Why Food Photography Is Becoming the New Culinary Skill?

Visual Storytelling Is Changing the Way We Experience Food

Hema Singuluri | Hyderabad :

Food photography is no longer limited to attractive pictures of dishes; it is evolving into a powerful art form where technical knowledge meets creativity to shape modern culinary storytelling. As food increasingly becomes a visual experience, chefs, restaurants and young photographers are exploring how images can communicate emotions, culture and the story behind every dish.

Highlighting this changing landscape, Gopi Kishore Byluppala, CEO and founder of Culinary Lounge, said creativity rather than only camera skills is becoming the core of compelling food imagery. He said workshops such as Chef Michael Swamy’s are helping the new generation understand that food photography is an art that goes beyond equipment and settings.

Culinary stories through the lens

On June 26, Chef Michael Swamy conducted “Reading Light”, a food media workshop at Culinary Lounge, focusing on food styling and photography using the Canon EOS R50V.

The workshop also addressed why food photography has become an essential skill and reflected the growing interest in Hyderabad’s culinary and photography scene.

Gopi Kishore Byluppala explained that while anyone can click photographs, the difference lies in learning how to bring together chefs, ingredients and cameras to elevate a dish through storytelling rather than simply following preset techniques.

“Knowing technicalities is only 10 percent of Photography, while expressing and storytelling through photography is the actual learning,” Gopi said.

Encouraging creativity among young learners

He said promoting awareness about culinary photography and bringing experts together through workshops is one of the main aims of Culinary Lounge. He added that collaborations with districts and various brands are being undertaken to reach more people and encourage the creative side of photography.

The workshops have attracted youngsters, adults and even children aged between six and 10 years, who are learning photography as a creative process instead of focusing only on technical skills.

Reviving the art behind food images

Chef Michael Swamy, a culinary storyteller, chef and photographer, guided participants on the importance of creativity and enjoying the learning process. He used Telangana ingredients and dishes, reimagining them with French techniques and artistic approaches to transform local ingredients, sauces and herbs into edible expressions.

He observed that many current generation “social media and Instagrammable” pictures lack the lifestyle art element that once made photographs memorable.

“Earlier, people would spend half an hour looking at a single photograph because it told a story. I want to bring that back and revive the creativity in photography,” said Chef Michael Swamy.

Participants Bhavana and Manasa shared their experience of learning techniques such as photographing fruits like pear and pomegranate, capturing filter coffee preparation and using background defocusing methods. Nine-year-old Samyuktha said she enjoyed the fun involved in learning, especially experimenting with different angles and lighting while clicking pictures.