Food photography has become a common ritual in restaurants and bars, but the practice has been Paul Williams' bread and butter for the past 16 years, earning him recognition on the world stage.
In December, the Gold Coast local was named one of the world's Top 10 food photographers at the Foodelia International Food Photography Awards, which judged entries from more than 2,000 professionals.
After a career in graphic design, he took up commercial photography in 2004 and worked in Singapore and Dubai, which set the benchmark for his later projects.
"After 14 years of shooting overseas I was pretty shocked to see the low calibre of the branding, graphic design, and photography here," Mr Williams said.
"Some people are doing great work here of course, but very little of it is evident in the high street brands."
Tips and tricks of the trade
Controlling the elements in food photography can be challenging, but like any job, there are tricks to the trade, Mr Williams said.
"We work with stunt food or a stunt drink — like a flat coffee — so you can take your time to calibrate the lights and get it ready, then once it's ready you slide in a fresh one and take the shot."
Household staples like toothpicks and deodorant are also helpful in emergencies, Mr Williams said.
"If you've got very reflective cutlery and it's creating a nasty highlight you can't control, or it's reflecting your lights or a crew member, you can spray with deodorant and it will look like a matte silver that's been sandblasted," he said.
A kitchen connection
Chefs, stylists, and photographers work collaboratively to get the perfect shot, but Mr Williams said challenges arise from time to time, such as balancing bright highlight areas with darker shadow areas.
"If chefs are a little heavy-handed with the glaze, for instance, the lights will hit and it'll tend to flare and you'll get some very out-of-control highlights," he said.
"So, you'll lose detail in the highlight areas."
Mr Williams said there must always be mutual respect between chef and photographer.
"They can be a little hot-headed, but I've been really lucky. I've only worked with guys and girls who were really friendly."
What about burger chains?
Misleading fast-food burger commercials have always been a bugbear for Mr Williams, but he says the purpose of food photography is to show consumers what they will be eating, rather than what the food will look like.
"If you were to photograph the burger as it comes — which looks like the cook's just sat on it — then you have no idea what's in the burger," he said.
"Of course, your food is going to look awful once it's served up, but you do get to see the layering of it.
"It has lettuce, some sort of sauce, pickles, cheese, it's all there — and that's really our job.
Mr Williams said a project's success depended on the level of trust between the photographer and client.
"Particularly with graphic design and marketing campaigns, too many clients want to lead their own project," he said.
"They have trouble handing over that creative control and putting faith in the experts that they're contracting to do that work for them.
