Our Food Photography Blog:
Focus on Beautiful.

What you’re looking at

Two very different shoots. One in a controlled studio with time to finesse every detail, even if that studio is set up on location. One on location and in service, with less than a minute before the dish had to go to a hungry customer.

Both work. Both produce beautiful images. The difference is in the approach, and the purpose.

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Lighting setup

• Studio: Full rig of strobes, diffusers, reflectors — everything set up and tuned to perfection, specifically for the dish. We shape the light exactly how we want it, with total control. For this shot, that was in our own studio, but often it's in a mini-studio set up on location, still with the same precision.
• In-Service Location: Standard set-up for our portable “pop-up” kit — soft boxes, bounce cards, lightweight stands — pre-set and ready to go. The goal is speed and minimal disruption, not endless tweaking, so one set-up has to work with different dishes.

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Camera settings

• Studio: Typically low ISO, and wider apertures to blur backgrounds but keep the hero in sharp focus. Tripod-mounted precision. We shoot tethered, make incremental adjustments, and layer in as much detail as possible.
• In-Service Location: Smaller apertures to ensure a good range of focus without having to adjust anything when the dish is in place. Sometimes a higher ISO if the space demands it. Still generally tethered, with tripod-mounted camera, so when the food arrives, that’s all we’re worrying about. Agility matters more than precision — you’re chasing moments, not building them.

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Styling and prep

• Studio: Meticulous. We tweak plates, polish cutlery, trim garnishes, and control every last crumb. In this case, the forkful was done a number of times to make it as good as possible. Props are selected to reflect the brand, dish and mood, and then moved a millimetre at a time to get everything balanced perfectly.
• In-Service Location: Virtually none. The dish comes straight from the pass, plated for a diner. We don’t touch it — we photograph it as it is, quickly, and it goes out to the table untouched. In this case, the napkins and flowers were already in place, so are used in the range of shots. We can tweak colours in the edit, so they complement the dish and plating, but everything else has to be set.

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Editing touches

• Studio: We refine, retouch, and polish until it’s flawless, because these are campaign or menu images that will be used again and again.
• In-Service Location: Much the same. There may be a little more crumb-cleaning, as we can't clean the plate on set, but this is quite rare because chefs are meticulous in their attention to detail. Prop colours are tweaked more, as they've not been refined on set.

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Why this works

Restaurants and food brands often need both. The polish of the studio for campaigns, menus, and packaging. The agility of in-service work for real-time dishes, behind-the-pass moments, and speed without compromise.

Sometimes the occasion, or image use, dictates the best approach — so having the knowledge and equipment to make each work is vital.

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Worth knowing

You don't always have to choose between studio polish and in-service authenticity. The best brand stories often use both. One grabs attention and builds confidence, the other builds trust and authenticity. Together, they show customers your food is both beautiful and real.

But if you need a photo to be used in print or on large billboards, the studio approach will always be best, because you need the image quality to be top-notch.