Food and beverage photographer

Antonio Cuellar is a Miami and New York City based, multi-award-winning photographer who is well known for his expertise in photography. His years of experience photographing some of the world’s most unique hotels and restaurants allows him to excel in the field of food photography. Antonio has an exceptional eye for detail and an in-depth understanding of marketing and advertising. These skills combined with his photographic know-how, results in the creation of beautiful and compelling food and beverage imagery.

What is a food photographer?

A food photographer is someone who can capture appetizing and visually compelling images usually used for advertising purposes. A food photographer creates images for use in advertising, on the menu, in cookbooks and all other media. To be successful as a food photographer, you must have a creative and instinctual eye for capturing food in a way that tells the best story of your client. Different clients will have a varied range of menu requirements. A food photographer will need to be able to work and collaborate with businesses to ensure that they understand the uses of any food photography and the food story that the photos needs to convey. Antonio Cuellar is based in Miami and NYC and offers a comprehensive service that includes initial consultation, creative direction, location scouting, working with a Food Stylist, lighting set up and post-production in his own studio.

How to photograph food

The most important thing about photographing food is understanding the vision of your client and how and where they will be using the final images. This is crucial as the food photography that is used in advertising a Miami food festival will be quite different to those used to promote an inner-city beverage stand. Should your photographs be static, or do you want to convey parts of the cooking process? It is mandatory for food photographers to also have an understanding of lighting, angles and placement. This type of photography is an art-form whereby you use your lens to produce a compelling visual story. A great restaurant photographer has to understand that the work needed by a fine-dining establishment menu might be different to the needs of a Miami food truck menu. Both are equally challenging.