How to Take Amazing Instagram Food Pics, From a Master of the Art

Dedicated to Farrell, for the bowls of rice through to Chateau Briand

We represent a lot of restaurants; we host numerous food reviews, and let’s be honest, the trend is catching – photographing your bowl of rice before one tucks into a meal! OK, maybe not rice, but you know what I mean.

It is often the image seen at first sight that captures someone’s attention. Visually appealing pictures have the power to not only make people drool, but to enhance our hunger pangs. If a photo of a dish inheriting such after-effect quality was to be posted on Instagram, there’s a huge chance that it would lead the viewers to double-tap, make comments on the post and eventually pay a visit to the outlet.

Provided that the food looks good (well-prepared, fresh on the plate, untouched) and hopefully, tastes as good as it looks; taking good food pics (with a quality device of course) isn’t all that difficult.

We found this interesting article by Brian Sozzi that talks about that ‘little something’ you can do when taking Instagram food pics that can mark the difference between having likes and having a number of likes, and between getting comments and getting good comments. And it’s not as tricky as you might think.

“Remember, a picture says a thousand words”. So stop talking, start snapping!

How to Take Amazing Instagram Food Pics, From a Master of the Art

World-renowned restaurateur and author Danny Meyer shares his secrets on the dark art of the #foodpic game.

Dimly lit restaurants can be kryptonite for people obsessed with preserving their meals for posterity on Instagram.

But world-renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer, the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, wants to help with the #foodpic phobia.

"There is one tip I got from somebody that I rarely use -- I think a photo I took using it got the most likes ever for me -- and that is to have somebody else hold up their phone with the light on above while you take your picture," Meyer says. "When you do this, the food is evenly lit, and the photo comes out a lot more normal than if it was your flash."

Meyer, who boasts 30,700 Instagram followers despite having posted only 456 times, has serious street cred when it comes to posting pics on all things edible.

As founder of numerous prominent eateries such as Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla and Shake Shack (SHAK), Meyer's restaurants and chefs have earned an impressive 25 James Beard Awards. In 2006, Meyer published New York Times best-seller "Setting the Table," which looks at the power of hospitality in restaurants, business and life.

At the core of Meyer's achievements, however, is simply a passion for food and an appreciation for how a meal is created. Both come through in Meyer's Instagram photos: Unlike food bloggers who often engage in overkill, using special filters and staging techniques, there is an effortless beauty to what Meyer shares with his well-engaged social network. As a result, his pics gather a serious number of "likes."

But Meyer concedes that the best tip for snapping amazing food pics may not really be a secret at all. "I eat good food," he says, "and good food tends to look pretty good in photographs."