Food photography for restaurants, shot on your phone

Light: the window is your best tool

Put the plate on a table a few feet from a window, with the light coming from the side or slightly behind the dish. Side light shows texture: the crust on a steak, the layers in a croissant, the glaze on wings. Turn off the overhead lights if you can, because mixing warm bulbs with daylight gives you the orange-and-blue mess most kitchen photos have.

Never use the flash. It flattens everything and puts a shiny hot spot on sauces. If the window light is harsh (direct sun on the table), hang a white napkin or a sheet of parchment in the window to soften it. Overcast days are a gift for food photography.

Angles: pick by the shape of the dish

Flat food that’s interesting from above (pizza, bowls, salads, platters, tacos lined up) looks best straight overhead. Most plated entrées look best at about 45°, roughly the angle of someone sitting down to eat. Tall food (burgers, layer cakes, stacked sandwiches, drinks) needs eye level, or you lose the height that makes it worth ordering.

Whatever angle you choose, hold the phone level and step back a little. It’s easy to crop in later and impossible to add plate that isn’t in the frame.

Styling real food without faking it

Food stylists for ad campaigns use glue, motor oil and mashed potatoes. You can’t, and you shouldn’t: on a menu or a delivery app the photo is a promise. Plate the real portion the way it goes out, then fix the small stuff: wipe drips off the rim with a paper towel, add a fresh sprig of the garnish you actually use, and brush a little oil on proteins that have gone matte.

Speed matters more than tricks. Greens wilt, cheese sets and fries go limp within a few minutes, so have the spot and the phone ready before the plate leaves the line.

Phone settings that help

Wipe the lens first; kitchen grease is the number-one cause of hazy photos. Use the main 1× lens or the 2× option rather than pinch-zooming, which throws away detail. Tap the food to focus, then drag the exposure slider down a touch so whites and sauces don’t blow out. Turn on the grid to keep the horizon and the plate rim straight.

Portrait mode can look nice, but it often blurs the edges of the plate in odd places. Shoot one with and one without and keep the better one. HEIC files from iPhones upload here as they are.

Editing: where enhancing ends and faking begins

Fixing white balance, brightness, a messy background and a crooked crop is normal photo editing. Adding shrimp, making the portion bigger or swapping in a nicer-looking burger is not, and delivery apps and customers both treat it that way. That’s the line our enhancer is built on: it changes light, background and framing, and every result keeps the same food, the same portion and the same plate.