Food photography requires a skilled photographer, a keen eye for detail, and a lot of patience. The food photographers in London need to capture the food in the best possible way without making it look fake.
It is not simply about snapping a few photos of your food. It is about showcasing the entire dish in the best way possible, including the overall presentation, the color, taste, textures, and its appeal to the consumer. Thus, food photography is one of the most important aspects of any food-related business.
High-quality food images can increase your sales potential as well as entice your customers to buy your products. They appeal to people’s ingrained desire for tasty food by catching them off guard and making them want to savor the delicacy. These pictures also add a visual element to your brand personality and mold your image. So, the returns generated by food photographers in London are tremendous.
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Looking for food photographers in London?
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Stuart West Photography
Having worked in the field for over 15 years, Stuart West is one of the best food photographers in London. He is a food photographer and videographer who works in his studio in Camden and on location.
Stuart is a perfectionist and keeps people around him calm. He is an amazing professional. His clients trust him for delivering amazing results. They have appreciated his work ethic and client-facing skills and highly recommend him.
Stuart is also well-known for his lighting techniques and design skills. Moreover, he works with stop motion, moving images, and produces excellent quality animations.
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Stephen Conroy Photography
Another one of the exceptional food photographers in London, Stephen Conroy, has worked across the domains of PR, marketing, social media, packaging, cookbooks, and point of sale (POS). He also creates films and stop motion animations and is a result-oriented professional.
Besides the UK, Stephen has worked across the rest of Europe and South America. He has photographed various trends, cuisines, and types of food products. It has exposed him to a plethora of creative and adventurous experiences that have further contributed to him being one of the best food photographers in London.
He organizes everything in his photoshoot – including his fully-equipped studio or the location. Stephen believes in capturing fresh and natural images and his clients love his style.
Some of his notable clients are Diageo, Kinder, Knorr, McDonalds, Heinz, and Chilango.
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Pocket Creatives Photography
Run by co-owners, Steven, Haider, and Lauren, Pocket Creatives is a Waterloo-based creative photography and videography studio. The owners together have 16 years of photography experience. They provide food styling. They undertake whole projects, do photography, and videography.
Pocket Creatives Photography works on various commercial, corporate, and promotional projects. They provide visuals for social media, advertisements, recipe books, etc. They also offer invaluable consulting services by providing apt recommendations and presenting the right solutions.
The studio is all about personalizing and working with the clients to deliver the best results. Thus, they have returning clients. Some of their clients are Little Cooks, Cheeky Food Co., Chilli Chop, etc. They have also created over 130 monthly food video recipes for Co-op Food.
Kris Kirkham Photography
Kris Kirkham is a photographer with a flair for creating dramatic and delicious food, drink, and still-life images. Professionally trained, he has a decade of food photography experience. Previously, he was an award-winning chef, giving him a deep understanding (not to mention love!) of culinary.
One of the best food photographers in London, Kris excels in bringing sensory experiences on the plate to life, interpreting briefs with a punchy visual, and creating a distinctive look for brands.
He loves sharing his expertise via collaboration with creatives on set. He is a favorite among art directors, food, and prop stylists, for his generous nature and supportive vibe, along with his professional integrity.
Kris is also a much-lauded photographer in the industry, recognized by the esteemed Pink Lady Food Photography Awards on numerous occasions, most recently taking second place in the Food Portraiture prize in 2019. He was also named best still life photographer in the UK 2020, One Eyeland Awards.
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Holly Pickering
One of the warmest and engaging food photographers in London, Holly Pickering does advertising, life, and commercial shoots with agencies, brands, and publishers. She is equally comfortable shooting on location and in the studio and offers full shoot production as well. Her team consists of various assistant photographers and stylists who are determined towards your project.
Shortlisted for the Food Photographer of the Year award in 2020, 2019, and 2018, Holly has won the British Journal of Photography Award in 2017. Her most notable clients include The Uncommon Wine, Glen Moray Whisky, Pip & Nut, etc. So, check out her website to get more details and book the best food photography services for your brand.
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Scott Grummett
Scott Grummett is one of the best food photographers in London and director. He has shown amazing prowess in the UK and internationally. He is always on the lookout for the best opportunities. In his words – he likes making people hungry.
