Introduction to Food Photography for Restaurants

We start a meal with our eyes. That’s why capturing dishes in their best light is so important. Photographer Cole Wilson has traveled around the world photographing food and the people who enjoy it for restaurants, companies, and publications including The New York Times and The New Yorker.

In this online course, he teaches you how to make dishes look irresistible through creative food photography. Explore lighting, angles, editing, and more to capture striking images that make people’s mouths water. Discover how to capture beautiful photos that nourish people’s senses.

Begin the course by getting to know photographer Cole Wilson. Discover how he went from photographing portraits to taking pictures of food, along with the influences that inspire him and the work he creates.

Get an introduction to the world of food photography and discover Cole’s process for capturing mouthwatering photos. Then take a look at an example brief and how to approach it. Learn how to effectively research your shoot and gather references for a mood board. Explore the equipment needed for food photography, and discover how to set up your camera, lighting, and more ahead of your shoot.

Time to take your photos! Learn how to prepare for your shoot once you arrive on set. Cole then guides you through how to style your set and take pictures of your cocktail. Move on to the appetizer and the main dish, before photographing all three dishes together, experimenting with backgrounds, surfaces, angles, and more, for a professional end result.

Cole explains how to choose your final photos and edit them in Lightroom by adjusting things like exposure and tone. To wrap up the course, learn how to export your photos according to the brief and level up your food photography.