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Starting a food photography business is one of the best decisions I ever made. I love what I do, and I love helping others who share my passion discover their inner entrepreneur.

 

But I wasn’t born knowing the right flow to get me from onboarding a client to delivering perfect images. It took time {and more than a few mistakes} to find the system that works best for me. Now, my food photography business is — for the most part — a well-oiled machine. Today, I’m going to share how it works with you, step by step. Hopefully you won’t need as much time {or as many goofs} as I did to find your food photography rhythm!

 

Step 1: Get the Admin Stuff Out of the Way

 

When I’m pre-qualifying a client, I send them a questionnaire or talk to them on the phone. This was intimidating at first, but I found it’s truly the best way to understand what’s important to my client. It also builds trust and a unique client experience. The client sees me as a creative person, not just a line of text in their inbox! At this stage, we discuss important details about their project. (Number of images, usage, creative requests, and so on.) I make sure to ask about the target audience and brand values, colors, and fonts. Some clients have a brand book with all of this info ready to go. That always makes my job a little easier!

 

 

Next, I set up a contract and arrange for a 50% deposit. Then, I send my welcome guide that details my process, work hours, etc. This helps to set expectations for the client right away.

 

Step 2: Make Sure You Are on the Same Page

 

Now it’s research time! I look at their competitors to see what type of image is popular with the target audience. I take note of what is generating engagement on social media and look for ways to put my own spin on it.

 

Once I have a solid idea of where I’d like to go with the project, I work up a mood board. This is how I visually communicate my ideas to the client. My idea of “young and fresh”, for example, might greatly differ from theirs! That’s why I never skip this step: it ensures that we are talking about the same thing. (Want to start using mood boards in your food photography business? Try my free mood board template!)

 

Knowing how many images you need to shoot is essential, but knowing exactly which images the client needs (and in which format) is imperative to avoid wasting time with unnecessary reshoots. I use a shot list to confirm that I get everything my client needs.

 

 

Step 3: Do Some Pre-Shoot Planning

 

I plan the props and background I will be using depending on the mood we discussed. That allows me to plan for prop shopping in advance so I can accommodate it in my schedule. I also like to sketch the shots I am planning in my head. On shoot day, things can get crazy and I don’t want to forget a shot I had thought would look great.

 

 

When I’m ready, I go prop and grocery shopping. Since I’ve planned ahead, I’m able to budget for additional ingredients like garnishes. They’re not always part of the recipe, but I can often tell when I’m sketching whether or not I’ll need a little something extra.

 

Step 4: Run the Food Photography Shoot

 

Shoot day still gives me the jitters, even though I usually have at least one or two of them each week. There’s so much possibility! I’m finally getting to put into action all the ideas I’ve been working toward and sketching. But I still try to stick to my process to avoid making rookie mistakes:

 

1. Set up my scene (without the food). Up goes the backdrop and out come the plates, bowls, silverware, linen, etc.
2. Arrange my lighting setup if I’m working with artificial light.
3. Position the camera and light modifiers (diffusers, bounce cards, black cards, etc).
4. Set up tethered capture/live view and an auto import workflow.
5. Set up the metadata so my images have my copyright info and the right keywords.
6. Take a few test shots without food or with stand-in food (so nothing wilts, melts, or runs).
7. Cook the recipe (when needed).
8. Style the food and shoot. Woohoo!

 

Shooting tethered is a game-changer for me, and it dramatically cut down on the number of reshoots I had to do. If it is something you’d like to try (and I really recommend that you do), check out this video by the amazing Joanie Simon of The Bite Shot to help you get started:

 

Step 5: Post-Process Those Beautiful Images

 

Even though I shoot tethered with live view, once I sit down and really look through a shoot there’s always culling to do. I look through carefully to see which images support my client’s message and needs best, rather than just what looks prettiest to me.

 

Sometimes I’ll create some Lightroom presets for my project as I go, so I’m not making the same exact changes over and over again. Other times I’ll take it photo by photo; it really depends on the shoot. Thanks to Lightroom Magic by Two Loves Studio, I’m now a very confident Lightroom editor and this step goes relatively quickly either way.

 

I love the Pixieset plugin because I can create a new set right there in Lightroom and publish the edited images directly from the software. It saves me time over exporting and then uploading to Pixieset, and it also saves space on my hard drive.

 

If it’s a personal project, I export my favorite images to a special folder on my hard drive for later use in my portfolio or to use on Instagram.

 

Step 6: Deliver Your Food Photography images to the Client

 

I used to email my clients a link to the proofs and the client would have to email me back with the file numbers. It was not ideal. Pixieset freed me from that mess!

 

 

Now delivery is probably the simplest step in my workflow. I send one Pixieset link to the client so they can choose their favorite images. I always show them more photos than we agreed on so they can make their own selections. Once I know which images the client wants, I create a new folder in Pixieset with the final images.

 

After that, I send the final invoice via Dubsado, my incredible photography business CRM. Once I’ve received the final payment, my client gets a link and download PIN for the final images. 2 weeks later, I send an email to the client to make sure there were no issues with the files and to thank them for working with me.

 

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Now you’ve seen step by step how I conduct my food photography shoots. Not so intimidating after all, right? Although you may need to change a few things here and there, this general structure should help you get through a food photography shoot without the headache of making it all up as you go. To get more food photography and business tips, sign up for my email list. Don’t forget to hit reply and let me know how it’s working out for you!