Restaurant Photography in Manchester: A Practical Guide for Delivery Apps, Google and Menus

A seasonal window-light schedule for Manchester kitchens

Around the June solstice Manchester gets about 16 h 46 min of daylight and the noon sun reaches about 60 degrees above the horizon. That high sun means a south-facing window pours in strong, hard light around midday, which is unkind to glossy sauces and produces blown highlights on white plates. Around the December solstice daylight drops to about 7 h 14 min and the noon sun sits only about 13 degrees above the horizon, so low winter sun rakes almost horizontally through windows and casts long shadows across the table.

Use the sun angle to pick your slot. In summer, shoot mid-morning or late afternoon when the sun is lower and the light is softer, or hang a thin white curtain and shoot at any time. In winter, the low sun is actually useful: place the dish so the light comes from the side at roughly 45 degrees to the camera, which gives texture to pastry, breaded coatings and grilled edges. Avoid shooting directly into a low winter sun through the window, because flare washes out color.

On overcast days, which are common in both seasons, the window becomes a large softbox and you can shoot through most of the day. Put the dish about 0.5 m from the glass, turn off overhead ceiling lights so they do not mix orange and blue color casts, and set white balance manually against a white napkin or sheet of paper.

• June: shoot before 11:00 or after 15:00, or diffuse the window with a thin white curtain.
• December: shoot between 10:00 and 14:00 and use the low sun as side light at about 45 degrees.
• Overcast: any time, dish 0.5 m from the window, overhead lights off, manual white balance.
• Never mix window light with a warm ceiling bulb in the same frame.

Prepping dishes so they photograph honestly

The photo has to match what leaves the kitchen, because a dish that looks different on arrival drives complaints and refunds on delivery platforms. Build the plate the way your chef builds it for service, then make small camera-only adjustments: wipe sauce drips from the rim with a damp cloth, pick the crispest chips or the least broken pastry, and place the protein slightly forward so it is not hidden under garnish.

Shoot within two minutes of plating. Steam fogs the lens and dulls the surface of sauces, and cold fat sets with a sheen that reads as greasy. For curries, stews and wet dishes, a shallow bowl with a clean rim and a small garnish of fresh coriander or a swirl of cream gives the camera an edge to focus on. For burgers and sandwiches, skewer the stack so it holds height, and shoot from about 30 degrees above the table rather than straight on.

Keep backgrounds simple and consistent across the menu: a dark wood board, a plain slate, or a neutral linen cloth. The same background on every dish makes a delivery listing look deliberate rather than a pile of phone snapshots from different nights.

• Plate, wipe the rim, shoot within two minutes.
• Top-down (90 degrees) for pizzas, platters and sharing boards.
• About 30 degrees for burgers, sandwiches and stacked plates.
• About 45 degrees for curries, pasta and bowls so you see depth and garnish.
• One background style across the whole menu.

Sizing photos for delivery apps, Google and your own menu

Each channel crops differently, so shoot wider than you need and crop later. A 1:1 square suits menu grids and delivery app tiles, 16:9 suits a website hero banner, and a 4:5 portrait crop works well for Instagram feed posts. Leave space around the plate so a square crop does not cut off the rim.

This site publishes photo spec pages for the apps that matter most to UK restaurants: Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat and Square Online, each with a UK and a United Kingdom version. Where a platform does not publish pixel specs publicly, check the upload screen in your partner dashboard before you export, because requirements can change and the dashboard is the authoritative source.

Deliveroo do not accept AI-generated or altered images. If you list there, shoot and upload your own real photo of the dish exactly as served. That is not a reason to skip good lighting and a clean background; it is a reason to get the original capture right in the kitchen.

Allergens and calories next to your photos

UK rules require allergen information for the 14 regulated allergens to be available for food sold without packaging, including food ordered online. Your photos sell the dish, but the listing text has to carry that information clearly. Keep the photo and the allergen line describing the same version of the dish, so a photo of the standard portion does not sit beside allergen text for a modified one.

In England, businesses with 250 or more employees must also show calories on menus, including online menus and listings on delivery apps under The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021. If that applies to you, the calorie figure sits in the listing text, not in the image, so make sure your photo and your menu data are updated together whenever a recipe changes.

Menus in the UK are commonly written in English. Keep dish names in the photo caption or listing title consistent with the printed menu so customers can match what they see to what they order.

A repeatable shoot for a Manchester kitchen

Book a two-hour block once a quarter, on a day when the kitchen is quiet and the menu is stable. Shoot the ten to fifteen dishes that drive most orders first, then add seasonal specials. Use a phone on a tripod or a stable stack of boxes, tap to focus on the front edge of the food, and lock exposure so every frame in a set matches.

For the merchant's own channels, 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. On Deliveroo, upload your own real photo, since AI-generated or altered images are not accepted there.

• Shoot the bestsellers first, specials second.
• Lock focus and exposure between dishes for a consistent set.
• Name files by dish and date so old photos do not creep back into listings.
• Re-shoot any dish whose recipe or portion size has changed.