poorly lit photos by an amateur.
It’s important to remember that we eat with our eyes first. Having appetizing, food photos is a sure-fire way to grab someone’s attention when they’re checking you out online and to draw your customer’s attention when they’re in your restaurant.
But take heed, many restaurants have amazing food photography, but the final product is nothing like what it looks like. This doesn’t mean that you have to plate exactly as the photo, but it does mean you’ve got to deliver on taste

IMPORTANCE OF FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY IN MARKETING YOUR FOOD BUSINESS!
Great pictures of food can make our mouths water and our stomachs ache for a particular product. This simple fact yields results that would normally only happen via live sampling and literally can save you thousands of dollars introducing a new product to consumers via distribution of photographs on websites, packaging, coupons, ads, and flyers.

THE AESTHETIC AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

When food first became a subject in photography, images imitated still life paintings and were classed as a form of social documentary, whereby the food was viewed as a cultural item. A collection of this documentary was compiled by curator Virginia Heckert at the Getty museum's photography department, in an exhibition titled ‘In Focus: Tasteful Pictures’. The images reveal the history of photography and this exhibition shows the very first examples of food photography. Edward Quigley’s six peas in a pod, taken in black and white, observe the beauty of the form of peas, paying particular attention to their lighting and shape.
In contrast, the exhibition includes a notable black and white food photograph from Man Ray in 1931. Titled ‘Kitchen (cuisine)’, it was not commissioned for a cookbook or magazine, but for a Paris utility’s advertising campaign that encouraged the use of electricity in homes. The image of a cooked chicken shows what electricity can do using an electric oven; the spiral pattern (a photogram) communicates a heating element of an oven or, more simply, symbolises electricity.
This art and social documentary photography also occurred in colour. Irving Penn’s still-life images for Vogue and House and Garden magazine in the 1940's resemble art photographs with food as a subject like those in the In Focus: Tasteful Pictures exhibition, showing ingredients, but used to illustrate the lifestyle pages of magazines.
The placement of the objects seems random yet stylised. Reflections of the studio lights in the spoons and image aren’t retouched; random flecks of pepper remain even though some have strayed from the centre of the image. Around this time, food images began to be used commercially for advertising. Perhaps it is in the form of advertising that food photography lost credibility as an art genre; images were no longer works of art, but promoters of consumer goods.
While the first colour photograph was produced in 1861, colour photography in cookbooks wasn’t used until the 1930's; colour printing was difficult. Colour food photography can be traced back to 1935, when Nickolas Murray first adapted the three-colour carbro process. McCall’s commissioned Murray to create colour photographs for their cooking and food pages. He used the colour carbro process to make rich and colourful photographs of food spreads for the magazine and for other advertisers through the 1950's. Within the context of commercial photography, the rich colours in these images grabbed the reader’s attention.
Food photography progressed. Colour food photography appeared not only in single sheet advertisements but also in cookbooks. The earliest cookbooks merely recorded the cooks’ favourite recipes, so that they could even be successfully recreated by the simplest palates. Like any kind of book, the development of cookbooks paralleled the progress of printing technology. While colour photography was still in its early stages in the 1950’s, block prints frequently appeared in cookbooks, not actual photographs. Illustrations were popular too and black and white photographs usually accompanied the recipes.
A few years later, colour photographs appeared in the first edition of Larousse Gastronomique. Although it included 36 colour photographs, this large and expensive book still contained 1,850 black and white images. World War Two slowed the production of colour photography for many due to cost and reduced consumer demand. However, after the war came a boom in ladies magazines, awash with colour advertisements and recipes.
The first American magazine devoted to food and wine, Gourmet, began life in January 1941. Gourmet covers in the 1950's usually featured a textured background, strewn with floral arrangements, its centrepiece often a noteworthy serving ware, combined carefully to suggest a well-travelled life. Not just a food magazine, Gourmet suggested ideals in post-war lifestyle.
Arguably, the most revolutionary cookbook was the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, which contained lavish colour photography. While the first edition of the book is no longer in print, opinions vary about its significance. The amount of photographs was substantial but the aesthetic quality was perhaps poor. However, the use of food photography in this commercial outlet was significant, marking a rise in production, thus a demand for food photographs. None the less, Betty Crocker was still significant in cookery at the time. This fictional character, created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921, became an advertising tool to make the company more personable. Before the ‘Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook’, various promotional pamphlets and baking books without colour photographs were released in the 1930’s and 1940’s to aid wartime cooking.
Even cookbooks for young cooks started to incorporate photography. Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cook Book (for the Hostess and Host of Tomorrow) in 1955 had step-by-step instructions, line drawings and numerous black and white shots. While food photography appeared more and more in cookbooks and magazines, these photographs didn’t necessarily have a better aesthetic quality than the previous illustrations. But this is just the beginning of a long history of commercial food photography for further discussion in my next article.

