Step 1 – find a photographer
You may have taken this step already if you like what you see in these pages! What you need to satisfy yourself about is that you like the feeling the pictures of your chosen photographer evoke. Do they look fresh, inviting, immediate, natural – does the food invite you to taste it ? Does it look real and achievable or impossibly perfect? I tend to like food to look real – as if it has just been taken from the oven or hob and served on the plate in front of me, a few ‘imperfections’ perhaps a slight cracking of a crust or a slightly brown or crumbled edge or an escaping piece of lettuce or dripping sauce can emphasise the ephemeral nature of food and encourage you to take heed of it NOW! There are other photographers who see their mission in food photography as being to present the ideal – a dish with no flaws. I often find this can lead to the food looking rather impersonal and distanced and manufactured, but I will work with you whatever your goals! You can talk to me to clarify your ideas and be under no obligation to proceed further
Step 2 – ask for an estimate
A price can be worked out for you based on the number of shots you need, the uses you are putting them to and your food styling requirements. We charge a day fee plus a charge for each digital image supplied. If you are not used to buying photography you may be surprised to discover that it is not usual practice to buy the rights to the images outright, but rather to buy a licence for a particular usage or usages. A professional photographer will always expect to keep the copyright of the photographs they take for all their clients and if you find a photographer who doesn’t specify this it may be that they are not as experienced as they appear to be! The usage is not necessarily expensive but is computed based on industry standards on a scale from PR use at the low end to worldwide advertising at the top. We endeavour to make the process of working out the costs of a photoshoot as painless and transparent as possible and will include all incidental costs. There will be no hidden/extra costs levied after the shoot.
Step 3 – firm up the brief
To be certain that you get what you want out of a food photoshoot, it’s worth spending some time thinking about the shoot-list. We will go through it in detail and raise any queries so that we have everything to hand on the day of the shoot and don’t waste time.
Step 4 – come to the shoot
We like to make the shoot day as enjoyable as we can for everyone, a good atmosphere seems to show in the results! We normally start at 9.30am and aim to have done at least one shot (and sometimes two) before we break for lunch, although often this first shot may take all morning it usually fixes the style and afterwards things go faster. During lunch the client can have time to think and be sure all is going as they wish.