Having won the Production Paradise Spotlight Award, Scott’s clientele includes big shots like KFC, Heineken, Heinz, Subway, Sainsbury’s, and Bacardi. He has also worked with various small businesses and start-ups and has delivered stunning results.
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Dean Wright Photography
Dean Wright Photography is all about creating the right images for eminent food businesses. They work with well-known luxury hotels and restaurants. Also, they produce beautiful content for their clients’ social media platforms, brochures, websites, menus, etc.
Besides all this, Dean also shoots restaurants and hotel interiors, and portraits of the people like chef portraits, front-of-house staff, and behind-the-scenes action shots. It allows his clients to showcase not only beautiful food photography but capture the talent behind the doors. Thus, they tell a complete story of their businesses, thereby building their brands through websites and social media platforms.
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Reef Fakhoury Photography
One of the award-winning food photographers in London, Reef Fakhoury has been in the game for several years.
She has a treasure of knowledge about food styling and photography. She started by art directing numerous restaurant and hotel photoshoots as a marketing communications manager of a luxury hotel chain. It was then that she leaped into the wide world of food photography. She started working as an assistant to a professional food photographer and a food stylist to get more hands-on experience in both areas. All this has led her to where she is today.
Reef has an immaculate eye for detail and has solidified his style. She captures images that stay true to the subject through styling that incorporates farm-fresh ingredients that are used to create the dish.
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Bob Norris Photography
Another amazing London food photographer, Bob Norris initially trained in still life and beauty photography. He gained experience working alongside renowned photographers in London and Paris. Then, he entered the world of food photography.
Over the years, he has accumulated immense skills and experiences. His wealth of experience and dedication makes him one of the leading food photographers today. For him, it was a natural progression to photograph food from being a beauty photographer.
Bob can happily approach any project with ease and efficiency, producing beautiful still-life photos of food in the studio or on location. He finds or constructs the key moment, applying creative expertise and using precise technique and composition.
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Karen Thomas Photography
Karen Thomas is a food photographer in London with over twenty years of experience in creating beautifully inspiring images. She has an extensive client list that includes some of the biggest names in food like Marks And Spencer, Costa, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, McDonald’s, and Lidl to name just a few. Karen works with the very best Food stylists to produce the high quality of work for which she is well known.
Karen fell in love with photography at a young age, and the passion has never left her. She loves nothing more than getting stuck in to an exciting project – whether it’s a big advertising shoot, editorial project, or some of her experimental work. It might be a busman’s holiday, but in her spare time, she loves nothing more than cooking!
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Inspired Octopus Photography
One of the most passionate lifestyle and food photographers in London, Inspired Octopus Studio, is all about loving photography and videography.
They have worked with big companies like Deliveroo and Airbnb as well as independent cafes, restaurants, producers, and events professionals. Thus, they have a wide experience working in the catering industry.
They also offer food photography for menus and websites, creative Instagram content, chefs and staff photography, and documentary photography to further strengthen your brand image. Inspired Studios will also create stunning videos to promote independent food suppers, cooking courses and experiences, and videos aimed at social networks.
They have their kitchen facilities to do our in-house food photography and mixology videos.
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Richard Jackson Photography
Richard Jackson is a London-based food and drink photographer who has been shooting pretty much exclusively food & drink for over 20 years now.
He has worked with big brands & supermarkets and exciting new start-ups in the food, drink & hospitality sectors.
Most of Richard’s work is either for packaging or advertising, though it quite often involves recipes and lifestyle imagery. He believes in telling a bit of a story, so a lot of his work has an editorial touch.
Richard works in his studio based near London Stansted Airport. He also works out of rental studios in central London as well as the Midlands. Moreover, Richard believes in economic services.
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Elise Humphrey Photography
Elise Humphrey is an award-winning London-based photographer. She specializes in producing high-quality, engaging imagery for editorial, commercial, and restaurant clients. She takes a natural approach to present food and creates atmosphere and mood in her shots whilst striking a balance between simplicity and playfulness.
Elise is available to shoot both remotely and on location, with or without a team – as an experienced retoucher also with a love of food and prop styling, her clients love that she can handle the whole production from start to finish. Elise brings her positive energy to every shoot and has a strong focus on the finer details, producing the highest quality output whilst also delivering a passionate, personal and professional service to her clients.