THE HISTORY OF FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURY COOKBOOK.

When rationing was abolished in the UK in 1954, new food trends started to emerge with processed, quick meals, significantly changing Britain’s approach to home cooking. Photographer George De Gennaro began photographing food in the 1950s. He commented in an interview with Charlotte Plimmer in ‘Food in Focus’:
“In those days, the pictures looked as though they were taken from the top of a ladder, six or eight feet away. And the food was so artificially doctored up that it gave the profession a horrible name”.
Perhaps it is these technical aspects that meant food photography of this period was not taken seriously as an art genre. Directly influenced by still life painters and as a regular contributor to “Better Homes and Garden” magazine in the 1970’s, he chose to capture food from a different angle, coming in close and capturing movement.
A pasta photograph, published in “Eastman Kodak’s Applied Photography” shot in 1963, shows this technique of freezing motion. Shooting in one day, using 10 large format exposures, Gennaro used one 3200 watt/seconds flash, reflecting the light back in by using reflectors. It was shot at f32 at 1/50 of a second using Kodak Ektachrome 64 film. What is significant about this image is that it demonstrates the same painterly skill of 17thcentury still life, and is clearly influenced by the effects of lighting used by impressionist painters of the 19thcentury.
The price of colour reproductions greatly affected how many colour pictures appeared in cookbooks and magazines. It was much cheaper and easier to produce line drawings than colour photographs. At the start of the 1950’s cookbooks tended to have illustrations and black and white photographs. The 1953 sixth printing first edition of “Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook” contained black and white photographs on nearly every single page of the 400-page cookbook, with a full colour photograph only at the start of every chapter. Similarly, “The Modern Family Cookbook” by Meta Given, published the same year, contains only 36 colour photographs to over 1000 recipes. There is a very low ratio of pictures to text or recipes. Cookbook collectors have found these sorts of cookbooks hard to get hold of now, yet many cherish the food photographs in them.
In the 1960’s, colour photographs seem to be more prevalent;Mrs Beeton’s “All about Cookery” fourth impression, published in 1964, has colour photographs throughout, which was not seen in older versions of the book. Other significant cookbooks of the time were Julia Child's “Mastering the.
The aesthetics of the food images at this time are interesting to consider. Ice cream was substituted with mash potatoes and papier-mâché mock-ups were sometimes used instead of real poultry. These substitutions were a result of hot studio lamps but as cameras and film speed and sensitivity improved, more genuine food products were introduced. I’ll discuss food styling in more depth in one of my future articles as I feel it’s essential to examine this as a subject alone.
Tessa Traeger, in an interview with Charlotte Plimmer in ‘Food in Focus’, pointed out that,
“You can find out more, and more quickly, about the history and culture of a nation by looking at its food than in any other way. Food is a direct expression of a country’s spirit”.
It is clear that food trends were reflected in current trends in society, particularly by the rise of cookbooks in the mid-20thCentury.
Prior to 1977, nothing had been written on the importance or significance of food photography and the symbols used in advertising photography. This changed when Roland Barthes wrote an interesting analysis of a Panzani advertisement highlighting the importance of images used in advertising. The connotations of the image are undoubtedly intentional in advertising because what is shown of the advertising messages exists already in the mind of the viewer by certain attributes of the product. It is these messages that have to be transmitted as clearly as possible in the image.
He looked at the food image in terms of signs and how we decode that sign, referring to the associations given in the choice of props, colours and composition. The image shows a scene represented as the return from the market: fresh produce, a suggestion of domestic preparation, and a half-open bag, spilling open. Barthes refers to the composition of the image, relaying back to the influence of still life paintings on food photography. It reminds us of the ‘nature morte’ or ‘still life’. The image tries to give the viewer a sense of having-been-there, and the photograph acts as ‘evidence’ of this as nature seems to have ‘spontaneously’ produced this scene. It is this actuality that seems to be the general rule for food photographers when producing images.
There were radical changes in colour photography in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s, transformed by Japanese colour printing which gave a much better clarity of colour to the images. These technological advances modernised colour printing; the improved precision of the colours used to make the printing plates changed the possibilities of reproducing food images. More magenta, cyan and yellow meant that the amount of black ink usually used was reduced, making the colours brighter andbolder.
The technique was so significant that in 1982, homemaking guru Martha Stewart insisted not only on Japanese printing, but also on photographs of every dish for her first book, “Entertaining”. As a caterer, she knew that the viewers’ sense of taste was heavily influenced by the look of the food. It was at this time that food photography as a genre proliferated as magazines dedicated to food started to appear in the late 1980’s.

