Photos for a new restaurant opening: a checklist

When a restaurant opens, everyone wants photos at once. Press, Google, the reservation site, the delivery apps, Instagram. Here's how to get them all from one shoot.

When to shoot photos for a restaurant opening

After the room is finished and before the soft open. That's the window.

Finished means the lights are hung, the art is up, the chairs are in, and the sign is on the building. If the room's half done, shoot the food now and come back for the room. Photos of a space with tape on the floor don't help anybody.

Before the soft open matters because once you're serving, you won't have a quiet morning for a while. And writers will ask for photos the day your opening gets announced. You want them ready.

If the menu is still moving, shoot the dishes you know are staying. You can add the rest with a smaller shoot later.

The opening shot list

Food

• The signature dishes. The ones you'll talk about in every interview.
• A few overheads of a full table. These get used everywhere.
• Close-ups for social. Texture, sauce, the crust on something.
• Desserts, if you have them. People forget, then need them.

Drinks

• The cocktail list, or the best of it.
• A pour or a shake. Motion shots do well online.
• Beer, wine or coffee if they're a real part of the place.

The room

• Wide shots of the dining room, empty and set. Tables dressed, candles lit if you use them.
• The bar, from the customer side.
• A couple of angles from the best seats in the house.
• Details. The tile, the light fixtures, the menu on the table.

Outside

• The storefront and the sign, in good light.
• The door, so people can find you. Especially if you're tucked away in Old City or on a side street off East Passyunk.

People

• The chef and the owners. A portrait each, and one together.
• The team, if they're up for it.
• Hands at work. Plating, pouring, rolling dough.

Where the opening photos get used

It helps to know this before the shoot so the shots come out the right shape.

• Press. Editors want high-res horizontals of food, the room and the people behind it.
• Google Business Profile. Food, interior and exterior. This is where a lot of people see you first.
• Resy, OpenTable or Tock. The listing photo is usually a horizontal crop. Pick something that reads at thumbnail size.
• Delivery apps. Straight-on or overhead dish photos, food filling the frame.
• Your website. A hero image, the room, and the menu.
• Instagram. Verticals, people, motion, and a lot of variety.

How long an opening shoot takes

This is usually a full day. Food, drinks, the room and people add up. My full-day menu shoot is $950 for 45 finished photos, and that's the one I'd point most openings to. It's on the pricing page.

If you're tight on time or money, split it. Shoot the food and drinks first with a half day. Come back for the room and the team once everything's in place.

A few things that make opening shoots easier

• Have the kitchen prep like it's a real service, and fire one plate at a time.
• Turn on every light in the room, then we'll decide what stays on.
• Hide the boxes, the ladder and the mop bucket. They always end up in a corner of the shot.
• Tell the team a day ahead if they'll be photographed.

More on how I work with restaurants is on the restaurant photography page. If you've got an opening coming up, tell me the date.