May 9, 2025
Food photos: professional photographer or AI?
The game-changing comparison for restaurateurs.
Taking beautiful photos of dishes is essential for selling. On Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Instagram, or your website, your images are your primary sales argument. But when it comes time to create them, the same question always arises:
👉 Should you hire a professional photographer… or use an AI solution like Sublimify?
In the past, the answer was simple: for quality images, you needed a photographer. But things have changed.
Today, artificial intelligence allows you to obtain studio-quality visuals from photos taken with a simple smartphone. Sublimify automatically corrects lighting, colors, background, framing, and sharpness — in just seconds.
This article compares the two approaches (photographer vs AI) based on 5 criteria: quality, cost, speed, flexibility, and consistency, to help you choose the most effective solution for your business.
And as you will see, Sublimify brings together the best of both worlds: the professional output of a photographer, the simplicity, and the unbeatable cost of automation.
Summary
1) The importance of beautiful photos in the restaurant industry
The numbers are clear:
• On Uber Eats, dishes with photos achieve +88% more sales.
• On Instagram, a clear and appetizing photo generates up to 3x more engagement.
• And on Google, restaurant listings with beautiful images are visited twice as often.
A quality photo is more than just a visual: it’s a promise of taste, freshness, and trust.
But creating these images can quickly become a headache: equipment, time, budget… And that’s where the real dilemma lies: professional studio or AI solution like Sublimify?
2) Professional photographer: strengths and limitations
✅ Advantages:
• Artistic and technical quality: framing, composition, controlled lighting.
• Custom staging: art direction, culinary styling, props.
• High-end finishing: manual retouching, visual consistency.
❌ Disadvantages:
• High cost: a professional food shoot costs between €500 and €1,200 depending on the number of dishes.
• Limited flexibility: you need to plan, block time, mobilize your team.
• Expensive updates: each new dish requires new sessions.
• Long delays: several days to obtain the final photos.
In summary: the photographer is ideal for occasional use (campaigns, posters, magazines), but not viable for frequent needs like menus or social media.
3) The modern alternative: Sublimify and the power of AI
With Sublimify, there’s no need for a photographer or studio.
You simply take your photos with a smartphone, then the AI:
Corrects the lighting and white balance,
Enhances sharpness and contrast,
Cleans the background (or replaces it with a neutral one),
Automatically straightens and crops your dish,
Harmonizes all your images for a consistent look.
Result: professional, uniform, and sales-optimized visuals, without any technical skills.
Sublimify allows you to process dozens of photos in minutes, where a photographer might take several days.
And all for a fraction of the cost: a few euros per image instead of hundreds.
4) Direct comparison: photographer vs Sublimify
Criterion
Professional photographer
Sublimify (AI)
Image quality
HD, artistic
HD, realistic and consistent
Cost per photo
€25 – €60
€0.38 - €0.90
Delay
3 to 10 days
A few seconds
Flexibility
Low (planning required)
Total (anytime)
Consistency over time
Variable depending on sessions
Perfect (same AI settings)
Volume
Limited (occasional shoots)
Unlimited
Required skills
None, but dependent on a pro
None, autonomous and quick
👉 Verdict: for recurring needs — menus, social media, marketplaces — Sublimify is unbeatable.
You maintain quality, save time, and save up to 90% of your budget.
5) When to choose one or the other?
- Professional photographer: ideal for large campaigns, posters, brochures, high-end branding.
- Sublimify: perfect for all daily needs: Uber Eats menus, website photos, social media, new menus, promotions, etc.
- In reality, many brands combine both: a photographer for brand image, Sublimify for fast and continuous production of sales visuals.
“Sublimify gives you the freedom to publish beautiful photos whenever you want, without relying on anyone.”
6) Why Sublimify is the logical choice for 90% of cases
In the restaurant world, everything moves quickly: new recipes, seasonal menus, daily specials.
You don’t have the time (or budget) to organize a shoot for every update.
Sublimify fits naturally into your routine:
You take your dishes with your smartphone.
You import them into Sublimify.
The AI optimizes everything automatically.
Your images are ready to be published, uniform and appetizing.
