Stunning images of food are a daily joy for those of us who scroll.

I have been lucky enough in my time to have dined at some of the finest restaurants in the UK, usually invited as a journalist, with a review to follow. There is also some degree of expectation that I will photograph my chosen dishes and share the resulting pics on social media, specifically Instagram, which has a seemingly endless flow of saliva-inducing food pics to drool over. I have to confess – I feel very exposed when standing or twisting over my plate, trying to get the best shot and then, when I post the results, I feel exposed again, as I know I am very far from being a great photographer and my sad little efforts will barely do justice to the meal I am enjoying. Why the pressure? #foodporn.

Great British Life: Hypha, ChesterHypha, Chester (Image: John Allen)

Food porn is not a new thing

Food porn is no new concept, it predates the Instagram era by some decades, but back in the day it was more of an immediate thing: you ordered the food, the chef – an exponent of nouvelle cuisine, which first reached our shores in the 1960s – plated it in such a way to draw moans of joy, then you ate it. With the arrival of visual social media such as Instagram, food porn (neatly hashtagged) took on a life of its own, used over 278 million times since Instagram started counting hashtags. Who hasn’t imagined the phrase ‘we eat with our eyes’ when scrolling the food in your feed? That’s not a new concept, either. In fact, the expression can be dated as far back as the first century, when Apicius, Roman gourmand and author, is credited with saying: ‘The first taste is always with the eyes.’ It is this observation, that seeing beautifully presented food will trigger a desire to experience the dish, that drives photographer John Allen’s every action. John works with top chefs across the region, bringing their culinary genius to the masses via simply stunning photographs commissioned by restaurants, magazines (including our sister mag, Cheshire Life, for which John provides the content for their monthly Art On A Plate feature), influencers and even fast-food brands.

Great British Life: John at work in Hills Bakery, HaleJohn at work in Hills Bakery, Hale (Image: John Allen)

‘I’ve been a professional photographer for 30 years now,’ John says, ‘and while food photography was always a percentage of my work, it’s become considerably greater in recent years, up to 75% of my commissions being food photography or related work – chefs and food prep, for example.’

John’s first work was for advertisements for restaurants, before even websites became important, never mind social media.

‘Really great food photography is an art,’ John adds. ‘Back when I started there was a lot of fakery; ice cream made from mashed potato, steam rising not from a plate but from a tampon hidden behind... Now, what you see is what you get. It’s great working with chefs who are passionate about their art and understand that what you do is an art too. I have worked with many really great chefs, including Mark Poynton [who earned a Michelin star when with Cambridge restaurant Alimentum]; Aiden Byrne, [well-known on the North West food scene and owner of The Church Green, in Lymm]; Gary Usher [founder of Elite Bistros, which includes the famous Sticky Walnut in Hoole]; and Colin Starkey, at The Alderley Edge Hotel. It’s a lot of fun.

Great British Life: Aiden Green live fire BBQ at his Church Green restaurant, in Lymm. Food with fire photos always do well on Instagram, John says.Aiden Green live fire BBQ at his Church Green restaurant, in Lymm. Food with fire photos always do well on Instagram, John says. (Image: John Allen)

‘I love working in live kitchens, in the middle of a busy service. Food porn is really a very Insta-driven concept. For me, food photography is a far greater world. People love to see photos of chefs in action, of food preparation and of the fresh, raw ingredients.’

So what makes a great food photo?

‘In short, it’s about making it look immediately tempting.’

Great British Life: Strawberry Delice with Honeycomb and Meringue flavoured with English Strawberries, at Mottram Hall's Carrington GrillStrawberry Delice with Honeycomb and Meringue flavoured with English Strawberries, at Mottram Hall's Carrington Grill (Image: John Allen)

This was never more appropriate than in some of John’s most recent work, for Wild Bean Café, whose food photography placed at the point of sale in BP’s petrol stations around the UK are designed precisely to trigger the ‘see food, eat food’ response.

it’s not hard to see how capturing the delicious essence of beautifully plated haute cuisine can be called art, but what about something more traditional – such as breads and cakes that have been made and served in the same way for over 100 years?

