Food Photography in Hospitality: Investigative Specialist Portfolio

This digital portfolio explores food photography within the hospitality industry, focusing on Pizza Express. It uses mind maps and mood boards to develop a final design outcome showcasing food photography techniques. The portfolio includes visual research, both secondary and primary, to inform the creative process. The final design outcome demonstrates an understanding of food photography principles, though the evaluation acknowledges areas for improvement, such as advanced photography methods and secondary data collection. The research significantly influenced the final design, providing knowledge about lighting, angles, and color contrast. Desklib is a great source to find similar assignments.

Investigative
Specialist Practice

Table of Content
• Introduction
• Mind map 1
• Initial Mood board 1
• Mind Map 2
• Specialism Visual Research Secondary
• Specialism Visual Research Secondary
• Specialism Visual Research Primary
• Specialism Visual Research Primary
• Final Mood Board
• 3 key reference images
• Statement of Intent
• Final Design Outcome
• Evaluation
• Bibliography

Introduction
• The present digital portfolio is based on the career pathway of Hospitality. Under this career
pathway, the selected concept is restaurant along with food photography as the area of
specialism.
• The hospitality industry specifically restaurant rely in exquisite food photography to
create promotional material for their establishments and make their food products look
appealing to the consumers.
• Finally, the focus of creative specialism which is food photography is Pizza express which
is the selected restaurant for this digital portfolio.
• The present digital portfolio utilizes various techniques such as mind mapping and creating
mood board to come up with final outcome focusing on food photography in restaurant
hospitality.

Mind map 1
Hospitality (BA HONS)
Restaurant
Digital
engagement
Quick staff
responsiveness
Great
Dining
Café
Restaurant
Fast Food
Restaurant
Role of
Photography
in restaurant
Restaurant
Department
Restaurant
Hospitality
Restaurant
Types
Building
trust and
credibility
Managerial
Department
Kitchen
Department
Bar
Tender
Delivery
Staff
Increasing sale of
food items
Making good
first impression
Restaurant
Photography
Creating
attractive
menu
Relationship
Building
Social
Media
Promotions
Print
Promotions

Initial Mood Board

Mind Map 2
Food
Photography
Recipe
Photography
Cook
Books
Food
Packaging
Dining Menus
Table
Scape
Shot
Editorial
Product
Photography
or pack shots
Close Up
shot
Usage of
food
photography
Types of Food
Photography
Restaurant food
photography practices
Restaurant
food
photography
shots
Full
Table
shots
Avoid
Negative
space
Soft
lighting
Highlight
Food
freshness
•

It is simple photograph of traditional food which
is taken from 90-degree angle that clearly show
all the food items and serving style. It focuses on
the capturing of shape and size of plating
containers which are different in shape and size
such as round, rectangle and circular board.
The usage of bright brown and
green colors in the form of plating
boards as well as coriander leaves
or chili make this image very
attractive and eye catching. This
improves the food photography in
contrast to stock images.
Usage of raw onion and cherry
tomato is enhanced the beauty of
plate as well as the way it present
is also give complement to the
food which is show the actual
traditional culture of food.
The different shape and design wooden board and
vegetables which is randomly placed on the table
increase the look of food as well as complement
the bowl of rice. along with various raw spices are
present in rectangle board which give the
traditional touch to the photograph. The extra
space between all containers which highlight in
white color improve the impact of photograph.
Specialism Visual Research- Secondary

Specialism Visual Research- Secondary
secondary objects and other natural
items are used to set a theme in
Food photograph. The use of flowers
with different color, spoon and fork,
wooden board for serving and black
small bowls which increase the
beauty of pizza.
natural light is used to make sure that the focus of the image and attention of the viewer
is on the main product which is pizza. This is effective for commercial purpose such as
promotion of pizza restaurant, café and hospitality establishment.
In this image or photograph the pizza looks fresh
and tasty which helps the restaurants to attract
large number of customers. There are various
other items which improve the presentation of
Pizza in front of customers like beautiful flower,
bowls with extra veggies. but there is lack of
some pizza ingredients like sauce, oregano and
chili flex which is essential to present the pizza in
right manner.

Specialism Visual Research- Secondary
The still life shot of pizza depicts the variety
of products available at the Pizza express
restaurant with the main focus on the primary
subject which are pizza. It is an effective still
shot of the image because it provides relevant
information about the products which makes
it fit for commercial hospitality usage.
The image is captured in natural lighting at the actual Pizza
Express Establishment which is the creative company selected
for the digital portfolio. Natural Lighting provides authentic
ambiance for food photography resulting in realistic images. It
is an overhead shot pointing downward at the subject of the
photography which are the products offered by the restaurant.
The extra props used in the photograph for
primary research make it interesting and
appealing as it creates a cohesive story about the
hospitality establishment Pizza Express.
The freshness of the pizza is clearly depicted in the
still photo which makes it suitable for interacting
with consumers visually. The usage of table scape
shot also makes the background of the image
interesting and lively. Table scape shots in food
photography involve arranging food objects and
props on a table and capturing still image.

Specialism Visual Research- Secondary
The decision to cover the action of cutting the pizza in the
image is to display the hospitality and welcoming nature of the
enterprise. In this way the consumer is able to know that staff
will assets them in cutting the pizza equally. This make it
suitable piece of food photography for hospitality
establishment as they highlight consumer service alongside the
food. Photography in the hospitality sector is mostly dedicated
to highlighting consumer service offered as it attract more
consumers and makes the place seem welcoming.
The image is detailed because
most of the image is covered by
the main food Pizza. This is
advantageous for hospitality food
and beverage establishments such
as Pizza express because it shows
the quality of the food clearly.
In this visual primary research, I have captured
till image of pizza from Pizza express with the
action of cutting the pizza with Pizza cutter. The
positive aspect of this image is that it looks
realistic and the inclusion of human element in
this image makes it more appealing to regular
consumers visiting hospitality dining
establishment. It gives of a sense of realness.
The depth of field in this photography focuses on the pizza
and hand cutting the Pizza through the Pizza cutter. Depth of
field refers to the distance between furthers and nearest
objects in front of camera under suitable sharp focus of the
camera. In this image the depth of field is lower than usual
to make the subject of Pizza and hand appear clear in the
foreground. Hence the eyes of the consumer visiting the
hospitality establishment directly focus on the Pizza instead
of any other object.

Final Mood Board

3 key reference images
Here natural lighting is used to capture the simple high angle
still image of pizza products. The triangle working technique
for food photography can be seen in this image as two food
dishes and pizza form a triangle. The close up shot provides
detailed image of each of the food dish which makes it useful
for hospitality usage. I believe that this image could have been
improved if the focus was on pizza and not the other two dishes
along with the pizza.