Lazy bag for food photography, delivery shop with mobile phone and AI to take eye-catching photos

Meal pictures are not only decorations, but they will directly affect whether customers click on your product page and whether they are willing to place an order.

Platform algorithm likes good photos

According to information provided by Uber Eats, If there are products that use high-quality photos, the click rate is usually 20% to 30% higher than those without photos. Moreover, the platform's algorithm will give priority to recommending products with good performance, which will indirectly increase exposure. 。

Customer's first impression determines the conversion rate

Without tasting or scent, the only way for customers to feel the deliciousness is pictures, especially for delivery platforms, customers decide whether to click on your product in less than 5 seconds. The attraction of the photo is the winning point.

High photography fee and difficult to update

If you find a professional photographer to take a complete set of menu photos, the cost may start from 5,000 yuan or even up to tens of thousands of yuan. When the menu often needs to be adjusted, updated or changed prices, it is not practical to find a photographer to retake it once. This also makes "take your own photos + simple post-processing" a more feasible solution.

You don't need expensive single-eye or lighting equipment. Just use the phone and natural light at hand to take good photos that can be put on the shelves . The following five tips are suitable for almost all meal types, especially for delivery shops to take fast, clean, and appetite-watching pictures.

1. Make good use of natural light: shooting locations are better than lighting equipment

The most recommended shooting location is the location "beside the window but not directly sunbathing", such as dining tables, windows, balcony, etc. during the day, do not turn on the indoor yellow light, as the food will be color-shifted, and there is no need for additional lights. , just use reflectors or white cardboard to reflect soft light.

It is recommended to shoot from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. or 2 a.m. to 4 p.m., during which the light is soft and not dazzling.

2. Choose the right angle: Make the protagonist's food look better

Different foods are suitable for different angles, and flat foods such as bento, pizza, salads are suitable for overhead shots (90 degrees); hamburgers, sandwiches, and cakes are suitable for side shots (0 degrees) to show a sense of layering; and stacked meals such as pasta and braised pork rice , the 45-degree angle is the most natural.

You can try shooting three angles and choose the most visually attractive one.

3. Place the layout: Don’t let the picture be too crowded

Although not everyone has an art background, the basic concepts of "white space" and "partitioning" can be easily used. For example, place the main meal in the middle, and add side dishes, small dishes or tableware to the side, as foils, to avoid the picture being empty but not too messy.

Please remember: the composition is simple and clean, which is far better than "I want to take pictures of everything".

4. Situational design: Use props to create a sense of brand

Here are the details that many shops will ignore. Just add a textured tablecloth, a wooden tray, a cup of soup or tea to create a completely different brand style. The breakfast series can add newspapers and coffee. ;Home-cooked beans can be paired with wooden dining plates and bamboo chopsticks; desserts can be paired with plants and white porcelain plates.

Creating photos that "can tell the style of this brand" can make your meal photos more memorable and easier to be selected and recommended by the platform.

5. Keep the background clean: Don't blur the visual focus

Never let electric cookers, kitchen utensils, kettles, garbage bags and other debris appear in the shooting area. There is only one protagonist in the photo: the cleaner the background and the more focused the picture, the more likely the customers will have to buy.

If you really can't organize the scene, then make good use of the post-production tool for background processing or use it directly AI background change 。

The biggest problem many stores encounter when taking photos by themselves is "the background is not good-looking" and "the overall picture is not professional enough". At this time, you can use AI tools to help upgrade.

What is GenApe?

GenApe is an AI image tool designed for product photography and contextual photography. As long as you upload food photos, it will automatically memorize, analyze the angle and help you generate the appropriate background, without art design or Photoshop skills.

How to use GenApe?

GenApe is a one-stop graphic and text AI tool. In addition to text, it also has the function of image editing, which can help food photos taken by mobile phones improve quality in one step.