CHANGING TRENDS
For a long time, food photographs tended to be shot and composed in a manner similar to the way people were used to encountering their food: laid out on a table setting and shot from an overhead perspective, i.e., from the point of view of the eater. Stylists accordingly arranged the food to appear good from above, with the items arranged flat on the plate and clearly separated from each other.
Later, romantic lighting, shallower angles and more props came en vogue, with extreme cases leading to the term "food porn". Most recently, the prevailing trend in Western commercial food photography is to present the food as simple, clean and naturally as possible and with little props, often using effects such as selective focus, tilted plates, and extreme close-ups. This complements trends in professional cooking to make the food more visually interesting. For instance, the height of dishes tends to increase and their elements are often layered, which lends itself well to narrow-angled shots.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Food is one of the most challenging subjects to photograph. There are not only the usual lighting, prop and composition issues to consider but also the short life span of most food. Timing and preparation, therefore, is of the utmost importance when photographing food.
If you are new to food photography here are a few essential tips and techniques to help you prepare for a successful photo shoot.
Lighting: When possible, use natural light supplemented by light bounced off of walls and ceiling. A well-balanced and well-lit photo is extremely important, so remember to keep shadows to a minimum to give food a more natural look.
Props: Keep it simple. Avoid full table settings or excess embellishments. Use one or two other props (a fork, spoon, napkin, or glass) as accents to enhance the photo. Place these elements in the background or foreground, and take care to position them so that the eye moves around the photo naturally and always comes back to the subject.
Background: Choose the right background to enhance your photo. Try table cloths, place mats, or simple-patterned papers that will add to the overall look without distracting the viewer. If you’re shooting in a kitchen or restaurant, make sure you have no unwanted noise in your background.
Styling: When there are multiple items of the same food subject, choose the best out of the group. Try different angles or use items with fewer blemishes. The less you have to do in post processing the better.
Arrangement: The way the food is displayed on the plate is extremely important to your shot. Pay close attention to color, texture, and shapes and lead into the shot. Some people tend to photograph looking straight down into the food—as we all naturally see it. By using angles, though, and rotating the food or viewing it at different levels you can add interest and appeal.
Prepare subject: Use oil on fruits and vegetables—olive or peanut oil works well, especially if you plan to eat it—to bring a shine to the food. Use a water atomizer or spray bottle to mist food and accentuate condensation or steam. Make the food more visually appealing and bring the viewers’ senses alive.
Shooting: Use a stand-in plate to line up your shot just right before the food arrives. A tripod is also a good idea because a steady hand is crucial to the success of the photo—you don’t want even a slight movement to show up as a blur. Be sure to take a lot of pictures from many angles. You’ll be surprised and amazed at how food appears from different viewpoints and how just the right angle can make all the difference.
Settings: Use the macro setting on your camera if you have one or use your macro lens to get that close-up shot. Get close enough so you can almost taste the food. Try different focal points or focus in on just one part of the dish so you’ll capture the most intimate detail. Good color contrast and white balance is equally important. Use the white balance setting on your camera or adjust the color in post processing.
Post processing: Post processing can be fun with the right pre-shoot planning and preparation. Don’t hesitate to add your artistic flair to the photo by tweaking lighting and color; it’s essential, especially if natural light isn’t used, and it makes the photo truly your own.
Do your homework: Browse through cookbooks, advertisements, and food blogs or websites to check out how other photographers capture the senses and make the food come alive. Remember, your subject will not live forever—probably not beyond 15-20 minutes if you’re lucky, depending on the food item. Color, texture, and life will soon fade away.