‘I recently spent a morning with the team at Hills Bakery, in Hale.’ John says. ‘It was brilliant. I captured the moment when they slid the freshly made Cornish pasties into the oven, and again the moment they were brought out. I photographed baker Megan finishing the gingerbread men, showed the detail and deliciousness of their Florentines (oh goodness me, the best I have ever seen and tasted) and the beauty of the very traditional tea cake.’

Great British Life: Florentines, from Hills Bakery in HaleFlorentines, from Hills Bakery in Hale (Image: John Allen)

Janet Hill, the fourth generation of the Hill family to run the eponymous bakery, says the photography experience with John was excellent. ‘For me, I see the importance of food photography when it really showcases the product in a realistic and simple way. If you can go and buy the product and it still looks the same in situ you know you have got it right. Hopefully what John has captured with our products will follow through to be the customers' experience too.’

Great British Life: The Sticky Walnut: Poached pear with Sauternes jelly, walnut praline ice cream and Armagnac prune puréeThe Sticky Walnut: Poached pear with Sauternes jelly, walnut praline ice cream and Armagnac prune purée (Image: John Allen)

John adds: ‘For me, the same feeling must be applied to shooting anything from a £120 tasting menu to a £1.20 hot sausage roll. The photo should spark your saliva glands at a glance.’

Food photos can generate immediate

Richard Dash, of Lost in Cheshire, agrees. He and his partner Jamie Carter launched their business to support small, independent restaurants across Cheshire in their marketing, getting their message, via, among other things, quite stunning food photos on Instagram.

Richard says: ‘Your picture needs to be scroll-stopping. We have analytics on our Facebook posts so we can see just how many clicks convert to bookings. It's not that straightforward on Instagram, but our clients can see an immediate uplift in reservations.

Great British Life: The way to anybody's heart... Beautiful and delicious, at Lilac Cottage in PrestburyThe way to anybody's heart... Beautiful and delicious, at Lilac Cottage in Prestbury (Image: Lost in Cheshire)

‘It can be so immediate we have had clients asking us to stop posting certain images as they sell out on that dish. If they have something on special they want to promote we go in, take photos and post that day, and the response is just as immediate. Just today I posted a bottomless brunch and bookings were instant.

‘Before I post I always ask myself, is this something I would want to eat? If not, then I am not going to convince a stranger on social media to go for it. I read recently the brain takes 13 milliseconds to process an image but 6 seconds to process a sentence, so it’s no surprise the impact an amazing photo can have.’

The psychology behind food porn is interesting, and very real. In his book, Gastrophysics, the New Science of Eating, Charles Spence says: ‘In terms of the brain’s response to images of palatable or highly desirable foods (food porn, in other words), research shows widespread activation of a host of brain areas, including the taste and reward areas. The magnitude of this increase in neural activity, not to mention the enhanced connectivity between brain areas, typically depends on how hungry the viewer is, whether they are dieting (ie, whether they are a restrained eater or not) and whether they are obese. (The latter, for instance, tend to show a more pronounced brain response to food images even when full.)’

Great British Life: It's not just bread and cheese, it's John Allen photographed bread and cheese...It's not just bread and cheese, it's John Allen photographed bread and cheese... (Image: John Allen)

How does John cope with the onslaught to all his senses when actually creating said food porn?

‘I don’t eat when I am working. It’s said you should never visit a supermarket when you’re hungry, but for me, I think subliminally I shoot better when I am hungry.’

But does he leave hungry?

‘I would so love to eat so much of what I shoot, but more often than not the chef whips it away for the sous chefs to learn from, so I can’t. And I would never ask. I did take home some of the fabulous Florentines from Hill’s Bakery, though, and they lived up to every visual promise.’

johnallenphotography.org

John’s top tips for fine food photography

1. It’s best to photograph food using a digital camera on manual mode, but new iPhones and android phones now have good quality lenses which can produce great results.

2. Use a soft light, ideally daylight, but not direct sunshine. Never use the camera flash.

3. Try different angles to find which looks best. Shoot from directly overhead and from lower angles.

4. It’s good to have some colour in food photos. Reds and greens work well to make images pop.

5. Don’t be afraid to experiment - some dishes work better than others. Shoot lots to improve your skills.