Food Photography for Your Website & Menu: Why Is It Important?
Food can make an impression even without a person ever smelling or tasting it. How or why is that possible, you might ask? The answer is quite simple: photos, of course! One of the most appealing aspects of food is visuals, which is why a lot of chefs tend to place importance on plating. It's also what makes food photos one of the most oft-posted and shared things on social media.
Food Photography
By definition, food photography refers to a life photography style that specifically aims to create food photos that are attractive. Commercial food photography is made use of for ads, cookbooks, packaging and yes, websites as well as menus.
Since social media is prevalent and a smartphone is practically a necessity for everyone, what makes professional photography services from a food photographer key? It all comes down to the quality of the photographs that are taken. High-quality photos meant for selling food will only come from professional, reputable product photography services.
It may seem like just anyone can take food photos, but there's actually quite a lot that goes into it. Read on to learn about how food photography is key for a restaurant menu and website.
First Impressions
As the saying goes, first impressions last; nobody wants to make a bad one to potential customers. When it comes to a restaurant website, the photos alone should already speak volumes. There should be a three-pronged effect when people see the food photos: trigger visual hunger, whet appetites and, of course, draw attention.
Sales
Think about it: how many times have you seen a particularly mouthwatering photo of a burger and decided you just had to have it? That's the sheer power of food marketing. Restaurants can either present each item on their menu or choose popular dishes to feature.
Statistics
According to HubSpot, when people get information audibly or through reading, what they actually retain comes out to around 10%. When that information is paired with a relevant image, however, they manage to remember 65% of the information. That's a rather massive jump. Nearly half of marketers that were interviewed (roughly 46%) think photography is key for their marketing and storytelling.
Visual marketing has never been more important. Visual communication was estimated to take up around 84% of communication around 2018. Content that has pictures added to it can bring views all the way up to 94% more than usual. With those numbers, it's no wonder that around 82% of people will buy a particular dish from the photo alone, whether or not they want it.
Restaurants that offer online ordering who switched from text-based menus to photo-based menus saw their conversion rate go up by a quarter: a whole 25%.
Conclusion
Food photography is an important piece of lifestyle photography that aims to create attractive food photos. High-quality commercial food photography is meant for ads, cookbooks, packaging, websites, menus and more. Benefits of taking on professional food photography services include making excellent first impressions and boosting sales.
In need of photographers in Amsterdam for your food business? Reach out to BFF Visuals today! We’re a video marketing and photo and video production company based in the Netherlands.