You gain:
Time (instant processing),
Visual consistency,
Sales through more effective photos.
In summary...
The choice between a professional photographer and an AI solution depends on your reality.
If you’re looking to produce a few exceptional visuals, a photo shoot remains a good investment.
But if you need to regularly update your menu, animate your social media, or illustrate your products throughout the seasons, Sublimify is the obvious answer.
The tool combines simplicity, speed, and quality: in seconds, your phone-taken photos become professional and ready to sell.
No more quotes, back-and-forth retouching, and delays: Sublimify adapts to your pace.
And the result speaks for itself: homogeneous, bright, and consistent visuals that reflect the quality of your cuisine and increase your click-through rate and sales.
Try it today: take a photo of your signature dish, run it through Sublimify, and compare.
You’ll see that AI now rivals the photographer — and simplifies your life.
Want to try it for free?
Enjoy your first 3 credits for free!
No credit card required.
Perfect photos for platforms like Uber Eats, Deliveroo...
Create irresistible visuals for platforms with Sublimify, your AI photo studio.
Read the article →
The ultimate guide to successful food photography.
Bakeries, cheesemongers, caterers: Sublimify showcases your artisanal products in seconds.
Read the article →
Photograph your dishes like a pro (without a photographer)
10 simple tips to succeed in your food photos and enhance them in one click with Sublimify.
Read the article →
May 9, 2025
Food photos: professional photographer or AI?
The game-changing comparison for restaurateurs.
Taking beautiful photos of dishes is essential for selling. On Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Instagram, or your website, your images are your primary sales argument. But when it comes time to create them, the same question always arises:
👉 Should you hire a professional photographer… or use an AI solution like Sublimify?
In the past, the answer was simple: for quality images, you needed a photographer. But things have changed.
Today, artificial intelligence allows you to obtain studio-quality visuals from photos taken with a simple smartphone. Sublimify automatically corrects lighting, colors, background, framing, and sharpness — in just seconds.
This article compares the two approaches (photographer vs AI) based on 5 criteria: quality, cost, speed, flexibility, and consistency, to help you choose the most effective solution for your business.
And as you will see, Sublimify brings together the best of both worlds: the professional output of a photographer, the simplicity, and the unbeatable cost of automation.
Summary
1) The importance of beautiful photos in the restaurant industry
The numbers are clear:
• On Uber Eats, dishes with photos achieve +88% more sales.
• On Instagram, a clear and appetizing photo generates up to 3x more engagement.
• And on Google, restaurant listings with beautiful images are visited twice as often.
A quality photo is more than just a visual: it’s a promise of taste, freshness, and trust.
But creating these images can quickly become a headache: equipment, time, budget… And that’s where the real dilemma lies: professional studio or AI solution like Sublimify?
2) Professional photographer: strengths and limitations
✅ Advantages:
• Artistic and technical quality: framing, composition, controlled lighting.
• Custom staging: art direction, culinary styling, props.
• High-end finishing: manual retouching, visual consistency.
❌ Disadvantages:
• High cost: a professional food shoot costs between €500 and €1,200 depending on the number of dishes.
• Limited flexibility: you need to plan, block time, mobilize your team.
• Expensive updates: each new dish requires new sessions.
• Long delays: several days to obtain the final photos.
In summary: the photographer is ideal for occasional use (campaigns, posters, magazines), but not viable for frequent needs like menus or social media.
3) The modern alternative: Sublimify and the power of AI
With Sublimify, there’s no need for a photographer or studio.
You simply take your photos with a smartphone, then the AI:
Corrects the lighting and white balance,
Enhances sharpness and contrast,
Cleans the background (or replaces it with a neutral one),
Automatically straightens and crops your dish,
Harmonizes all your images for a consistent look.
Result: professional, uniform, and sales-optimized visuals, without any technical skills.
Sublimify allows you to process dozens of photos in minutes, where a photographer might take several days.
And all for a fraction of the cost: a few euros per image instead of hundreds.
