Food photography plays a huge role in our food choices when it comes to ordering in a restaurant or online. Research shows that good photography can increase orders whereas poor photography can actually put people off food. So, it’s not just important to take photos of your food, but to really influence sales, the photos need to be top notch.
Custom parchment paper is not just for wrapping food, it is a great way to enhance the presentation of food, making it perfect for elevating photos of your dishes. If you use custom parchment paper to present food to customers, it’s a good idea to also include this in your photos.
Why use custom parchment paper in food photography?
There are several reasons to use custom parchment paper for food presentation but specifically for food photography, the benefits are all about brand awareness, consistency, aesthetics, and protecting your imagery.
Reenforcing your brand identity with personalized greaseproof paper instantly connects anyone who sees your photography, with your company name.
Custom parchment paper adds an element of consistency across all your visuals that using the same plate doesn’t.
It is visually appealing to see food presented on crisp and clean greaseproof paper compared to crockery. Custom parchment paper is versatile and works well with both rustic and fine food.
After all the effort you put into taking gorgeous photos of your delicious food, you wouldn’t want a competitor using those photos themselves. Using custom parchment paper makes it difficult for anyone to steal your images.
Where can you use food photography?
There are plenty of places where photos of your dishes would be relevant. If you think about your customer’s journey, there are two main phases where photos can make a difference to their decision making.
- Researching where to dine
- Choosing which food to eat
In the research phase, there are numerous opportunities to showcase your food.
Customers may find you on social media, Google places to eat, look up reviews on Yelp, or visit your website. All these touch points are perfect placements for photos of your food to encourage decision making.
When a customer has chosen the place they want to eat, they can be further influenced through the use of photography of specific menu items. If your menu is digital, there is no reason why you can’t add a photo of every dish, but even a select few can make a difference.
A study by Deliveroo found that adding food photography to an online menu sees a 30% increase in sales. Although adding high quality photos to physical menus can increase costs, it can also increase conversion rates by 25%.
How to take good photos of food
Make sure the area you will use for photos is clean and well lit – do this before you cook the food as you want the food to be hot and fresh looking.
- Prep, cook, and plate dishes how you would for customers – don’t overpromise with extravagant portion sizes or ingredients that aren’t normally included.
- Use fresh custom parchment paper for each dish
- Keep the table set up simple and limit the number of glasses and utensils around the plate.
- Use your smartphone on normal mode with no flash, use natural lighting as much as you can.
- Most of the time, landscape photos will be ideal for online menus and food delivery apps but remember to take portrait photos for social media.
Tips for taking better photos of food for menus and social media
Here are a few more tips to keep in mind when improving your food photography:
- Get your brand logo, menu, or signage in the shot if you can
- Make sure the food is fresh and add a spritz of water to fresh fruit and vegetables
- Consider the props, keep it simple, and include ingredients from the dish
- Don’t overcrowd the space
- Experiment with different angles, depths of field, and props
- Remember the rule of thirds
- Make the food look like how it will be served where possible
Improving your food photography is a great way to entice customers and increase conversions, whether that is through a physical menu, food delivery app, or review website. Adding custom parchment paper to your photography can boost that success with added visual appeal and brand awareness.
