What I’d Shoot If I Were a Brand: The Food Content I’d Be Creating Right Now

September has just begun, which means cosy bakes and warming colour palettes. While I have my own signature style, I’m very much in tune with a brand’s mission and guidelines, as well as overall aesthetic. But if I were a food brand right now, I’d be thinking beyond the traditional recipe shoot as we enter the Autumn/Winter months.

Your content should make people stop scrolling, make the product look genuinely delicious and, most importantly, give the brand a library of assets that can actually work hard across social media, websites, paid advertising, email and campaigns.

As a food photographer, videographer and content creator, I spend a lot of time looking at brands and considering how I shoot a product, recipe or video to make an impact.

So, here’s what I’d be creating right now:

Shot for my e-book This Is How We Roll

1. One really good hero recipe

Every brand needs those hero pieces of content. The recipe that makes you immediately want to get into the kitchen. The photograph that makes the product look irresistible. The Reel that gets saved, shared and sent to someone with a “we need to make this” message. But I wouldn't make it overly complicated.

I'd focus on a recipe that is:

• visually distinctive

• achievable at home

• naturally seasonal

• genuinely delicious

• easy to understand within a few seconds

And then I'd shoot it properly. I'd capture the finished recipe, close-up texture shots, ingredient details, preparation moments and plenty of vertical video.

One recipe can become far more than one Instagram post when it's produced with the full content ecosystem in mind.

2. The product being used in a really good way

This is something I think brands sometimes overlook. If you've invested in beautiful packaging and a brilliant product, don't hide it behind a complicated recipe. I'd want to see the product doing its job.

Butter melting into toast. Chocolate being broken apart. Honey being drizzled. Flour being folded through a cake batter. Cheese stretching from a hot bake.

Those small, sensory moments are incredibly powerful in food content because they communicate taste and texture without saying a word. I'd create a bank of these moments that could be used across reels, stories, paid social, websites and campaign assets.

Shot for a personal project

3. Something a little unexpected

If everyone in your category is shooting the same kind of content, I'd deliberately do something different. That doesn't necessarily mean reinventing the wheel. It could be an unexpected recipe combination, a different styling direction, a bold crop, an unusual perspective or simply a more editorial approach to the way the product is photographed.

I love food photography that feels like it belongs in a magazine but still makes you want to eat it. That perfectly imperfect look. Beautiful doesn't have to mean predictable.

4. Seasonal content, but done early

I'd always be planning further ahead than the season we're currently in. If you're a food brand, September is most certainly the time to start thinking about Christmas content. But it’s also a chance to think ahead and capitalise on the lead up to bigger calendar events.

I'd already be thinking about:

Autumn > Halloween > Christmas > January > Valentine's Day > Pancake Day > Mother’s Day > Easter

That means building a content library that gives your marketing team plenty to work with before the season arrives. For Christmas, for example, I wouldn't just shoot one festive recipe. I'd create a small collection of content that covers different moments:

• entertaining

• gifting

• baking

• sharing

• hosting

• last-minute ideas

• leftovers

• party food

That gives a brand much more flexibility than a handful of disconnected recipes.

Shot for Belvoir Farm

5. Content that feels human

Perfect food photography has its place. But I think some of the most effective content now has a sense of real life about it. Hands coming into frame. Someone cutting into a cake. A spoon going back for another bite. Crumbs on the table. A half-finished plate. A little movement. I'd still make everything beautifully considered, but I'd avoid making it feel so perfect that you can't imagine actually eating it. The goal is aspirational but attainable. You want someone looking at the image thinking: That looks amazing. And then: I could actually make that.

6. A really strong bank of vertical video

If I were a brand, I wouldn't commission video as an afterthought. I'd build it into the shoot from the beginning. Short-form video gives brands so many opportunities across Instagram reels, TikTok, Pinterest, paid social and digital advertising. And I'd make sure we're not just filming the finished recipe.

I'd capture:

• satisfying preparation shots

• close-up texture & macro shots

• pouring and drizzling

• mixing

• cutting

• breaking

• spreading

• oven-to-table moments

• final hero shots

• natural hands-in-frame moments

The best food video isn't necessarily complicated. Sometimes it's a five-second shot of chocolate being snapped in half. If it makes you hungry, it works.

Directed and produced for Tala Cooking

7. Evergreen content that doesn't have an expiry date

Seasonal content is important, but I'd also make sure part of the shoot creates an evergreen content library. Because brands constantly need content. I'd shoot a mixture of:

Hero imagery
Beautiful campaign-ready photographs that can be used across marketing.

Product photography
Clean, considered images that show the product clearly.

Lifestyle imagery
The product naturally integrated into everyday food moments.

Texture and detail
Close-ups that can be used to add depth to social posts, websites and campaigns.

Vertical video
Short-form assets that can be repurposed throughout the year.

This is where a well-planned content shoot can really earn its keep.

8. Content I'd actually want to see on Instagram

If I were planning a brand's social feed, I'd think about the whole month or quarter, not just individual posts. I'd want a mixture of:

• Recipe inspiration

• Product moments

• Educational content

• Behind-the-scenes footage

• Seasonal ideas

• Lifestyle imagery

• Quick and easy recipes

• Big, beautiful hero moments

The result should feel like a world around the brand rather than a constant stream of product shots. Because ultimately, people don't follow brands because they want to look at packaging. They follow brands because they want inspiration.

Shot for Indian Spice Co

9. A few “stop scrolling” shots

Every shoot needs a handful of images that make you pause. The kind of shot where the texture is almost ridiculous. The cake slice with the perfect crumb. The chocolate cracking. The glossy sauce. The butter melting. The fork going into something impossibly soft. These aren't necessarily the images I'd build an entire campaign around.

But they're the shots I'd know I'd be reaching for when I needed something to make a social post stand out.

10. I'd plan the shoot around the content, not just the recipe

This is probably the biggest difference between simply making content and producing a useful commercial content library. Before I shoot, I'd be asking:

Where is this content going?

• Instagram?

• TikTok?

• Pinterest?

• Email?

• Website?

• Paid advertising?

• Packaging?

• PR?

• How much of it needs to be vertical?

• What needs copy space?

• What needs to be cropped?

• What needs to feel editorial?

• What needs to feel natural?

• What needs to show the product clearly?

Once you think about those questions before the camera comes out, the shoot becomes much more strategic. And you get so much more from the same production.

So, what would my ideal brand shoot look like?

If I were commissioning a food photography shoot for my own brand, I'd want to come away with more than a handful of beautiful recipes. I'd want a content library. Something that gives my marketing team months of assets to work with. I'd want hero photography, social-first imagery, vertical video, product details, lifestyle moments, seasonal content and those little unexpected shots that make people stop scrolling.

Most importantly, I'd want everything to feel like my brand. Because great food photography isn't just about making food look good. It's about creating content that makes people feel something: hungry, inspired, curious, nostalgic, excited — and ultimately makes them want to engage with the brand behind it. That's the kind of content I'd be shooting.

And if you’re a food brand thinking about your next shoot, that’s exactly how I’d approach yours too.