1. After the shooting is completed, upload the original image to GenApe AI to change the background
2. Choose a background style, such as wooden table, white cloth, outdoor table view, etc.
3. Preview the generation effect, click to download

You can also choose different themes according to different product styles, such as "home dining table", "Japanese wooden dining", "modern white shed", etc.

How to change background with Chatape?

ChatApe is a chat module of GenApe. Just change the module to Gemini 2.0 Flash (Image Generation) Experimental module, then upload the original image to chatape, enter the prompt word and make the background "for example, put the bento on the island in the kitchen", and you can see the generated effect as follows.

Recommended background type

Different meals have different backgrounds, and the photography enthusiasts recommend it as follows

• Wooden desktop: suitable for lunch boxes, Taiwanese dishes, hot stir-fry
• White background: suitable for healthy and light food, bento
• Cafe style: suitable for desserts and drinks
• Picnic scene: suitable for brunch and fruit cups
• Simulation studio: Improve overall professionalism, suitable for brand official website pictures

The advantage of using AI to change background is that it can quickly produce pictures with a unified style, which helps to build brand consistency and saves a lot of time and costs.

The following is an actual executable photo production process, from shooting to uploading platform:

1. Find a place with plenty of natural light (such as windows)
2. Select shooting angle and scene props
3. Take 3 to 5 photos with different compositions
4. Upload photos to GenApe, apply background
5. Use Snapseed or Canva to fine-tune brightness, comparison
6. Storage as platform recommended size (usually 4:3 or 5:4)
7. Upload to Uber Eats / foodpanda platform product map bar

It is recommended to take a main visual image for each main meal, add an ambient photo or a picture of the drink to enhance the visual persuasion.

Comparison table of picture specifications of delivery platform (cover photo/meal photo)

The photo specifications for popular catering delivery platforms are as follows

After reading the above content, you may have some common questions as follows

1. The photo is too dark or the light source is too yellow, which will make the photo look like you can take it at home.
2. The food is not arranged neatly, which will give people a feeling of "hygiene and doubts"
3. Use too many filters to distort or color-shift the meal
4. The background is messy and the desktop is greasy, which will allow customers to slide directly through
5. Add too many text or watermarks to the picture, the platform may not accept

Remember that the goal of food photography is not to take artistic photos, but to be clear, tempting, professional, and able to arouse the desire to buy within a few seconds.

If you are in the early stages of your business and have a small budget and need to take into account menu updates and image photos, it is recommended to start with the following three free tools:

• GenApe (AI background image replacement)
• Snapseed (free photo editing)
• Canva (text and composition design)

As long as you take photos yourself, you can quickly produce professional photos that are suitable for listing. This not only saves budget, but also facilitates the update of menus and promotional pictures at any time. 。

Today, when the competition for delivery platforms is fierce, food photography is no longer a luxury, but a necessary condition. You don’t need to learn studio-level skills. Just master simple shooting methods and a little tooling help to make your meals stand out on the platform.

Instead of spending money to abstain, try to create a workflow that can be photographed, repaired and uploaded by yourself. Save time, save money, and be effective, and can be quickly adjusted according to promotions, seasons or new products at any time.

Let’s try it now, take a photo of your hottest product, use GenApe to change the background, and you will find that the texture of the photo has improved by more than one level.

It is not enough to take good photos. Use the right tools to upgrade your photos more professionally and put them on the shelves faster. We recommend you try these two AI tools to make photo production super easy:

GenApe AI Background Change Tool

if only Upload photos, select the background style, automatically return + synthesize professional background, and quickly create food situational photos that are suitable for the platform. No design capability required , it can be done in 3 seconds.

• Suitable for shops with chaotic shooting scenes and no time to set
• Can establish a consistent brand style and enhance visual recognition
• Supports multiple style backgrounds, such as wooden tables, white cloths, outdoors, studio shots, etc.

Now try this AI background change tool, which does not require professional skills or spend a lot of money, and can easily make high-quality photos of the delivery platform.