How does a food shoot work? | Food Photography

One of the biggest questions I get from clients is how does a professional food shoot work? Many haven’t been part of a shoot before and are understandably nervous, not knowing what do expect.

In truth the process starts weeks before the shoot date, agreeing the dishes / items to be shot, sourcing props, studio’s or location. – Do you require a prop stylist, food stylist, art director? Are we changing sets, light set ups, what style are we trying to achieve? A professional food shoot is a collaborative process between you the client and myself – its my role to bring everything together from initial enquiry through to the digital delivery of your images.

I can shoot pretty much anywhere – I just need a 3m x 3m space and a plug – I’ve shot in all manner of places – Dedicated food studios, restaurants, hotels, cafes, bars, kitchens, offices, on boats, delivery loading bays and private residences.

A shoot can be as simple as the client and myself right through to 6-8 of us on set including stylists, assistants, chefs, retoucher, art director and clients.

As a rough guide a booking for food photography from start to finish will go through the following process –

Initial enquiry for client requirements, proposed dates, number of shots, style of shots / food.
Quotation verbally agreed over the phone for my fees and discussion on number of days required / food stylist required or not / prop stylist required or not / studio or location.
Quotation sent digitally subject to confirmation of availability and cost of stylists, studios, additional equipment required (if any)
Quotation accepted and invoices / paperwork submitted digitally to client for processing
Ongoing communication from this point until shoot date on photography brief, numbers of dishes, style of dishes, food purchases and amounts, props, On the day of the shoot –
Arrival of photography team, photography and lighting set up, food stylist /chefs start food prep
Final brief with client and talk through of shot list and order – brief for team
Work through each shot in agreed order with client signing off each shot before moving onto the next one. If the original shot is not what you are looking for then we reshoot until you are.
Once all the shots are complete then we will have a final agreement on the shots to be provided culling ones not needed. Agree final image output format (I.e JPEG, TIFF, RGB, SRGB)

After the shoot –

Images are sent to my retoucher for post processing using Capture one / Photoshop.
Images digitally delivered to client in required format(s)

Whilst this all sounds a lot, as I mentioned earlier the whole process is one of collaboration to ensure the process is smooth throughout the entire process and you end up with the images to showcase your food and drink and make your brand stand out to your clients.

My aim is to make the whole process as easy as possible for my clients and also to ensure its fun and engaging and exceeding your expectations on the images we produce.

Below are some set example from shoots to give you an idea of how I work and the sets I use.

As we work along the process please ask if your not sure of anything, I’m here to help.

See you at your shoot!

Derek