Creating a photographic style for a brand
News.DEVELOPING A BRAND STYLE
From the hard to find, to the very finest foods delivered to your door. @finefoodspecialist is a haven for the curious foodies and chefs looking for something that extra special. Celebrating passionate suppliers who focus on attention to detail and utmost quality.
The Brief: To create a brand style which communicates the company's ethos - bringing the world’s finest ingredients to the home. No longer do the best ingredients have to be exclusive to top restaurants.
The Challenge:To develop a brand image which communicates the ethos of Fine food specialist and works across all media platforms and product ranges.
How I achieved it:
Preproduction: Research is probably the most important stage in any brand development work. For this project I carefully researched the online grocery market and the client’s main competitors to establish a detailed understanding of what the sector had done, what it was currently doing and how it might change in the future.
Having this knowledge helps me provide photos that are current and on trend and helps build longevity. Ultimately giving better value to my clients.
With the aid of mood boards I was able to present several stylistic ideas to the client to discuss, all styles presented demonstrated a point of difference in the market they were trading in and provided the brand stand out within a busy and growing market. It was important that the style maximised the potential of elevating the beauty and uniqueness of the produce being sold. Whilst keeping it accessible to the target audience and not being too high brow to eliminate any potential buyers.
Working with the client we were able to establish a shot list which covered key parts of the business and provided visual aids to customers within the web page categories.
Production:Props: With the style, shot list and budget signed off, I was able to start organising props for the shoot. For this project I decided to use textured surfaces with cool and deep colour tones to help create contrast between the subject and its surroundings. With a mix of antique and contemporary props I was able to marry the traditional ideals of food preparation with modern living.
Food Stylist: I wanted a food stylist for this project who not only had experience working with food products but also had a great understanding of flavour combinations and recipe development. Though we were shooting mainly food produce, I felt it would help by having a food stylist who really understood how one might showcase the food in a more relaxed fashion to aid the story of sourcing the finest produce and how to dish it up. @amystephensoneats is a fantastic food stylist who I’ve worked with on many occasions. Her style and experience matched the look I wanted and I’m so glad she was available to be on the team.
Photography: There were a lot of shots to capture on the day, so the team and I had all the photography kit setup, food samples and ingredients unpacked and stored, and all the props organised prior to the client arriving in the morning.
For this project I wanted to replicate the sun on a frosty winter’s evening - soft and moody. We were shooting this in the middle of summer during lockdown, this look would have been difficult to achieve with daylight and I needed consistency across all the images. So I reached for my trusty @profoto D2 strobes and built a lighting setup to replicate this gorgeous light.
During the shoot, I was creating compositions based on the main use but also double checking that the images would work in all the intended layouts and crops before moving onto the next shot.
Working with the finest produce, from wagyu beef, to truffles and caviar was a real treat. It was made even better by having an excellent team and a fantastic client who is equally passionate in what they do, making the job an absolute pleasure!
Credits:
Client: @finefoodspecialist
Photography, Production & Props: @ryanball.foodphotographer
Food Stylist: @amystephensoneats
@processphotographicagency
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