4) Direct comparison: photographer vs Sublimify
Criterion
Professional photographer
Sublimify (AI)
Image quality
HD, artistic
HD, realistic and consistent
Cost per photo
€25 – €60
€0.38 - €0.90
Delay
3 to 10 days
A few seconds
Flexibility
Low (planning required)
Total (anytime)
Consistency over time
Variable depending on sessions
Perfect (same AI settings)
Volume
Limited (occasional shoots)
Unlimited
Required skills
None, but dependent on a pro
None, autonomous and quick
👉 Verdict: for recurring needs — menus, social media, marketplaces — Sublimify is unbeatable.
You maintain quality, save time, and save up to 90% of your budget.
5) When to choose one or the other?
- Professional photographer: ideal for large campaigns, posters, brochures, high-end branding.
- Sublimify: perfect for all daily needs: Uber Eats menus, website photos, social media, new menus, promotions, etc.
- In reality, many brands combine both: a photographer for brand image, Sublimify for fast and continuous production of sales visuals.
“Sublimify gives you the freedom to publish beautiful photos whenever you want, without relying on anyone.”
6) Why Sublimify is the logical choice for 90% of cases
In the restaurant world, everything moves quickly: new recipes, seasonal menus, daily specials.
You don’t have the time (or budget) to organize a shoot for every update.
Sublimify fits naturally into your routine:
You take your dishes with your smartphone.
You import them into Sublimify.
The AI optimizes everything automatically.
Your images are ready to be published, uniform and appetizing.
You gain:
Time (instant processing),
Visual consistency,
Sales through more effective photos.
In summary...
The choice between a professional photographer and an AI solution depends on your reality.
If you’re looking to produce a few exceptional visuals, a photo shoot remains a good investment.
But if you need to regularly update your menu, animate your social media, or illustrate your products throughout the seasons, Sublimify is the obvious answer.
The tool combines simplicity, speed, and quality: in seconds, your phone-taken photos become professional and ready to sell.
No more quotes, back-and-forth retouching, and delays: Sublimify adapts to your pace.
And the result speaks for itself: homogeneous, bright, and consistent visuals that reflect the quality of your cuisine and increase your click-through rate and sales.
Try it today: take a photo of your signature dish, run it through Sublimify, and compare.
You’ll see that AI now rivals the photographer — and simplifies your life.
Want to try it for free?
Enjoy your first 3 credits for free!
No credit card required.
Perfect photos for platforms like Uber Eats, Deliveroo...
Create irresistible visuals for platforms with Sublimify, your AI photo studio.
Read the article →
The ultimate guide to successful food photography.
Bakeries, cheesemongers, caterers: Sublimify showcases your artisanal products in seconds.
Read the article →
Photograph your dishes like a pro (without a photographer)
10 simple tips to succeed in your food photos and enhance them in one click with Sublimify.
Read the article →
May 9, 2025
Food photos: professional photographer or AI?
The game-changing comparison for restaurateurs.
Taking beautiful photos of dishes is essential for selling. On Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Instagram, or your website, your images are your primary sales argument. But when it comes time to create them, the same question always arises:
👉 Should you hire a professional photographer… or use an AI solution like Sublimify?
In the past, the answer was simple: for quality images, you needed a photographer. But things have changed.
Today, artificial intelligence allows you to obtain studio-quality visuals from photos taken with a simple smartphone. Sublimify automatically corrects lighting, colors, background, framing, and sharpness — in just seconds.
This article compares the two approaches (photographer vs AI) based on 5 criteria: quality, cost, speed, flexibility, and consistency, to help you choose the most effective solution for your business.
And as you will see, Sublimify brings together the best of both worlds: the professional output of a photographer, the simplicity, and the unbeatable cost of automation.
Summary
1) The importance of beautiful photos in the restaurant industry
The numbers are clear:
• On Uber Eats, dishes with photos achieve +88% more sales.
• On Instagram, a clear and appetizing photo generates up to 3x more engagement.
• And on Google, restaurant listings with beautiful images are visited twice as often.
A quality photo is more than just a visual: it’s a promise of taste, freshness, and trust.
But creating these images can quickly become a headache: equipment, time, budget… And that’s where the real dilemma lies: professional studio or AI solution like Sublimify?