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David Wilman Photography
Working as a London-based food photographer for brands like Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, and Tesco for over ten years, David is always excited when he doing food photography. He can be found crafting light, shadow, and focusing alongside a food stylist who is usually cooking up or arranging some kind of mouthwatering dish ready to be photographed. Whether taking stills for a print campaign or stop-frame animation for online and social David’s shots are always exceptional.
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Types of Food Photography
Since food photography has emerged as an extensive domain, we have more niche types based on the purpose. There are three types of food photography.
Packaging:
Packaging is the most technical and tedious type of food photography with little scope of creativity. Here, the photography depicts the food items in the most realistic, detailed, and favorable way. Since the images have to go on a package, photographers have to show exactly what is in it and get the color and number of pieces as right as possible. So, clients supply the food photographers in London with the layout, and they work accordingly.
Advertising:
Advertising food photography involves capturing high-quality creative images for promotional campaigns, menus, brochures, and billboards. Here, the photograph needs to communicate the right (brand) message and attract clients and customers. Therefore, the designers, stylists, and photographers have enough artistic liberty provided that the pictures fulfill their purpose.
Editorial:
Editorial photography gives the most amazing food images. Its purpose is not to be right or sell something; here, the pictures just need to be perfect. Thus, food stylists and photographers can be the most creative with props, background, and lighting to capture images that make the viewers go “Wow!”
How will professional food photography help in marketing your business?
The look, the aroma, and the desire to taste influences the taste of the food. It catches them off guard and makes them want to savor the delicacy; they are the best appetizers.
Of course, you can click these pictures yourself but consider this. Can you style food as well as a professional photographer? Do you pay attention to detail and position the elements? Can the pictures clicked by you trigger impulse buying?
If your answer to these questions is ‘no’, then you definitely need a food photographer.
With these many businesses coming up every day, people give a lot of importance in choosing where to eat. Keep in mind that they will look you up on the internet before ordering. So, you need your marketing to be the most appealing, and a professional food photographer is a way to go.
Besides this, you must understand that you are building a brand through your website, menu, and social media pages. These photos add a visual element to your brand personality and remember that they do judge a book by its cover.Your food photos represent your brand.
What to look for when selecting the food photographers in London?
Before looking for the right food photographers in London, you must understand the characteristics of a professional photographer.
A professional food photographer has a good eye for color and lighting. Besides this, they have a creative mind to bring out the best in your dishes, ingredients, and other products. They are specialists who take photos of food items in a way that the images fulfill their purposes, be it to appeal, attract, or just make the viewers go “Wow!”
The style, plate, and sometimes even assist in cooking to achieve the best results.
- Be sure of your requirements: Know why you need food photography services and outline the purpose and gains from the photoshoot. Also, draft a budget.
- Research: Go through the prospective photographers’ portfolios, websites, and social media handles. Make sure that their images are of the kind you want
- Back the research up: Know what their previous clients say about them. Client testimonials are the best way to gauge the ability of a service provider.
- Interview: After you have shortlisted a few photographers, talk to them. See if your ideals and objectives align with them.
- Ask the necessary questions: Make sure to ask the photographers about their editing and retouching services, charges, cancellation policies, and work experience. Ask them if they shoot only at their studios or are also comfortable with other locations. Also, see that the photographers provide food styling services or are partnered with a food stylist.
Important questions to ask when shortlisting a food photographer in London
- How to choose the food that needs to be photographed? The space on your website, social media handles, and menus provides limited opportunities to convert viewers into customers. This is also a great opportunity to build your brand. Therefore, you should upload pictures of your best and most relevant food items. Your photographer’s response will tell you how well their experiences align with your brand.
- How many photos do you take for each food item? When you ask this question, you can get an idea of how long it took the photographer to capture the pictures in their portfolio. Usually, the ideal shot takes time to capture, but you need to decide how much time you are willing to invest. So, be sure your photographer takes enough photos of each food item without losing their patience.
- What are your payment policies? What are the payments entitled to? You should also ask the photographer about their hourly rates after ensuring that their services are within your budget. Additionally, make sure that they provide all the services you require, like videography and photo retouching during the cooking process. Ensure that your bill is detailed. Payment should be convenient for you.
