One of our neighbors runs a corner diner. They're the second owner of a long-standing community restaurant and they're being slow to introduce changes for their dedicated customer base.
Slowly but surely they're introducing new menu items, and to illustrate them to their clientele they asked us to photograph their plates.
Food photography is a craft all of it's own. Most food photographers work in studios with kitchens, food stylists, and photo assistants. There are a whole bag of tricks used by food photographers to make things look appetizing.
Without a lot of those items, we set up a photo studio in the restaurant and went to work with what we had, which turned out to be quite a bit. One of the owner's friends was a natural at food styling and helped us ensure that everything looked as photogenic as possible.
The lighting was pretty easy – just like portrait photography with a key light and fill light. The big difference was that the subjects were plates of foods, not personalities. And we didn't waste a lot of time making everyone smile!
