Bangkok Menu Photography for Delivery Apps and Printed Menus

Plan the shoot around the whole menu, not the hero dishes

Start from the current menu file, not from what looks good in the kitchen. Number every item, including drinks, sides and add-ons, because a delivery grid with gaps looks unfinished and a printed menu with one photo and twenty blank rows looks worse. Group items into shoot blocks by how they are served: bowls and curries, grilled and fried plates, noodles, desserts, drinks. Each block shares a styling approach, so you shoot faster and the final set looks like one menu.

Bangkok's heat is the practical constraint. Cook in small batches and shoot within a few minutes of plating, because sauces split, herbs wilt and fried items lose their edge quickly in a warm room. Keep a towel, a small brush and a spray bottle of water for herbs at the table. For soups and curries, wipe the rim and lift the solid pieces to the surface so the bowl reads as food rather than liquid.

• Shoot 8 to 12 items per session rather than the whole menu in one day
• Plate one portion exactly as a customer receives it
• Keep a printed checklist on the table and tick each item as its files are confirmed
• Shoot a plain background version and a styled version of each dish if your printed menu and delivery listing use different looks

A window-light schedule for Bangkok's two seasons

Bangkok's daylight swings between the solstices. Around the June solstice the city gets about 12 h 49 min of daylight and the noon sun sits about 80 degrees above the horizon, so light falls steeply from almost overhead. Around the December solstice it gets about 11 h 11 min and the noon sun is about 53 degrees, lower and more angled. That difference changes when a window gives soft, usable light.

In the June period, use the window between roughly 9 and 11 in the morning and again from about 3 to 5 in the afternoon. Midday light is too steep and too bright to control easily, so shoot during those two windows and use the middle of the day for prep, styling tests and file work. In the December period, the lower sun reaches further into the room, so a north-facing window stays usable for longer stretches; shoot from about 8 to 11 in the morning and from 2 to 4:30 in the afternoon, and expect direct sun to creep across the table earlier than in June.

Position the table about one meter back from the window, never in direct sun. Put a white board or sheet of foam board on the side away from the window to bounce light back into the shadow side of the plate. If the window is the only source, shoot at a 45-degree angle to the plate rather than straight down, and check the background for window frames, cables and reflections before every shot.

Batch shooting that keeps every plate looking the same

Consistency comes from fixed positions, not from good intentions. Mark the table with tape where the plate sits, where the camera stands and where the bounce board goes. Use the same lens, the same height and the same distance for every item in a block; a 90-degree overhead shot suits bowls, curries and noodle plates, while a 30 to 45-degree angle flatters stacked and tall items. Keep the camera level with the plate's center rather than tilting it by eye.

Shoot tethered or with a large screen if you can, because a phone screen hides small problems like sauce on the rim or a stray chili on the tablecloth. Take three frames per item: one straight, one slightly closer, one with a different background if your printed menu needs it. Name files at the moment of capture, not later.

For printed menus, a 1:1 or 4:5 crop usually fits a grid, and a 16:9 crop suits a QR menu banner or a website header. Decide the crops before the shoot so you frame with room to spare at the edges.

• Tape the plate position, camera position and board position
• Shoot three frames per item and stop; more frames just slow the edit
• Wipe the rim and check the background before every frame
• Leave space around the plate so 1:1, 4:5 and 16:9 crops all work

Naming files so the menu and the photos stay matched

Use a naming pattern that survives a menu change: menu code, dish name in Latin script, short Thai name if the menu uses one, date, and a version number. For example, A12_pad-thai_2025-03_v2. Numbering by menu section means you can find every photo for a section at once, and the date tells you which shoot a file came from when a dish is reworked.

Keep one master folder per menu version and never overwrite a master. When a dish changes, add a new version rather than editing the old file, and keep a simple spreadsheet that lists dish code, file name, date shot and where the image is used: printed menu, QR menu, website, delivery listing, social. That sheet is what makes a menu update a ten-minute job instead of a hunt through camera rolls.

Keeping photos in sync with menu changes and delivery apps

Set a monthly review: compare the live menu against the spreadsheet, flag dropped dishes, price changes and new items, and schedule a short reshoot for anything new. Seasonal specials should be shot when they launch and archived when they end, so the delivery listing never shows a dish a customer cannot order.

Delivery platforms in Thailand include Grab, LINE MAN, Robinhood and ShopeeFood. Each has its own upload rules and crops, and this site does not publish pixel specifications for them, so check the upload screen for the current requirements rather than relying on a remembered size. Keep the master file untouched and export per platform from it.

FoodPhoto takes a real photo of the restaurant's own dish and improves light, background and crop for menus, delivery apps and social, keeping the food as it is, and every photo comes as a kit of sizes. Use it for your own channels such as the printed menu, QR menu, website and Google Business Profile, and still check each platform's upload screen before publishing.