- Is there any cancellation and refund policy? One should always inquire about cancellation and refund policies before booking any service. On the day of the shoot, something might come up urgently, or there might be a food crisis that can’t be fixed, so you might have to cancel. Alternatively, you might meet a better photographer and choose to work with them.
- How long will it take for the photos to be delivered? You might want to update the pictures on your website, social media handles, and menus as soon as possible. So, ask your shortlisted photographer what the turnaround time is. It usually takes a week to complete all the printing, retouching, and editing.
- What’s the location of the food photoshoot in London? Food photography can be done in any location as long as the photos meet your expectations. Asking this question will help your photographer and you to plan better for the photoshoot.
- When’s the best time to prepare the food before the photoshoot? Food is best photographed just after serving on the plate. Some food items should be photographed immediately before they turn soggy. Beverages tend to lose their form after some time. So, ask your potential photographer when you should prepare the food for good food photos.
How to prepare for a Food photoshoot?
Preparation is an essential step for your food photography.
- Think: Outline the benefits of the food photoshoot for your business. You have to align your objectives. Browse the internet to get inspiration and discuss with your colleagues. Make sure that these convey your ideas and vision to the world.
- Plan the Background: The background of the food items is crucial too. It should be appealing but not overwhelming. The background elements should not deter the focus from the main food item. Usually, plain white cloth pieces or wooden tables become good props as light background and negative space enhance the quality of food pictures.
- Communicate: Discuss with your photographer about your ideas. Communicate your requirements and expectations openly, hear their opinions, and decide on a plan of action.
- Get ready: Prepare a checklist of the items needed for the photoshoot, to avoid missing any important items on the day of the photoshoot.
- Organize: Organization is key during the photoshoot. It prevents any confusion. Also, you can avoid missing something from your agenda. Remember that you have no time to rush and arrange things on that day.
Be flexible: Once you start shooting, you may realize that things are not proceeding as per your plan. Your expectations will change; the things you found good a few days back won’t be attractive anymore. So, what do you do now? Just don’t panic; your photographer will have the knack to improvise. Keep some extra ingredients, food items, props, etc., handy for the day, and everything will fall into place.
Importance of Food Styling
Food styling is a creative art. It involves arranging and decorating dishes. The dishes should be appealing and attractive. In other words, it refers to making food ‘picture-perfect’.
Food stylists, just like fashion stylists, work hard to create a photo-ready palette to make food products look appealing. They work with decorating, plating, preparing, and sometimes even cooking food. Many times, food stylists are in charge of purchasing the right ingredients and accessories for the shoots.
The methods and techniques they use to make the food look delicious and attractive are numerous. Some examples – adding garnishes, strategically arranging the food products in a particular way, modifying the angle of the photos to make the food look visually appealing, replacing expensive ingredients with cheaper alternatives, and many more. They also understand the usage of complementary colors and sharp contrasting shades to evoke different reactions.
You will be surprised to know that their equipment includes glue, toothpicks, dye, a hairdryer, and even motor oil. Their job is to make food look attractive even if it’s not edible. So, food styling involves plating undercooked meat, burning the sides of bread with a hairdryer, and replacing milk with glue.
Food styling is a crucial part of food photography. It affects the finished product in a big way. Sometimes, the food styling can increase your sales by 40-50%.
So, while interviewing the food photographers in London, you must make sure that your food photography package includes food styling. While a few photographers are great food stylists, others partner with professionals to deliver the best results. Be clear with your photographer on this front before booking their services.
Floating Food Photography
You must have seen the images of ‘flying’ food, that is, the ones of food in the air. Falling pancakes suspended burgers, and exploding tea pictures have taken the food photography market by storm. It has given rise to a whole new niche, floating food photography.
While some may think that the photographers managed to take the shot at the right time, others know that floating food images is done with innovation, preparation, lighting, and photoshop.
Here, the photographers have to use their creativity and visualization skills to come up with a good idea. Then, they have to apply their problem-solving skills and chart the correct route for the shoot. Lighting is of the maximum essence during the photo shoot.
After a load of hard work, the food photographers in London get the perfect shot that they photoshop to turn out the right image.
Some Common Tools Food Photographers Use in Their Photoshoot
Before hiring a food photographer, you must understand their work, skills, and equipment. It helps you ask the right questions and make the right hire.
