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<p>The dishes made in the restaurant must be delicious in color, fragrance, and taste to make people enjoy them. Ordering food online is the best way to raise the appetite of customers, and what attracts customers to place orders is the mouth-watering food photos.</p>
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<p>Here comes the problem! You might ask: “My photos turn out bad all the time!”</p>
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<p>Don’t worry let us share with you some tips and tricks to start taking amazing photos. With new technology growing immensely fast and smaller devices being built, the best cameras are stored away in your pocket. Nowadays, mobile phones are getting better cameras built-in with high-quality images. Let us take you down the journey of becoming a restaurant photographer with 6 simple steps. </p>
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<h1 class="has-black-color has-text-color"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">01 </span>| Food Characteristics </h1>
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<p>Most of the time, when you pick up your phone, you don’t know what the first step is. Well, first you need to understand the subject’s (food) characteristics before snapping the picture. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Spices_assortment-1024x683.jpg" alt="Spices_assortment" class="wp-image-4308"/></figure>
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<p>Observe the item you want to capture and decide which characteristic of the food you want to highlight to convey to the customer. There are various ways to grab customers’ attention through food. Such as bright colors, shades, or shapes, etc. Oftentimes, different characteristics tell a story behind the image captured. </p>
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<p>Can’t stress enough how important this first step is to food photography.</p>
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<h1><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">02</span> | Natural Light</h1>
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<p>The picture must have enough light to illuminate the details of the food, and in the world of photography, the natural light of the sun is the best light source. Generally, the best results are obtained when the light is brightest during the day. Therefore, we recommend that you set up your shot next to the brightest window in the restaurant. If you have access to a studio with abundant light, you will not need natural light.</p>
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<p>If there isn’t enough light, it will leave a bad impression on the food and even ruin the appetite of your customer.</p>
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<p>In many cases, the lighting in the restaurant is insufficient and often projects a yellow-cast and sometimes dark shadow. This will leave unnecessary black shadows and WB (white balance) imbalance (yellow) on the food image, and the image would not look inviting. </p>
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<p>WB Is the color temperature of the picture. Warm color temperature can create a retro atmosphere, while the cool color (blue) temperature is more eye-catching. Typically, an eye-soothing food photography image will be bright and vibrant. Restaurant lighting generally leans towards warm color temperature, so the phone camera will capture warmer pictures.</p>
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<p>However, if you use natural light sources as much as possible during the photo process.  Sometimes, you cannot escape a slight yellow tone, you can adjust the brightness and color through retouching software later down the road.</p>
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<h1><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">03</span> | Photo Composition</h1>
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<p>Composition determines the success or failure of a photo. The composition principle is too esoteric, in simple terms, the focus of a picture is placed on a specific location, guiding our eyes across the image. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/rule_of_third-1-1024x1022.jpg" alt="" data-id="4314" data-full-url="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/rule_of_third-1.jpg" data-link="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/?attachment_id=4314" class="wp-image-4314"/></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/golden_ratio-1024x740.jpg" alt="" data-id="4313" data-link="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/?attachment_id=4313" class="wp-image-4313"/></figure></li></ul></figure>
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<p>There are a variety of composition concepts, here we will teach you the most useful composition technique. The most commonly used composition concept is “The Rule Of Third”. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Demo_rice_bowl-473x1024.jpg" alt="Demo_rice_bowl" class="wp-image-4315"/></figure>
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<p>Divide an image into 3X3 or two horizontal lines and two vertical lines equally cut into 9 squares. Place the focus on either one of the 4 intersections. Naturally, our eyes will find those intersections. </p>
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<p>On your camera app, you have a built-in grid and all you need to do is arrange the scene. You will be able to take beautiful images by following the “The Rule Of Third” technique. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/front_burger_view-1024x683.jpg" alt="front_burger_view" class="wp-image-4317"/></figure>
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<p>In addition, trying different perspectives can also project different meanings. For example, a hamburger can be viewed horizontally allowing viewers to see the thickness and different levels of the hamburger. The delicious food is highlighted with a simple background and a reflection from the table.</p>
