#12 – How to create powerful visual storytelling in food photography – every time!

Whether you’re a food photographer, blogger, stylist, artist or even in a corporate job – every time you put out a piece of content whether it’s a photo, artwork or even a recipe – everyone wants to know the story.

People don’t just want to know the story, they want to be in that story.

They want to feel like they’re a part of it.

They want to experience it in real time as though they’re in it in that moment.

And when you’re able to achieve that, that my friend is called visual storytelling.

Creating powerful photos that transport an audience & make them feel as though they are in it real time, is how I define storytelling in photography.

I struggled a lot in the beginning. New to photography, I struggled to understand what storytelling in photography meant.

I would create a photo with props and colours and follow what looked good aesthetically with absolutely no idea of the concept of storytelling in photography and even more clueless on how to create a story.

As I moved forward, I understood the importance of using relevant props, What specific colours did to a photo and most importantly, the more I worked with clients, I understood what my role as a food stylist, food photographer was.

I would be given concepts or the art direction by clients and I had to create compositions and moods around it. And it was critical for me to nail their vision, because my photos would sell their products. There was a lot on the line.

While I had to bring my artistic side to the table, I had to understand the client’s vision and communicate it to their customers through my photos by telling their story.

And somehow, I began to use the same process for my personal work too. I became more intentional, began to start with a vision and create a story around that vision.

By doing so, I saw a huge change in the reaction of my audience on social media. They began to relate to my work, they felt inspired. My mentors in the photography world reached out to tell me that my photography had improved.

I was hitting all the different sides of the nail – happy audience, happy clients and making progress with my art.

It then struck me that in the process of interpreting visions, I had developed a process to communicate the idea behind my photos – I had started creating visual stories – I was storytelling in food photography.

I had not only understood but also executed a concept that was so alien to me, that I couldn’t wrap my head around in the beginning.

Today, every time someone tells me how they like the visual storytelling in my photos, how vivid my photos are or the emotion it evokes in them or how it transports them into a memory, I just smile because I know how much I struggled with it in the beginning.

Which is why I want to share my practice with you. It is straightforward, practical & easily executable. It is how I broke it down for myself.

This episode will give you a step by step approach to visual storytelling in food photography so that you don’t feel the pressure or overwhelm around this whole concept.

You can also create more captivating visuals and most importantly, replicate the idea of storytelling in each and every work you do.

In this episode, I also talk about how I used this process to create this photo & tell the story of this book my dad gifted me when I ventured into photography.

The entire process might take you 20-30 mins but it’s totally worth the time.

Step 1 –

1. Determine the message or emotion

If we want our audience to experience a certain photo in a certain way, we have to know what we want our audience to experience.

When we know what food or drink we are going to photograph, take a moment to think about the message we want our audience to take away from the picture and what we want that picture to do. What is the purpose?

Keep your audience in mind and what you want them to feel. What is the action you want them to take – do you want them to look at a photo and feel inspired or do you want them to feel compelled to try that recipe or do you want them to think about their childhood and instil memories or do you want them to look at that photo and be ready to buy your course or your mentorship or your product.

Know the purpose of your photo and create with intention. It might sounds a bit philosophical but really it helps to have that messaging clearing because it sets you up for step 2.

Step 2 –

2. Determine the key components of your story

This step is really about decluttering your thoughts and nailing down the most important components in your photo.

Once you decide the purpose or emotion of the photo,  think of the hero and the most important components you would need to communicate that emotion in a visual story.

At this step, establish the most important food required for your frame. Determine whether you need to buy it or prep it or run to the grocery store or cook it.

Establish your main components and stick to them. Try not deviating so as to create a cohesive story. Refrain from adding elements that do not belong to the emotion or purpose or the story.

This step really helps to channel down on the main components of our frame that will tell the story in the most powerful way, that will deliver the message or emotion that we want.  By establishing the key elements of our story,  we achieve clarity. We begin to visualise the scene ourselves and create an image of it in our minds. Thoughts and ideas begin to come to our thoughts and we start to create a composition in our minds.

Which takes us to step 3.

Step 3 –

3. Decide the theme & give it a name

So now that you know your message, emotion, and the main components, just for the exercise create theme for yourself and give it a name.

These themes can be luxe, which means it shows fancy food or props and looks expensive or exquisite.

The other theme can be rustic, or homely – It can be anything you want as long as it helps you narrow down your concept and take decisions.

It gives even more clarity if you give the theme a name – example, kitchen scene, preparation process or evening cocktail scene.