Some common tools used by food photographers are:
- Camera: A professional camera is a must for every photographer. Even if you are booking the services of a newly-started neighbor (not recommended!), a professional camera with a 50mm focal length prime lens is a must.
- Tripod Stand: Tripod stands offer stability to the camera and versatile angle options for the images. They also come with arm extenders that add to the angle options and allow easy camera mounting.
- Lighting Kit: Apt lighting is a prerequisite for food photography. So, a professional photographer must have the right lighting kit. They must also carry color correction cards to work with hues.
- Lens Filter: A professional food photographer should have at least a clear UV filter on their lenses. It significantly improves the quality of images.
- Dulling Spray: Reflections and shadows can liven up photographs but they are tricky to play with. So, a photographer must have a dulling spray to finish the picture right.
- Basic styling equipment: Since food photography involves design and styling, professionals must own basic equipment like tweezers, pipettes, squeeze and spray bottles, paintbrushes, clamps, straws, etc. They must also be creative enough to use them wisely.
- Backdrops: Although food pictures require minimal backdrops, your food photographer must have a range of neutral background options. Countertop, marble pastry boards, plexiglass sheets, and foam core are some of them.
If your photoshoot is done in a studio, you must check its kitchen area.
Common Mistakes in Food Photography
While looking for a good food photographer, keep an eye on these common food photography mistakes.
- Shooting at an incorrect angle and/or focus: Many people click food pictures from the angle they eat the food. It is also common for them to not focus well on the right parts of the plate.
- Plating and propping with odd colors: Not many colors go well with food, so it is advisable to keep the plates, props, and backgrounds neutral. In this way, the viewers can focus more on food and yearn for it.
- Shooting with flash or only natural light: Lighting is another vital element of food photography; flash doesn’t do justice to an image. Most food photographers understand this and use natural light for their shoots. While this is a great idea, it is not always appropriate, especially when the light from your window is reddish or blue. So, your photographer must know how to play with the lighting.
- Overediting: While editing, retouching and photoshop are mandatory skills for a food photographer, they must not be overdoing it. So, be sure to go with the person who clicks good pictures naturally.
Conclusion
Now that you know enough about food photography and its types and hacks, you are in a good position to make a decision.
Ask yourself why you need food images. Remember that you are not only creating content for your website, menus, and promotional campaigns but presenting your brand image in front of the world. So, don’t hurry.
Decide if you want to book the services of a photographer or do the shoot yourself. You should go with a professional unless you are short on budget. Also, don’t pick the first person whose portfolio you like.
As you see, there are plenty of options. So, go through the photographers’ websites, check out their portfolios, interview them, and then pick the person you are most compatible with. That way, you get a comfortable photoshoot experience, excellent quality commercial images, and recurring profits.
Additional Photographers in London
| Wedding / Pre Wedding/ Solemnization photographers in London | See list |
| Portrait / Headshots photographers in London | See list |
| Family photographers in London | See list |
| Newborn photographers in London | See list |
| Food photographers in London | See list |
| Real Estate / Property / Interior photographers in London | See list |
| Product photographers in London | See list |
FAQs
How much do food photographers in London charge?
Food photography in London typically costs around £100-150 per hour, though this can vary widely between photographers. Cheaper photographers may offer a lower-quality service, but others charge more because they’re more experienced or have a better reputation. The exact price will vary depending on the location, the type of shoot, the number of people involved, and the length of the shoot.
What are the types of food photography in London?
The three main types of food photography are packaging, advertising, and editorial. All three have their specific purpose, intent, and techniques. While the packaging is all technical and leaves little room for creativity, the other two are more liberal niches. Moreover, editorial food photography is all about the viewers going, “Wow!”
What do food photographers in London need for their photoshoot?
Food photography is the art of drawing attention to food. It requires you to have a good eye for composition, creativity, and a knack for problem-solving. A food photo is a work of art. There is a particular order to arrange the angle, lighting, background, and styling. So, you need a professional camera (or a good smartphone camera), some lighting equipment, several props, and editing software.
What skills are needed to be a food stylist?
To be a successful food stylist, you should have a good eye for presentation and be good at cooking and baking. You should know the importance of colors and be aware of the visual appeal of the food. You should be photogenic and be able to pose and move about gracefully to retain the crispness and freshness of the food. A healthy sense of imagination and an eye for light and color are essential.
