Amazing article from Mr Michael Rays Blog.... He has a great blog u guys MUST check it out...Food Photography as a Profession
Basically, there are three main types of food photography: Packaging, Advertising, and Editorial. These are vague, abstract categories and you will always be able to find exceptions to the generalizations I’m about to make, but for discussion sake, here we go.
Packaging food photography
Of the three types of food photography, packaging tends to be the most technical, tedious, and anal-retentive type of food photography. It is not unusual in a packaging shoot to actually count the number of peas shown on the plate. Strict rules in advertising make everyone involved in the process. Lighting must be relatively flat to show maximum detail and there is definitely not room for special effects. Your job is to show the food in a realistic, favorable way. An Art Director and a layout will be supplied and you are expected to match that layout to the best of your ability. Most details of the shoot regarding cropping, propping, and backgrounds will be pre-determined. Your input and creativity will be put on the back burner. Most of the time at the shoot will be spent poking very small details and dropping images into layouts to see if everything fits just right. Please don’t get me wrong, it still beats “working for a living” but of all the types of food photography, this kind of work is the toughest.
Advertising food photography
I’m using this category of food photography as a broad “catch all” category encompassing actual food ads, menus, product brochures, and possibly billboards. This type of food photography tends to be less tedious than packaging, but still can be quite restrictive because of layout parameters. Someone, usually an Art Director, or possibly a Designer, has a predetermined idea of what end result will look like. There is usually a layout, and everyone expects that the final photo to end up looking very close to the Artist’s illustration. There is usually some room for taking advantage of unforeseen opportunities such as props or lighting special effects, but the end result must communicate the idea behind the photograph. A pretty picture will sometimes take a lower propriety to communication.
Editorial food photography
This is the type of photography that most food photographers love the most. The most important thing is “making a beautiful image”. Instead of needing to communicate “Heinz’s hot, moist, meaty, abundant, corn fed ground meat stew”, you just need to make the viewer say “Wow!” This kind of shot usually makes “lighting” the big issue of the photo. Ya, it has to be well composed, and beautifully styled and nicely propped, but if the lighting isn’t spectacular, the shot ends up being just so-so. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was from a food stylist that said, “Mike, you can make a turd on a paper plate look good”. Now that’s high praise!
Photo by Mr Michael Ray
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