Menu Photography in Beijing: One Consistent Shoot for Print, QR Menus and Delivery Apps
A Beijing menu usually lives in three places at once: a printed card, a QR menu behind a table sticker, and a delivery-app listing. If each dish was photographed on a different day with a different background, the menu looks like it came from three restaurants. This page is about shooting the whole menu in one controlled batch, naming the files so you can find them later, and keeping the photos matched to a menu that changes.
Plan the shoot around Beijing's daylight, not around your opening hours
Beijing's window light changes enormously across the year. Around the June solstice you get about 14 h 50 min of daylight and the noon sun sits about 74 degrees above the horizon, which means steep, hard light and short shadows. Around the December solstice daylight drops to about 9 h 10 min and the noon sun is only about 27 degrees up, so light comes in low and long across the room.
A practical schedule: in summer, shoot between roughly 09:00 and 11:00 or after 15:00, when the sun is high but no longer blasting straight through a south or west window. In winter, the low sun is useful but travels fast, so pick a north-facing window or diffuse a south window with a white curtain and shoot the whole batch in one two-hour block. Never mix a June window shot and a December window shot in the same menu section.
Keep the camera at the same height for every dish, roughly 45 degrees for plated dishes and straight down at 90 degrees for bowls of noodles and dumplings where the surface pattern matters. Fix the distance so the dish fills the same share of the frame each time, and lock white balance manually instead of leaving it on auto, or the duck will look warmer than the cold dishes.
Batch shooting a full menu without a studio
Set up one table permanently for the day: a matte surface in a single color, a reflector made from a sheet of white foam board on the shadow side, and a marker on the floor for where the tripod legs go. Then bring dishes out in groups that share a background and lighting setup, for example all cold dishes, then all noodles, then all roast and braised items.
Shoot each dish in a small set of frames rather than one: a wide frame with the whole plate and some surface around it, a tighter frame for the delivery thumbnail, and a detail frame of the texture. Delivery feeds crop hard, so the wide frame protects you when a platform's upload screen cuts the edges.
Keep a written shot list taped to the wall with the menu item names in menu order. Tick each one off as it is shot, and shoot the item number on a small card in the first frame of each dish so the files can be sorted later even if the naming slips.
File naming and folder structure that survive menu changes
Name files by menu section, item and version, not by date or camera number. A workable pattern is section-item-variant, for example colddish-cucumber-01-wide, noodle-zhajiangmian-02-thumb, roast-duck-01-detail. Use lowercase letters, hyphens instead of spaces, and no Chinese characters in the filename if the file will be uploaded to a web menu, since some upload tools mangle them.
Keep one master folder per shoot and export copies into subfolders for print, QR menu and delivery apps. When a dish changes, for example a new garnish or a price change that comes with a re-plated portion, shoot a new version and add a version number rather than overwriting the old file. Old photos are still useful for seasonal items that return.
Write a simple index sheet, one line per menu item: item name, filename, date shot, and which channels currently use it. That sheet is what stops a QR menu from showing last winter's photo of a dish you re-plated in spring.
Matching photos to print, QR menus and delivery listings
Print and QR menus read best when every photo has the same aspect ratio and the same background tone, so the page looks like a grid rather than a collage. Square 1:1 crops work for a QR menu grid and for printed tiles; a 16:9 crop suits a website banner or a menu-board screen. Decide the ratio before the shoot and frame for it, rather than cropping afterwards.
For delivery apps, the image is usually shown small and cropped, so the dish should fill most of the frame with little empty table visible. Check how each app displays images by uploading a test item and looking at the result on a phone, since what looks generous on a laptop screen often reads as a tiny plate in the app.
When a menu item is removed, remove its photo from every channel on the same day. A stale listing with a photo of a dish you no longer serve is worse than no photo, because the customer arrives expecting something that is not there.
Working with the tools and rules you actually have
This site does not currently publish pixel-size specification pages for any delivery platform, so treat the upload screen as the source of truth: it will tell you the required dimensions, file format and any cropping it applies. Upload one item, check it on a phone, then batch the rest.
If a platform's rules ban AI-generated or AI-altered food images, follow that rule for that platform: shoot and upload your own real photograph there, and do not describe any file as ready for a platform you have not checked. For your own channels, a real photo of your own dish can be improved in light, background and crop without changing the food itself. FoodPhoto does exactly that and returns each photo as a kit of sizes, which is useful for your website menu, Instagram, Google Business Profile, QR menu and print.
Beijing dishes that need specific framing
Widely known Beijing dishes each fail in a different way on camera. Peking duck sliced and plated needs a side or 45-degree angle so the lacquered skin reads as a surface, not a flat brown shape; shoot it under directional light, not flat overhead light. Zhajiangmian needs the sauce and toppings visible, so a 90-degree top-down frame with the noodles just showing at the rim works better than a low angle.
Dumplings and bao benefit from a tight crop and a slight side angle so the pleats catch light. Hotpot is a table scene rather than a single plate: shoot the spread from about 60 degrees with the pot as the anchor, and keep one clean frame of the raw ingredients for the menu. Cold dishes and pickles need a neutral background, because their pale colors disappear against a white tablecloth.
A repeatable monthly routine
Put one recurring slot in the calendar, for example the first Monday morning of each month, and shoot only what changed: new items, re-plated items, and seasonal specials. Reuse the same table, the same background and the same camera height so new photos drop into the existing menu without a visible seam.
Before each session, print the current menu and mark the items that need a new photo. After the session, update the index sheet and push the new files to print, QR menu and delivery listings in that order, checking each one on a phone before moving on.
Checklist before you publish
- Pick one window and one background for the whole menu and do not change them mid-shoot
- Check the seasonal light: shoot mid-morning in summer, in one block in winter
- Lock white balance and camera height, and mark the tripod position on the floor
- Shoot a wide, a tight and a detail frame for every dish
- Shoot the item number in the first frame of each dish
- Name files section-item-variant in lowercase with hyphens
- Keep an index sheet of item, filename, date and channels in use
- Remove photos of discontinued items from every channel on the same day
Questions
How do I photograph a whole menu in one day without a studio?
Use one fixed table by a window, a white foam board as a reflector, and a tripod at a marked position. Group dishes by background and lighting, shoot a wide, tight and detail frame of each, and work from a printed shot list in menu order so nothing is missed.
What should I name restaurant menu photo files?
Use section-item-variant in lowercase with hyphens, for example noodle-zhajiangmian-02-thumb. Avoid spaces, dates and camera numbers as the main identifier, and avoid Chinese characters in filenames if the file will be uploaded to a web menu, because some upload tools handle them badly.
What image size should I use for a QR menu or delivery app?
Decide the aspect ratio before the shoot: 1:1 for menu grids and printed tiles, 16:9 for banners and menu boards. For delivery apps, check the upload screen for the required dimensions and crop, then verify one uploaded item on a phone before doing the rest.
When is the best time of year to shoot menu photos in Beijing?
Both solstices are workable but different. June gives about 14 h 50 min of daylight with the noon sun about 74 degrees high, so shoot mid-morning or mid-afternoon. December gives about 9 h 10 min with the sun about 27 degrees high, so use a north window or diffuse a south window and finish the batch in one block.