When a restaurant prepares photographs for Deliveroo, not every image has the same purpose.
Some photographs need to show a specific dish clearly. Others are designed to create a stronger visual impression of the restaurant and its food.
These are often referred to as item images and hero images.
Understanding the difference can help restaurants plan a more useful and consistent food photography shoot.
What are Deliveroo item images?
Item images are photographs of individual dishes on a restaurant's delivery menu.
Their main purpose is simple: show the customer what they are ordering.
A good item photograph should make the dish easy to recognise and should clearly show the food, its main ingredients and its presentation.
For example, a restaurant might photograph:
- burgers
- pizzas
- sushi
- curries
- pasta dishes
- salads
- desserts
- side dishes
- meal deals
The photograph does not need to be complicated.
In fact, a clean and straightforward approach often works better for individual menu items because customers need to understand the dish quickly.
What are Deliveroo hero images?
Hero images have a different role.
Rather than simply showing one menu item, a hero photograph can communicate the overall style of the restaurant or highlight a particular dish or selection of food.
A hero image can be more carefully composed and can include multiple elements, such as several dishes, ingredients or details from the restaurant's menu.
It can be used to create a stronger first impression when someone visits the restaurant's delivery menu.
This makes hero photography particularly useful for restaurants that want their online menu to have a stronger visual identity.
Item images vs hero images
The easiest way to understand the difference is to think about the job each photograph has to do.
Item image:
Shows the customer a specific dish.
Hero image:
Creates a stronger visual impression and represents the restaurant or a selection of its food.
Both can be useful, but they should not necessarily be photographed in exactly the same way.
An individual burger, for example, may work best as a clean menu photograph. A selection of burgers, fries and sides could be photographed as a more carefully composed hero image.
Why consistency matters
When photographing a complete Deliveroo menu, consistency is important.
If every dish has a different background, lighting style or camera angle, the menu can quickly look disjointed.
A consistent approach helps the photographs work together.
This does not mean that every photograph has to look identical. Some dishes naturally work better from a particular angle or composition.
The important thing is that the overall set feels like it belongs to the same restaurant.
Consistency can include:
- lighting
- background
- camera angle
- framing
- colour
- styling
- distance from the food
This is particularly important when a restaurant has a large menu.
Should every dish have an item image?
Not necessarily.
The right approach depends on the restaurant, the menu and how the food is presented.
Some restaurants have a relatively small menu where photographing every dish makes sense.
Others may have dozens of dishes, sides and variations. In this situation, the photography can be planned around the most important menu items while making sure the overall visual presentation remains consistent.
A professional food photographer can help decide how the menu should be photographed before the shoot begins.
When should a restaurant use hero photography?
Hero photography can be particularly useful when a restaurant has food that photographs well together.
For example, a sushi restaurant could create a hero image featuring a selection of sushi, sashimi and sides.
A burger restaurant could photograph a complete meal with burgers, fries and drinks.
A restaurant specialising in Indian food could create a hero photograph showing several dishes together.
The purpose is not simply to show more food.
The composition should communicate something about the restaurant and make the image visually interesting.
How should food be photographed for Deliveroo?
Delivery food photography has to work on a relatively small screen.
Customers may be looking at the menu on a phone, so the main subject needs to be clear.
This is one reason why simple compositions can be effective.
The food should remain the focus of the photograph, with enough detail for the customer to understand what they are looking at.
Lighting is also important.
Professional lighting can bring out texture, colour and detail while keeping the food looking natural.
The aim is to photograph the actual food in a way that is attractive without making it look completely different from what the customer will receive.
Can the same photographs be used elsewhere?
Yes.
One of the advantages of planning a professional food photography shoot is that the photographs do not necessarily have to be used only on Deliveroo.
The same images can potentially be used across:
- the restaurant website
- Just Eat
- Uber Eats
- Deliveroo
- online menus
- promotional campaigns
- printed menus
The exact requirements can be different from platform to platform, so it is useful to discuss how the photographs will be used before the shoot.
A well-planned shoot can then produce a collection of images that works across several parts of the restaurant's marketing.
Planning a Deliveroo menu photography shoot
Before the photoshoot, it helps to prepare a complete list of the dishes that need to be photographed.
The restaurant should also identify its most important dishes.
These could include bestsellers, signature dishes, new menu items or dishes that the restaurant particularly wants to promote.
It is also useful to decide whether the shoot should include hero photography.
This allows the photographer to plan the lighting, styling, equipment and shooting time accordingly.
Good preparation is especially important for large takeaway menus, where photographing dozens of dishes can otherwise become difficult to manage.
Professional Deliveroo menu photography
There is a big difference between simply photographing food and creating a complete menu photography set.
The objective is to create photographs that are clear, consistent and suitable for the way customers actually view a delivery menu.
Item images and hero images can work together to give the restaurant both practical menu photographs and stronger promotional images.
For restaurants looking for professional food photography for Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats, the shoot can be planned around the restaurant's menu, food style and intended use of the images.
Food photography for restaurants in London
Alessandro Pietrosanti provides professional food photography for restaurants, takeaways and delivery-focused businesses across London and the UK.
Food photography can cover individual menu items, larger takeaway menus and hero images for delivery platforms including Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats.
For more information about professional food photography for Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats, see the dedicated takeaway food photography service.