A conversation with food photographer Ellen Richardson
This month, we spoke to photographer Ellen Richardson about how she approaches food shoots for Restaurants Brighton. Ellen has worked with dozens of venues across the city and understands the balance between capturing your menu at its best and creating content that works across your platforms.
Below, she shares what makes a shoot successful and how restaurant owners and marketing teams can help get the most from the session.
How long do you typically spend on each dish?
I usually spend around 10 minutes with each dish.
That allows time to create a unique setup and get a full range of photos. This includes close-ups to highlight presentation and ingredients, wider shots to show the dish in context with drinks or a dining table, and then some action shots — for example, pouring a sauce, cutting into the food or hands reaching in.
Should we try to include as many dishes as possible?
It’s tempting to do that, but in reality, less is more.
Focusing on a smaller number of dishes means better results. For a one-hour shoot, four dishes is ideal. For two hours, around six to eight.
That gives us time to create a wide variety of images for each dish, which will be much more versatile for your social media, website or print. Trying to cover too many dishes often means you only get two or three very basic shots of each. That’s not a great return on your time or budget.
What happens after each dish has been photographed?
Once I’ve captured the individual dishes, I’ll style everything into a feasting scene.
This shows off the menu as a whole and gives a great sense of atmosphere. It’s also when we bring in people — if they’re available — to clink glasses, serve each other, and enjoy the food. These shots are brilliant for storytelling and give a sense of the experience your venue offers.
Depending on the venue and timing, I might leave all the action shots until the group scene to avoid disturbing the food before it’s had its moment. Every shoot is slightly different, so we adapt as we go.
Can you include other elements like interiors or staff portraits?
Yes, if there’s time. It depends on your priorities.
If the food is the main focus, we’ll concentrate there. But if you want to show off the cocktail bar, kitchen prep, or have some team portraits taken, that’s all possible too — as long as we plan for it.
How can venues prepare before a shoot?
Once we’ve confirmed which dishes are being photographed, the main things to think about are:
- The order of service – Ideally, we start with cold starters or dishes that hold well. Steaks, eggs and delicate dishes should come out last, so they stay fresh for the camera. Desserts always come at the end, and I’ll let the kitchen know when we’re ready. Some, like those with ice cream, really do need to be photographed immediately.
- Drink pairings – Think about which drinks you’d like to include. If there’s a high-end bottle of wine you want to feature, we can use that in the scene and pour a glass of house wine of the same colour to avoid opening your premium stock. Cocktails don’t hold very well, so I tend to include those at the end of the shoot, especially in the feasting scenes, unless you’re happy to remake them.
Final thoughts?
A great shoot isn’t just about the number of dishes.
It’s about having time to make the food look its best, tell the right story, and produce photos you’ll actually want to use again and again. Trusting your photographer and allowing space for creativity makes all the difference.
You can read more about Ellen in our Restaurants Brighton interview here, and visit the Ellen Richardson website to find out more about what she does.