2) Professional photographer: strengths and limitations
✅ Advantages:
• Artistic and technical quality: framing, composition, controlled lighting.
• Custom staging: art direction, culinary styling, props.
• High-end finishing: manual retouching, visual consistency.
❌ Disadvantages:
• High cost: a professional food shoot costs between €500 and €1,200 depending on the number of dishes.
• Limited flexibility: you need to plan, block time, mobilize your team.
• Expensive updates: each new dish requires new sessions.
• Long delays: several days to obtain the final photos.
In summary: the photographer is ideal for occasional use (campaigns, posters, magazines), but not viable for frequent needs like menus or social media.
3) The modern alternative: Sublimify and the power of AI
With Sublimify, there’s no need for a photographer or studio.
You simply take your photos with a smartphone, then the AI:
Corrects the lighting and white balance,
Enhances sharpness and contrast,
Cleans the background (or replaces it with a neutral one),
Automatically straightens and crops your dish,
Harmonizes all your images for a consistent look.
Result: professional, uniform, and sales-optimized visuals, without any technical skills.
Sublimify allows you to process dozens of photos in minutes, where a photographer might take several days.
And all for a fraction of the cost: a few euros per image instead of hundreds.
4) Direct comparison: photographer vs Sublimify
Criterion
Professional photographer
Sublimify (AI)
Image quality
HD, artistic
HD, realistic and consistent
Cost per photo
€25 – €60
€0.38 - €0.90
Delay
3 to 10 days
A few seconds
Flexibility
Low (planning required)
Total (anytime)
Consistency over time
Variable depending on sessions
Perfect (same AI settings)
Volume
Limited (occasional shoots)
Unlimited
Required skills
None, but dependent on a pro
None, autonomous and quick
👉 Verdict: for recurring needs — menus, social media, marketplaces — Sublimify is unbeatable.
You maintain quality, save time, and save up to 90% of your budget.
5) When to choose one or the other?
- Professional photographer: ideal for large campaigns, posters, brochures, high-end branding.
- Sublimify: perfect for all daily needs: Uber Eats menus, website photos, social media, new menus, promotions, etc.
- In reality, many brands combine both: a photographer for brand image, Sublimify for fast and continuous production of sales visuals.
“Sublimify gives you the freedom to publish beautiful photos whenever you want, without relying on anyone.”
6) Why Sublimify is the logical choice for 90% of cases
In the restaurant world, everything moves quickly: new recipes, seasonal menus, daily specials.
You don’t have the time (or budget) to organize a shoot for every update.
Sublimify fits naturally into your routine:
You take your dishes with your smartphone.
You import them into Sublimify.
The AI optimizes everything automatically.
Your images are ready to be published, uniform and appetizing.
You gain:
Time (instant processing),
Visual consistency,
Sales through more effective photos.
In summary...
The choice between a professional photographer and an AI solution depends on your reality.
If you’re looking to produce a few exceptional visuals, a photo shoot remains a good investment.
But if you need to regularly update your menu, animate your social media, or illustrate your products throughout the seasons, Sublimify is the obvious answer.
The tool combines simplicity, speed, and quality: in seconds, your phone-taken photos become professional and ready to sell.
No more quotes, back-and-forth retouching, and delays: Sublimify adapts to your pace.
And the result speaks for itself: homogeneous, bright, and consistent visuals that reflect the quality of your cuisine and increase your click-through rate and sales.
Try it today: take a photo of your signature dish, run it through Sublimify, and compare.
You’ll see that AI now rivals the photographer — and simplifies your life.
Want to try it for free?
Enjoy your first 3 credits for free!
No credit card required.
Perfect photos for platforms like Uber Eats, Deliveroo...
Create irresistible visuals for platforms with Sublimify, your AI photo studio.
Read the article →
The ultimate guide to successful food photography.
Bakeries, cheesemongers, caterers: Sublimify showcases your artisanal products in seconds.
Read the article →
Photograph your dishes like a pro (without a photographer)
10 simple tips to succeed in your food photos and enhance them in one click with Sublimify.
Read the article →