Food photography that matches what arrives at the table

AED 4,500 to AED 25,000 covers most of what we are asked to build. The number moves on how many dishes, whether a stylist is needed, whether video and venue photography are included, and whether the shoot is in your kitchen or a studio. Anything quoted before those are known is a guess. We scope first, then price, and the scope document is yours whether or not you proceed. These are market ranges rather than a fixed rate card — the proposal carries the real figure.

Between fifteen and thirty for a straightforward menu shoot with the kitchen supporting, and considerably fewer if each dish needs individual styling or the kitchen is also running service. The constraint is almost always the kitchen's capacity to plate rather than the shooting.

At the restaurant, usually. The food is fresh, the chef is there to plate, and you get the venue and ambience images from the same day. A studio makes sense for packaged products or where the restaurant has no space to work.

Between services, usually mid-morning through early afternoon, so the kitchen can plate without competing with orders. Ambience shots often need a different time entirely — usually late afternoon or evening — so a full day may split.

For menu and delivery photography, generally no, and having the chef plate is better because it stays reproducible. For campaign and hero imagery where the standard is higher than service plating, a stylist earns their cost. It is worth deciding which you are shooting before the day.

Yes, to their current specifications. Each platform has its own requirements on crop, background and what may appear in the image, and they change periodically. We confirm the current specs before the shoot rather than after a rejection.

Yes, and it is good value. The food, the setup and the chef's time are already committed, so short vertical clips of plating and finishing cost a fraction of a separate day. It needs planning into the schedule because food has a short window at its best.

Yes, and it usually needs a different time of day from the food. Worth planning as part of the same booking rather than a second visit.

Different discipline and worth flagging. Drinks need different lighting, condensation and ice have very short windows, and glassware reflects everything in the room. We allow more time per drink than per dish.

Restrained. Colour corrected to match the real dish, distractions removed, and that is largely it. Heavily retouched food photography is recognisable and it undermines trust in the menu rather than building appetite.

You do, with full usage rights across menus, delivery platforms, social, print and paid. We will ask separately if we want to include anything in our own portfolio.

Yes, send them over. The two things worth checking are whether they meet your delivery platforms' current specifications and whether the plating matches what the kitchen actually sends out. Both are common problems and both are cheap to establish.