Preparing For A Food Photoshoot + Free Shot List Template
As a food photographer, I am hired by restaurant owners, cookbook authors, product marketers, and food service companies to tell their story by artfully designing each frame to appear lifelike and delicious.
Now, if someone wants to hire me to take photos of an impromptu brunch food fight: Sprinkles-in-the-air, waffles-in-your-face, banana-peels-on-the-ground, anything-goes, free-for-all, I’m game! But 99% of the time, my job is to capture intentional, high-quality product photos for a very specific purpose. And you know what helps me the most? My shot list.
In food photography, everything is intentional. From the positioning of the finished food to the ingredients and how they’re presented. The lighting, the surfaces, the textures and colors, the props... With special care for every detail, your job is to show the tantalizing details of what you’re photographing with the very little real estate to spare, and there are so many variables. That’s why it’s so important to prepare before you even pick up your camera.
In this blog, I’ll share:
What you need to do before you plan your shot list - Includes tips for vetting your clients, making a mood board, and having a successful pre-production meeting.
My FREE downloadable Food Photography Shot List Template to help you crush your next photoshoot
Pro tips to help you be prepared for anything so that your shoot goes off without a hitch.
Preparing for a Photoshoot
You can’t build the perfect shot list out of nothing. In fact, creating your shot list is one of the last things you’ll do before the photoshoot. Here are a few important things you need to do before you start working on your shot list.
Vet Your Clients (+ Get to Know Them)
The bottom line is: You want to be passionate about what you’re shooting. Sure, you’re talented, and you can shoot other styles, but photos always turn out better when they’re taken by someone who is excited about the project and who connects to the client’s brand aesthetic, story, and products. That’s just the truth.
What’s their brand aesthetic? Does their brand aesthetic align with your style and what you like to shoot? If yes, then there’s a good chance it’s a great match!
What’s their story? - Knowing where your client comes from and what drives their innovation will not only help you connect to the product, it will help you tell their visual story. And speaking from experience, asking the client questions about their ‘why’ will help make them feel more confident putting their product in your hands. It will also start a dialogue that will help you vet your clients so that you can be confident you’re working with brands that you believe in.
Do you drool over their products? Listen, I’m not saying a vegetarian can’t take great photos of bacon-wrapped turducken, but it is definitely a bonus if you look at what you’re shooting and think, I can’t wait to eat this!
Learn About What You’re Shooting
Find out what they want you to shoot. A pop-up restaurant hiring you to take photos for Instagram has very different needs than a foodservice company asking for new product shots for their catalogue.
Once you know what the client is hiring you to shoot, get to know the product(s). For example, if you’re shooting a multi-ingredient dish, get a list of all the ingredients and ask about anything else that sets this dish apart (the dish they serve it in, what they serve it with, etc). Ask about what inspired the dish and how it got its name.
Create a Mood Board
Gather inspirational ideas related to color, texture, subject, and light to create a visual mood board. I use a software program called Milatone but you can also use a free tool like Pinterest. This will help you cover every visual aspect of the photoshoot (like ingredients, props, surfaces, etc.) and will help you articulate your concept when you present it to your client.
Have a Creative Meeting
If the only times you meet your client are when you sign your contract and when you arrive at the photoshoot, you’re leaving waaaay too much space for miscommunication and overall confusion.
I always call a pre-production creative meeting to go over the project in detail, collect helpful information, answer questions, and share my mood board to ensure that we’re all on the same page. This meeting is the best time to get everything settled on both sides so that we can all show up prepared and get right to work on shoot day.
Here are a few topics I make sure to discuss at this meeting:
Style - Does the brand call for dark and moody, light and airy, etc.
Props - Build a list of unique props that will fit the mood of the photoshoot. For example, an old vintage meat tenderizer that their chef uses, a polaroid of their team, or one of their centerpieces. Make sure to talk about any supplies they might not readily have as well so that you can prepare accordingly.
Ingredients - An ingredients list is a must-have! Find out what you need and decide who is bringing the fresh ingredients (them or you).
You can learn more about these pre-production meetings in my previous blog, How to Work with a Food Photographer .
Preparing Your Shot List
I can’t even tell you how much using a shot list has helped me in my career. If you are new to food photography or are simply looking for an industry hack that will make your life a ka-billion times easier, this is it. Because when the lights are on and culinary magic is being made, even the most experienced of food photographers can forget a shot (ask me how I know).
What is a Shot List?
A shot list is your marching orders for a photoshoot. It keeps you on track, focused, and in creative flow because it takes the guesswork out of your photoshoot. With a carefully constructed shot list, you won’t have to worry about whether or not you’re forgetting anything; it’s already all on paper. All you have to do is check each shot off your list, one at a time.
Maximizing Your Photoshoot with a Shot List
When I do a photoshoot, I don’t just shoot the final product, I shoot each ingredient separately and at different stages of preparation to tell the story of the dish. A shot list helps me maximize a photoshoot by identifying photo opportunities from start to finish.
For example, if I shoot a Pomegranate Berry Smoothie, I take photos of me cutting the pomegranate and washing the berries and seeds under the sink. I take action shots of me filling the blender, etc. until I take my final, crowd-pleasing hero shot. I do this because I want the client to have plenty of options to choose from, some traditional, and some not-so-traditional. It’s a way for me to maximize my photoshoot for a big variety of images (even if they didn’t ask for them).
The three main shots I make sure to get for each dish are:
An ingredient shot - Alone and together in various groupings.
A human shot - Typically these are hand shots showing the preparation process.
A final shot - This is called the ‘hero’ shot.
Note: My shot list process for videos is not all that different, but it is a bit more detailed. When I do a videography shoot, I write out each clip that I’ll be shooting beforehand and also describe each transition between shots.
Don’t have your own shot list? Use mine! Click to download your free copy!
Pro Tips for a Seamless Food Photography Shoot
Funny story, a few weeks ago, I was shooting a video for a product and I was testing out a new hand slicer. Surprise, surprise, I cut my hand. And because of special covid precautions that required me to restrict the number of people at the shoot, I was not only the food photographer that day, I was also the designated hand model... bleeding all over the place. And yes, I realize the absurdity of the fact that I got in a hand modeling accident 😂 but my point is, even at a food photoshoot, you never know what’s going to happen.
As a self-taught food photographer, I’ve learned a lot through trial and error. I could write a whole entire blog about some of these lessons, but today, I’ll simply leave you with a few final pro tips to help you have a seamless and enjoyable food photography shoot.
Come prepared - Make a list of the props and gear you’ll need for the photoshoot and pack it all up ahead of time. Plan your travel so that you’re not rushing to location. Find out if the client wants natural lighting or artificial lighting and make sure you know what kind of available natural light you’ll have for your shoot so you can pack accordingly.
Define a point person - Something always comes up on photo shoot day that you did not anticipate. It’s just the way it goes. Make sure you have a point person on site who can answer any questions that might arise, and who has the authority to make executive decisions if needed.
Have an extra hand on set - Remember that hand modeling story from before? Thankfully, I had an extra hand on set (literally) - My assistant! She was able to jump in and take over. And that day, *dramatic pause* a (hand) model was born.
Bring back ups - Bring extra batteries, SD cards, a tripod, an extension cord, a phone cord, different types of lenses, lights, a reflector, etc.
There you have it! If you follow these pro tips and create a shot list, you can rest assured you’ll make the very most of your photoshoot and be ready for whatever the day throws at you.
Never miss a shot again! Use this downloadable template to make creating a shot list an easy part of your pre-production planning.