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<h1><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">04</span> | Decoration + Layout</h1>
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<p>After mastering the principle of the light source, and the composition. Next, you need to understand the layout of the scene. Although decoration isn’t necessary, it could add a lot of effect to the image. You could put tablecloths, forks, knives, condiments, fruits, cutlery, bowls and plates, and ingredients. It is best to look around your restaurant for props. </p>
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<p>A couple of important points to pay attention to regarding the scene layout/ decoration:</p>
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<ol type="1"><li>Utilize diagonals to display the scene because a picture needs to be balanced.</li><li>The arrangement is just for embellishment, not all need to be presented.</li><li>The subject must be the largest part of the photo to catch the viewer’s eyes.</li><li>Add some bright condiments, fruits, and tablecloths.</li><li>Look around for unexpected props to display.</li><li>Balance! Balance! Balance!</li><li>Keep it clean and minimal. Remove unnecessary background, especially parallel viewing angles </li></ol>
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<h1><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">05</span> | Depth of Field</h1>
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<p>We briefly mentioned “Depth of Field”. Mastering the Depth of Field can create a different taste. To understand Depth of Field, when you look at an object, your focus is on the subject and the background gradually blurred itself. This is called depth of field. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Demo_depth_of_field-743x1024.jpg" alt="Demo_depth_of_field" class="wp-image-4319"/></figure>
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<p>On our phone, the system will automatically blur the background, and all you need to do is select the focus point before capturing it. Depth of field usually applies to a vertical image, as the background is further away from the subject.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Demo_phone_focus-edited.png" alt="Demo_phone_focus" class="wp-image-4321"/></figure>
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<h1><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">06</span> | Editing </h1>
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<p>Many Apps do post-processing for pictures and some of the professional photographers love using it. Below we will discuss some practical and powerful software to help you edit. Introducing three apps: IOS built-in software, VSCO, Snapseed.</p>
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<h2>IOS APP</h2>
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<p>Apple’s Photo App is the simplest and most practical software, which can be used for simple cutting, and angle and brightness adjustment. Although the filter function is not as strong as the other two software, still it is one of the powerful software built into an operating system.</p>
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<h2>VSCO APP</h2>
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<p>VSCO is rated as the best filter software if you want to be more creative. There are countless filters baked into the software, but some you do need to pay. </p>
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<p>The free version is all you need. Besides the filters, VSCO contains various adjustment features. For example, brightness, clarity, sharpness, saturation, hue, etc. If you notice they display the adjustment in the order which you should follow. If you find it a bit troublesome to switch apps back and forth, you could simply snap photos directly on VSCO App. It's as convenient as it gets. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-medium"><img src="https://www.chinesemenuonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Snapseed_logo-300x300.jpg" alt="Snapseed_logo.jpg" class="wp-image-4323"/></figure>
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<h2>Snapseed App</h2>
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<p>Snapseed is the most professional App among the three software, because of the wide range of retouching features. </p>
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<p>"Turn Image" – adjust the basic brightness, contrast, saturation, and ambiance.</p>
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<p>"Detail" – adjust the sharpness of the photo. It is crucial to increase the details on a certain part. You want the viewer to see each layer of that sandwich. </p>
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<p>"Selective" – a very useful tool to highlight the food. This tool allows you to select the area you wanted to adjust such as brightness, contrast, saturation, etc. </p>
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<p>Snapseed is full of features, and for detail, on each feature, they have an instructional video on their website.</p>
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<p>Now you have all the knowledge and with practice, you will take start taking presentable food images for your restaurant. Remember, you must understand the characteristic of the food, then make good use of natural light as much as possible, plus composition principle and simple decoration, and finally add post-production retouching. You are done!</p>
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<p>It's time to pick up your phone and start taking delicious photos to share with customers! The key is to practice and practice!</p>
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<p>Remember to share it on the internet and see that attraction start swarming in!</p>
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