FOOD PORN

ABOUT
Food Porn is an Internet slang term that is used to describe glamorized photographs or videos of meals with high fat and calorie content or experimental dishes with unusual combinations of ingredients. While the term was originally used by food columnists prior to its vernacular usage on the web, it has grown into a notable subgenre of food photography and single topic blogging through photo-sharing communities Flickr and Tumblr in the late 2000s.
ORIGIN
The concept of “food pornography” was reportedly coined by American feminist critic Rosalind Coward in her 1984 book Female Desire, in which she wrote:
Cooking food and presenting it beautifully is an act of servitude. It is a way of expressing affection through a gift… That we should aspire to produce perfectly finished and presented food is a symbol of a willing and enjoyable participation in servicing others. Food pornography exactly sustains these meanings relating to the preparation of food. The kinds of picture used always repress the process of production of a meal. They are always beautifully lit, often touched up.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the term was used in a number of academic papers and culinary news articles, including Los Angeles Times’ profile article about the special food company Hickory Farms in December 1993 and another article about business executive travels in July 1994, as well as The Telegraph’s report on the trend of “food porn” in reaction to the low-calorie and diet food movement in May 2000. The Telegraph article credited the Center for Science in the Public Interest with coining the term in 1998 through its regular column called “Right Stuff vs. Food Porn.”
“PORN” AS A SUFFIX
Around the same time the phrase “Food Porn” began to grow in popularity, several other Flickr photo groups adopted “-porn” as a suffix to indicate their special interests, one of the earliest instances being Architecture Porn established in January 2005.

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY IN HOSPITALITY
Food photography is one of our core disciplines. Our range of food photography reflects the diversity of the industry and therefore our clients include the ‘elite’ all the way through various key sectors such as: foodservice providers, producers, contract caterers, restaurants, brasseries and pub operators.

OBSERVATION

In India, we have seen a proliferation of packaged food available across stores which just weren’t present even 5 years ago. Over the last 5 years, food photography for packaging has risen from 5% of our food photography to over 50%! Delivering a quality image, on brand to our clients directly affects the sale of their product. In conversation with dozens of marketing professionals at our clients’ companies, we’ve learnt that getting the front of pack right, is a key deliverable for them, and we work hard to help them with it.
Walking down the aisles of food stores in India today, one can see a marked difference between high quality packaged food, and the haphazardly put together ‘brands’ and ‘products’. I was quite shocked to even see one ‘ready to eat’ brand which featured no imagery on it’s pack! That’s right, no photograph, no illustration, nothing! I just had to talk about this to the various store managers that carried the product and in each case I was told that it was the slowest moving brand in it’s segment in their respective stores. Hmmm… I wonder why?
With the choice faced by consumers today, I firmly believe that none of us can afford to take anything for granted, and the least we owe ourselves, our shareholders and our consumers is that we invest in the best. Invest in the best technology, the best produce (ingredients) and the best packaging to deliver quality, value and an enjoyable experience to all.
A well designed pack, with a beautiful ‘eat me’ image is an investment that will pay off over time. If it’s done right, you probably won’t need to change it for 3 to 5 years, and will be etched in the consumers’ minds, leading them to automatically pick it up, or ask for it.