The Most Important Element for a Restaurant Website
The most important restaurant web site element is
photography. Let's talk about photography.
Of course, you know the old saying, "a picture
is worth a thousand words," in the restaurant
world I like to say a picture is worth a thousand
orders! With the right photography - professional,
appetizing, mouth-watering you can sell a lot of
food. On the other hand with the wrong kind of
photography you can put a stop to all orders, visits,
reservations and word-of-mouth advertising.
I am always amazed when I look at the photography
that is done by photography amateurs. Good people, they are
well-meaning friends. They go down to Office Depot and
purchase a camera, a digital camera, they waltz
into the restaurant point the camera down at the
plate and snap what they think are great shots.
I hate to say it, but I've seen it so many times.
I have to mention it. It absolutely looks terrible
and unappetizing if all you do is take a snapshot of
12 chicken wings in a basket with a digital camera.
It's not going to look appetizing.
I consider myself to be a professional food photographer.
I've had my photographs appear in many magazines. One month
there were 3 of my shots in different ads in the
same magazine. I get paid handsomely to take photos,
and I taught myself! And so can you.
Here are 3 tips for taking really good photography
of your food
1. Lighting is everything: Use natural light.
Take the dish to a table and let the light shine
on it. Using a flash almost always casts light
in the wrong places. 
2. Choose the best dish. Don't photograph your
whole menu. Most of it will look terrible. The
best dishes to photograph are those with high
architecture. They really stand up high off the
plate. I love to photograph lasagna. It stands
up off of the plate. A flat plate of sauce
covered noodles or chicken-fried steak is a
probably not the best thing. Steer clear of
soups and sauces, they can be difficult.
3. Capture the right angle. Don't just snap a
top down shot of the whole plate. Take it from
the diner's perspective, or lower. Stage the
setting, too. Add a bottle of wine, a poured
beverage, a full place setting. Create the
experience and capture it.
If your site looks good, is easy to navigate and
it has appetizing photos you are almost home free!
Your guests will expect to be able to interact
with you. Are you ready
