The Perfect Food Shot

The Perfect Food Shot

Food, whether it be burgers, sandwiches, salads, or any others, always look so perfect in the commercials, but after we order them, they end up looking so different. Why? The podcast "99% Invisible" unveiled the reasons.

Food experts say that the look of food is a very important factor in making food ordering choices. If a customer finds a food commercial visually appealing, there's a better chance she'll give it a try. Therefore, food companies are willing to spend tons of money on getting the perfect shots for their offerings.

A few years ago, McDonald's released a video on how "a perfect shot of burgers" is done: First, a food stylist assembled a perfect burger with its normal ingredients, which were used exactly the same as in other burgers, but were cut in perfect shapes for the purpose of photography; Next, take shots -- with perfect lighting and angle -- this usually takes hours to get it right; Lastly, take the photo to Photoshop for further tweaking to get the final look, that's gonna used in the commercials.

Techniques in "expressing" food have definitely changed much since the dawn of food commercials. Initially, food was advertised via illustrations. Next, it started having real shots, then videos of scenes of people happily eating them, and now juicy ingredients bouncing and flying in the air -- everything to try to make the audience mouthwatering. Nowadays, food film studios even adopted military cameras, so that they can shot great close ups and slow the frames down to capture the tiny details, like fresh tomato slices flying in the air, with their juice dripping down.

I'm amazed by all these, and especially the fact that it can take a day to do a perfect shot just for a chicken sandwich. It takes a ton of $$$ to make this happen.

But, it's worth it to get it right. After all, in this crazy world with all kinds of superb food shots that get our attention, who can win? Probably the one that stands out. That helps with selling more food, well, and pay for the next perfect food shot.

Image referenced: McDonald's The South Africa Burger

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