When you’re going through the decision-making, try not complicating it. Give yourself answers and parameters that actually help you visualize and create that story.

Keep it simple and as you use this approach for each photo, your themes can overlap, you can use the same theme names—that’s okay.

This exercise is only to help you narrow down on your photography decisions so that the end result is cohesive, looks intentional, thought-out and powerfully transports the viewer by sending them the message you want to communicate.

 Step 4 –

4. Decide the mood

This is where it all comes together. This is where we switch from concept to actual execution.

And we continue in a systematic and non-overwhelming manner. Taking one decision at a time and just go step by step.

At this stage we think of the mood of the photo.

Every food has a mood to it and since you’ve already decided the intention of the photo, it is easier to decide the mood that best suits the emotion or intent. The different moods you could think about are bright, moody, dark, dark & moody, bright, and moody – whatever best supports your story.

Mood is determined primarily by the light in the photo. Deep dark shadows, bright light, cool whites, or warm whites – whatever the kind of light you choose, it creates a mood. Think about the scene you’re trying to create and which mood best compliments it. 

Step 5 –

5. Choose the color scheme

As much as the power of the story lies in the mood, it heavily relies on the colour palette.

When certain colours & patterns make you feel retro like you’re back in the 60s or a black & white commercial transports you into the 50s  – that’s the power of colour.

It easily transports you in time and it translates the mood like no other.

It is easy to work with colours. Use the colour wheel & choose between analogous, complimentary, or monotones based on the mood.

Analogous colours are the ones that are positioned next to each other in the colour wheel – green and yellow

Complimentary colours are placed opposite from each other – blue and yellow

And monotones are shades of the same colour – shades of yellow, yellow ochre, royal yellow, lemon yellow.

Just use the colour theory to make the decisions and think about how the colours communicate the story.

And then you come to the last piece of the puzzle – props and backdrop.

Step 6 –  

6. Choose props that work with the theme

Props and backdrops can make or break a story.

They truly enhance the mood and the emotion, and so need to be carefully selected. This is where assigning a theme and giving it a name really comes in handy. Let’s say your theme was luxe, you know that your prop choices would be a bit more fancy, maybe like crystal or hand cut glasses or plates with a gold rim – anything that looks posh. The backdrop could be a marble look or even a beautiful motif tile.

But if your theme was rustic, then you would think about imperfection and something associated with a certain period in time, perhaps antique or reclaimed, like handmade ceramics or copper bronze glasses. The backdrop could be natural wood or chipped tile backdrop.

Sometimes our visual stories don’t need to be this literal. They can be more abstract & conceptual.

For example, I recently took a photograph of beautiful chocolates to talk about my birthday and my love for birthdays and how I was celebrating with chocolates.

My theme was fun and I named it birthday party. I chose a bright mood because birthdays are bright and cheerful. I also chose a fun, vibrant pink backdrop that complimented the red colour chocolates and for props, used golden candles.

 The composition was playful, seemed like the aftermath of a birthday party and the entire frame was made of chocolates of different colours and sizes.  

It looked whimsical, like a scene from Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory. It wasn’t literal, with party caps and presents or on a table sort of background. It was a bit conceptual, but the picture conveyed the mood of a birthday party, the emotion of fun and it was a visual story.

So, it is important to remember that this approach is a guide and not a rule to create visual stories. Like I always say, we are artists, and we are free spirited.

This approach can help to take decisions and execute them in a systematic way so that you have a streamlined thought process about how to achieve storytelling that is powerful enough to Communicate to your audience what you want them to feel and to transport them into the scene.

• A powerful visual story is cohesive. The mood, colors, food and props come together effortlessly to create a power visual story.
• As you go through each of the steps, always think about what you want the viewer to feel by looking at the picture.
• Having a vision before starting the shoot helps save time & make informed decisions.
• Use light to your advantage. It is your biggest strength in creating visual storytelling.
• By following a systematic approach to tell a story, it will become second nature with time and the best part is that you’ll be able to tell powerful visual stories with every single photo you take.
• You can Photograph your lighting setup & keep as a record so you can replicate the same mood or lighting style for future photos.

When we create with a vision and with intention, we have a higher chance of success vs. just seeing how things play and then working backwards.

Powerful visual storytelling is all about transporting your audience into your photo. And even though your photo might be 2dimensional, you can always make it 3 dimensional with good lighting and add a 4^th dimension to it by bringing in emotion.

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If you’re looking to come up with your own photography process, streamlining your workflow, getting efficient & saving time, checkout my free guide called the 10-step photoshoot right here.