When people think about food photographer, they possibly think about photographs you see in glossy magazines or cookery books but perhaps not so much the photographs which are found on food packaging to let you see what the product will look like when it is cooked.
This is what a Glasgow food company required when they were looking a food photographer to produce shots for the packaging of their new products.
Food photography of chicken Korma taken from above. The shot has been styled to include props such as a bowl and ingredients such as chillies and popadoms and rice. They are sitting on a background of black slate. By Glasgow food photographer Richard Campbell.
For this shoot we teamed up with food stylist Sue Davie to prepare the food for the photography and suggest props which could be used to create the right look. The preparation for the shoot started about a week before.
After meeting with the client to discuss things like the style of the shots and the type of background to be used, we met up with Sue to show her some samples of the products which consisted of Chicken Tikka and Chicken Korma ready meals. This allowed her time to experiment with the products to see how best to present them when photographed.
Food photography of chicken tikka in a black bowl against black slate. You can see some of the ingredients at the edges. There are chillies, nan bread and some rice in a bowl. The shot has been taken from above. By Glasgow food photographer Richard Campbell.
A week later, it was time for the shoot, which we’d arranged to do at Sue’s kitchen as it was handier for the food preparation. As the client wasn’t able to attend the shoot in person, we were able to send through shots as they were taken for approval. Fortunately, only minor adjustments were needed so it was fairly quick process.
Food photography of chicken Tikka taken from the side. It is in a yellow sauce with green coriander on top and sits in a brown clay bowl. This is sit-in non black slate with other ingredients such as popadoms, chillies and rice. By Glasgow food photographer Richard Campbell.
Only 2 main shots were required from the shoot to be used for the food packaging but we also did a couple of alternative shots for use in other applications such as social media. In total, we only produce 4 final images which was exactly what the client wanted.
What might surprise some people reading this is that it took half a day in order to do that, such is the level of detail and thought required to get the shots exactly right.