Making Menu Item Food Photos for The Gig in Monterey
Mike contacted me with a number of ideas for creating visual content for his restaurant right on Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, The Gig. We decided to start with the most pressing need, getting menu photos especially for online ordering services. I set up on a table with good window light that allowed me to then just use natural light and a reflector to make these photos. It’s always great when I can use natural light for food photography instead of off camera flash. I shot tethered to my laptop so Mike, who has a great eye for detail, could preview each food photo in real time. He noticed small details that were very helpful in getting each dish photographed as perfectly as possible.
In addition to the menu shots, I suggested after there were about 5 dishes brought out that I get an overhead “hero shot” of all five dishes. Clients usually really like these shots, and end up liking them the best, and such was the case with Mike too!
Back at The Point for a Different Part of the Menu
This was my second visit to The Point Kitchen & Bar in Santa Cruz for another food photography shoot. My first visit was during the holiday season, so that shoot leaned more toward dinner items, drinks, desserts, and a restaurant branding video featuring holiday decorations. This time no holidays and the menu items photographed were for breakfast and brunch. Thus it was pancakes, eggs Benedict, coffee, salads, tacos, a burger, other lunch dishes, and dessert in front of my camera for overhead hero shots, close ups, and profile views. I also like to look for a little action when it helps bring a photograph to life, so for the pancakes we made a shot with syrup being poured. It was great working with the team at The Point and I look forward to a future third visit!
Menu Item Professional Food Photographer in Monterey California
I went to La Casa del Sazon in Monterey, California for a food photography shoot featuring ten menu items. Setting up on a table in the back of the restaurant, using some staging items they provided, I then used natural window light and a reflector for fill light to create these food photography images to show off their most popular menu items. I captured at least three angles for each menu item, from the standard 45 degree “customer view” to a top down “hero shot” and then a close up shot. So not only do they get great photos to use on their menu and website, but also social media and marketing photos of each dish as well. Thank you to Ignacio and the team for everything they did for this food photography shoot at their Mexican restaurant in Monterey!
Monterey Food Photography photo shoot for Grubhub at Lighthouse Bistro
I had not done a shoot for Grubhub in a very long time, so when the opportunity came up to go to Lighthouse Bistro in New Monterey, I took it. These are basic food shoots, following the guidelines provided using just natural window light with a bit of reflector bounce and shooting ten meals plus a hero shot in less than an hour! This is a new restaurant that just opened up in May 2025 with a friendly staff that was fun to work win in making these shots. I got to take both the pasta dish and the hummus home too!
Food Truck Menu Photography clean and ready for display!
Elder drove his food truck right up to my house for an extended menu food photography shoot at the JCP Home Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In just over two hours I was able to photograph 30+ menu items for Elder. He wanted a clean white background for the photos as these will appear on TV screens on his food truck. We still made time to get a hero shot and a couple other highlight shots of the New Mexican food dishes he and his team prepared that morning. This was also the first time for me to use my new LED continuous lighting for a shoot, so that while shooting tethered with continuous lighting, Elder could see in real time the shadows and highlights of each dish even before I pushed the shutter on the camera!
Professional Food Photography for Cakes and Baked Goods in ABQ
It was great to visit Roxy’s Cake Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a fun food photography photo shoot where I finally got to use one of my new Duo Boards! What you see is called the Whitewash design which appears a very realistic white painted wood slats. Can you believe it’s not really wood? Roxy’s bakery has only been open about 6 weeks! She is located right in the Coronado Mall with its own exterior entrance. If you like Chantilly cakes and you like to support a local small business, then this is the cake shop for you!! Thank you Roxy for a great food photo shoot and assisting with the reflector for the hero shot!
Better than stock images for lawyers and attorneys in Albuquerque
New Mexico Legal Group invited me back to their offices here in Albuquerque, New Mexico this time to make some candids of the team for what I call better than stock photos. Why use strangers from stock images on your own website when you can show off your team in the actual office space your clients will be visiting and seeing? I think NMLG made a great choice to feature its own attorneys and staff in this series of photos to go along with the team headshots I made of everyone last year. Thank you to everyone at the team of NMLG for being great in front of the camera and for continuing to choose me as your photographer!
