Shooting a restaurant menu in a single day

Restaurants cannot close for a week of photography. Here is how we shot an entire seasonal menu in one day.

Plan the shot list together

The chef, the stylist and I agreed every dish, angle and prop a week before the shoot.

Cook in waves

The kitchen plated dishes in groups of four, so food was always fresh on set.

Natural window light plus one bounce card is still the best food light there is.

Edit on set

Our retoucher graded images as we shot, so the client approved everything before we packed up.