What to Bring to a Food Photography Shoot: A Photographer's Checklist
A successful food photography session begins long before you load the car. The difference between a calm, productive day on location and a stressful scramble often comes down to the preparation you do at the kitchen table the night before. Whether you are shooting a new seasonal menu for a Brunswick eatery or documenting a chef's signature dish at a Surry Hills hatted restaurant, the kit you pack shapes the story you can tell.
Across Australia, hospitality clients expect a polished, modern look, but they also appreciate a relaxed, collaborative approach. Many Melbourne venues treat the shoot as part of the daily rhythm, so arriving with a tidy, well-thought-out kit helps the session feel like a friendly cuppa rather than a corporate interruption. Locking in a clear brief early, and agreeing on deliverables and timelines, keeps the whole day focused and collaborative from the first frame to the final export.
Confirming the Brief Before You Pack
Before a single lens cap comes off, clarify the deliverables, the mood and the layout, and confirm which photography services the venue actually needs. Ask whether the images will live on Instagram, on printed menus, in a cookbook spread or on a billboard. Each answer shifts your kit. A wide tilt-shift for a table spread is very different from a tight 100mm macro for a hero dish. If the client wants a campaign for a summer launch, plan around the harsh midday sun and book an arvo window instead.
Also confirm the menu items in advance so you can research the dishes, anticipate colours and ask the kitchen to set aside hero plates. A short email two days before, listing props, surfaces and stand-in ingredients, prevents awkward silences on the day and keeps the chef in the loop.
Core Camera Kit and Backup Bodies
Pack two camera bodies whenever you can. Food shoots love to throw surprises: a steam burst, a dropped spoon, a splash from a garnish. A second body with a different focal length already mounted saves minutes and saves the shoot. Bring a sturdy tripod, a ball head and a quick-release plate for each body so you can swap without losing your framing.
Lenses should cover three ranges. A 24-70mm or 24-105mm handles the wider table work, a 50mm or 85mm prime covers the standard hero shot, and a 100mm or 105mm macro captures the crumb-by-crumb detail. Add a tilt-shift if your client expects architectural precision on plating. Don't forget lens cloths, a blower, a rocket air blaster and a microfibre cloth for the inevitable fingerprints that show up the moment you zoom in on a glossy sauce.
Lighting, Reflectors and Modifiers
Natural light is the heart of most hospitality imagery in Australia, where golden hour around 5pm in winter or 7pm in summer gives that warm, editorial glow venues love. Pack a five-in-one reflector for fill light, a small diffuser for softening harsh beams through a west-facing window, and a collapsible black flag for cutting ambient bounce off shiny plates.
When the brief demands controlled light, a single speedlight with a softbox or a small LED panel with barn doors is usually enough. Battery-powered units keep you nimble in tight kitchens, and a sync trigger or remote removes cables from the floor where a chef is rushing past with a tray of lamingtons. Always carry spare batteries and a spare card for the lighting controller, even if it feels excessive.
Must-Have Props and Surfaces
A small kit of surfaces goes a long way. The goal is to walk in with enough variety to dress a table for a refined à la carte service or a casual pub feed without unpacking the whole car. Choose textures that photograph well under both window light and speedlight, and keep them clean enough to drop straight onto the pass.
Items worth packing in the prop bag:
- A slate tile and a marble-look vinyl sheet for clean, neutral bases
- A weathered timber board for rustic mains and shared plates
- Raw linen and calico napkins for soft layering and texture
- Matte black, brushed gold and stainless steel cutlery in sets of two
- Small accent pieces including a wooden salt mill, a sprig of native mint and a ceramic jug
Store everything flat in a protective sleeve so it arrives unmarked, and keep a lint roller, a pair of tweezers and small scissors in the same pouch for last-minute fixes.
Keeping Food Looking Its Best
Food does not wait. Bring a small cooler bag with ice packs for anything that needs to stay chilled, and a few kitchen sprays with water or a light oil mist to revive wilted herbs. For dishes that wilt quickly under warm lights, photograph the hero plate first, then the wider setups. Have the kitchen prepare duplicate portions so you are not asking the chef to re-fire a steak five times.
A few useful tricks save the day: under-cook vegetables slightly so they hold their colour, brush pastries with a light coat of oil for that just-out-of-the-oven sheen, and use a small amount of vegetable shortening on cheese to fake a melting stretch without the mess. Carry cotton buds, paper towels and a bottle of olive oil in a dedicated pouch so you can clean rims and wipe splashes without leaving the set.
Power, Storage and Data Safety
Memory cards fail, batteries die and accidents wait in the wings. Pack at least three times the card capacity you think you will need, formatted in-camera the morning of the shoot. Keep a portable backup drive in your bag so you can copy files between set-ups, and store cards in a hard-case wallet rather than loose in a pocket, especially when you are moving between venues in a busy laneway.
Items worth keeping on hand for data security:
- At least three cards, each at 128GB or larger, formatted the night before
- A battery charger plus two spare batteries per body and one per speedlight
- A pocket-sized SSD with a USB-C cable for in-the-field backups
- A small notebook or tablet for shot lists, lighting notes and client comments
It also helps to plan ahead for the quieter months when you might want to repurpose the best frames into a year-end keepsake, something a calendar walkthrough covers well.
On-Site Etiquette and Client Experience
Arrive fifteen minutes early, walk the space and check the angles you discussed. Introduce yourself to the chef and the manager, agree on a tidy-up plan and find the power points before you unpack the kit. Clear the area of any personal items, menus from other services or stray packaging, and confirm the plating order so the kitchen can pace the dishes.
A relaxed, collaborative tone wins repeat work. Listen as much as you direct, leave the bench cleaner than you found it, and finish with a short wrap-up chat about next steps and delivery dates. Clients remember how the day felt as much as how the images looked, and a calm handover often turns a one-off shoot into a long-term relationship. You can find more about working with a photographer who values that approach on the Lance King Photography homepage.