Menu Photography in Oslo: One Set of Photos, Every Menu

Plan the shoot around Oslo daylight

Window light is the cheapest consistent light source you have, but in Oslo it is not the same light in March and October. Around the June solstice the noon sun sits about 54 degrees above the horizon, so light through a south-facing window is high, hard and long-lasting. Around the December solstice the noon sun reaches only about 7 degrees, so daylight arrives low, brief and warm, and most of the working day is effectively dusk.

Build a seasonal schedule instead of shooting whenever a free morning appears. In summer, shoot between roughly 10:00 and 14:00 but move tables back from the glass so the high sun does not throw a hard edge across the plate; a sheer curtain or a diffuser panel softens it. In winter, the useful window is short, so book the batch between about 10:00 and 13:00, put the table directly beside the glass and use a white board opposite the window to bounce light back onto the shadow side of the dish. In the weeks around the equinoxes the light changes fastest, so shoot the whole menu in one sitting rather than spreading it over days.

Whatever the season, keep the same table, the same distance from the window and the same bounce card for every dish. Consistency comes from repeating the setup, not from the setup being perfect.

• Summer (May to July): shoot late morning to early afternoon, diffuse the high sun, pull the table about 1 m back from the glass
• Winter (November to January): shoot in the short late-morning window, table at the glass, white bounce card on the shadow side
• Equinox months: one continuous session, because the light angle shifts noticeably week to week
• Overcast days: the most even light of the year in Oslo, good for flat-lay and top-down shots

Batch shooting a whole menu in one session

Batch shooting means one setup, many dishes, in a fixed order. Sort the menu by category (starters, mains, desserts, drinks) and shoot each category together so you can swap props once rather than per plate. Keep the camera at a fixed height on a tripod and pick one angle per category: about 45 degrees for plated mains and bowls, straight overhead at 90 degrees for pizzas, flatbreads and sharing boards, and eye level at 0 degrees for burgers, stacked sandwiches and tall glasses.

Work in small waves of three or four dishes. The kitchen plates them one after another, you shoot each within a minute or two, then reset. Cold dishes and anything with a sauce or a melting element go last in each wave. Have a damp cloth and a pair of tweezers on the table: wiping a rim or moving one stray herb takes seconds and saves a reshoot.

Shoot slightly wider than you need. A frame with a little margin lets you crop to 1:1 for app tiles, 4:5 for Instagram and 16:9 for a website banner from the same master file. Check the first few frames on a laptop, not the camera screen, before committing to the rest of the menu.

• One tripod height, one angle per category, no exceptions mid-session
• Plate three or four dishes per wave, shoot fast, reset
• Leave margin around the plate so one master crops to 1:1, 4:5 and 16:9
• Review the first wave on a larger screen before shooting the rest

File naming that survives menu changes

A menu photo is only useful if you can find it again when a dish is renamed, repriced or dropped. Name files by dish, not by date alone: category, dish name, version and the date shot, for example mains_fish-soup_v2_2025-03. Use hyphens inside names and underscores between fields so files sort predictably. Avoid spaces, Norwegian characters and camera default names like IMG_4821.

Keep a simple spreadsheet as your menu photo register: one row per dish with the file name, the date shot, the platforms it appears on and a status column for current, needs reshoot or retired. When a dish leaves the menu, mark it retired rather than deleting the file, because the same photo may still be needed for an archive or a seasonal return. When a recipe changes visibly, shoot a new version and bump the number rather than overwriting the old file.

Export finals into one folder per platform so uploads never pull the wrong crop: a square set for app tiles, a portrait set for social, a print-resolution set for the printed menu and QR menu.

• Format: category_dish-name_v#_YYYY-MM
• One master file per dish, crops exported per platform
• Log every dish in a register with a status column
• Bump the version number on a visible recipe change, never overwrite

Which platforms need which photos in Norway

In Norway, delivery orders run through Wolt and foodora. Wolt does not accept AI-generated or altered images, so for Wolt you shoot and upload your own real photo of the dish. This site publishes a Wolt photo spec page for Norway at /delivery-photo-specs/wolt/norway/; check it, and the upload screen itself, for the current requirements, because platforms change their rules.

foodora is the other delivery app operating in the country. This site does not publish a foodora spec page, so work from foodora's own upload screen and merchant guidance for pixel sizes and cropping.

Your own channels have no such constraint. The same master files feed your website menu, QR menu, Instagram and Google Business Profile, plus any printed menu. That is where one consistent set of dish photos earns its keep, because those surfaces are entirely under your control.

• Wolt: real, unaltered photos only, shot by you
• foodora: check the app's own upload screen for specs
• Own channels: website, QR menu, Instagram, Google Business Profile, print

Keep photos in sync with the menu, and keep allergens separate

Menus change more often than most kitchens expect: a seasonal switch, a supplier substitution, a price change that comes with a smaller portion. Set a monthly routine. Compare the live menu against your photo register, list dishes with no photo, dishes with a photo that no longer matches and dishes that have been removed, then reshoot only what changed. A single dish can be shot in the same window-light setup in minutes, so the set never drifts.

Norway applies the EU food information rules as an EEA country: allergen information for the 14 regulated allergens must be available, including before an online or app purchase is completed. Photos never replace that information. Keep allergen text in the menu listing itself, written in Norwegian as is common for menus in the country, and treat the photo as a visual aid only.

For the restaurant's own channels, FoodPhoto takes a real photo of your own dish and improves light, background and crop for menus, delivery apps and social while keeping the food as it is, and every photo comes as a kit of sizes. It cannot guarantee approval by any platform, and where a platform bans AI-generated or altered images, you shoot and upload your own real photo there.

A short pre-shoot checklist for Oslo kitchens

Run this before every batch, summer or winter, so the session does not stall on details you could have settled the day before.

• Confirm the daylight window for the date and book the kitchen for that slot only
• Clear one table by the window and test the bounce card before plating
• Write the shot list in menu order, grouped by category and angle
• Set the tripod height and lock the angle per category
• Prepare the file-naming sheet and the photo register in advance
• Stage the plating props, cloth and tweezers within arm's reach
• Shoot a test frame of the first dish and check it on a laptop