Before I became a full-time photographer I trained as a secondary teacher and taught photography at MK college for four years. If you look through my website and read my ‘Learn about photography’ page, you will see that I offer 1:1 teaching sessions, which can be used for new photographers, amateurs who wish advice on a new technique or companies that wish for advice/tips on taking their own promotional photography.

This blog covers a recent 1:1 session that I had with a wonderful couple who run an amazing catering service company called, MT Plates Home Dining.

After a phone consultation with Mark, I formed a session plan to cover during the 2hrs that they had booked.

The content of this blog will be the different sections listed in the session plan to the right.

What did I cover in this 1:1 teaching session?

ONE - Discussed set phone apps to use & what type of message the customer wished to portray to prospective clients, via Instagram.

• iPhone Apps

• Styling for Instagram

Here are some phone apps that you may find useful when taking photos with your phone. If you are happy to use your phone camera then these apps may not be of use, but some of them have some great aspects to try.

1. VSCO - This is a free app & has a great selection of features for editing. From presets to basic editing tools it is great for touching up your food photos. - https://vsco.co/

   If this app is of interest, then check out, how best to use this app - https://support.vsco.co/hc/en-us/articles/202904010-How-to-use-VSCO

2. The ‘Lightroom’ app is used to edit the hue, saturation or luminance and Lightroom can be used seamlessly on mobile and PC devices with the advanced package.

This last app suggestion is known as a great app to use for food photography "Foodie" Dedicated Camera App for Food Photos. This app has some key elements that are really useful for photography

Food filters make culinary photos more enticing by:

1. Best angle feature for stylish flat lays

2. Auto blurring feature for pro-style images

3. Brightness adjust and flashlight features for shooting in dark locations

The last app to try - is Snapseed. With this app, you can select certain areas of a photo and apply edits, as it’s great for an odd ingredient on the plate you want to pop. Snapseed's "healing" tool is also great to get wipe any splashes of food or marks that you don't want on your images. The "selective" feature allows you to brighten, sharpen and saturate chosen areas and the sharpening tool will make it seem like your phone got glasses. This app lets you play with deep details in an image and is the first one we go to when editing our food shots.

INSTAGRAM - How's the best way to use Instagram?

During this session, the main area that I covered within the discussion was the style shown throughout an Instagram profile and to help discuss this further I showed the client a set of catering service profiles.

Here are the profiles -

1. Modern Art Catering Brands

2. Contemporary Catering

3. Harrison Catering Services

4. ZARA’S KITCHEN Catering

If you wish to know more about how best to set up and use your Instagram, then the first thing would be is to convert your account to business.

Here are some key tips to keep to, so that your get noticed and build upon your followers.

REMEMBER SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE.

• Respond to every comment that you get, even if they are people you know. It is important for people to see that you engage with your audience, it encourages more people to comment and interact

• Share some of your processes with people

• Follow people who you would like to do business with or who are part of your ideal target audience & engage with their content, make them notice you

• Make sure your personality comes through in your bio

• Develop a style on Instagram that can be easily identified as you

• Try using your favourite photographs as your profile pic rather than a logo

• Include a picture of each photo you share in your stories

• Tag people in your posts where relevant

These are selections tips given to me for my own Instagram profile at a social media review by The Brady Creative

TWO - The photography process & technique parts, where I ran through these set areas:

1. Light solutions with phone and on location

2. Composition rules to use when photographing food

3. Discussion & tips on food pictures with client’s backgrounds and the two lights setup.

4. Including simple props

Light solutions with phone and on location

To help with the subject of lighting on location, my key suggestion is to use a wide aperture with your phone, as lighting can be restricted or you may wish to use a ring light. or use this type of setup

Composition rules to use when photographing food

Include some simple props

After reading this blog I hope some of these options and tips will be helpful for your own phone process and dont foget you can book in a 1:1 mentor session in the future.

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