Just thought I would share my experience. We’re getting new menus soon, and I wasnt a big fan of the stock photos that were used by the menu guys. So I searched for photographers in my area and emailed them asking if they have experience with food. Well it just so happened that my first attempt, I met the nicest lady that does have experience with food. We agreed on some simple non-financial bartering in exchange for a session. She did it for super super cheap (just travel and time) and all I had to do was put a link on my website to hers, display her business cards in the front pickup area, and a tiny spot on the back bottom of our new menus that will say “photographs taken by” and her logo.
I just started taking pics of my food for my VIP emails, and I gotta say I'm pretty good but she definitely has the artistic twist going. You got a great deal, good luck man, it sure will ad to your menu presence for sure!
Willi
Steve you should not be too worried about using “stock” photos…There are lots of excellent images out there…And many “indies” have done just fine using them…
A good series of “custom” photographs could run $3,000 to $10,000…And although I do not have any statistics, my best guess is that is you took that money and put it into extra distribution of your menus, it would be give you a much better return on your investment…I could be wrong so if someone else has some “hard” data, please feel free to chime in…
As far as your photographs…If you made a deal that allowed you to acquire them at a “reasonable” cost then you did well…Some of them are very good images…I like the “fresh” ingredients beside the pizzas…Are the images large enough that you will be able to use them on a “back lit” menu board or LCD digital display?..
Believe it or not, I spent a couple hours going through those stock photo sites and could not find anything that matched our pizzas. I didn’t want to give people the wrong impression, ya know… Call me crazy lol.
She actually did the whole entire session for less than $150. I was fortunate enough to have someone with a great artistic mind that was able to use props. A food stylist would have cost wayyyyy more $$. She took over 200 pictures, and is allowing me to choose 15 final ones that will be also edited and enhanced through photoshop. The pictures are massive, so she said I could use them for menu boards, poster size portraits etc etc.
Overall it was a great experience and I think I got the better end of the deal.
PS - Holy moly you got that right! I lost my voice screaming in excitement lol.
I think I am too late to reply this forum. I could not open this link. Anyways, I am a professional photographer in Port Macquarie. I had a food photography session in Sydney, last year. I wish I could share that collection with you.