We can all agree that we get more excited to eat food if it looks great visually, right? We tend to eat with our eyes first, but we don't even consider who is behind those photographs on restaurant menus that make our mouths water. Enter the food stylist, whose responsibility is to make food visually pleasing for photography or video.
In the commercial world, food stylists have strange tricks up their sleeves to preserve food for long shoots. Motor oil replacing pancake syrup, mashed potatoes replacing vanilla ice cream, and plastic ice cubes are some examples. I don't use tricks like these with my work, every food photograph you have seen on my blog, website, or Instagram has been 100% natural and safe to eat right after I finish the shoot, or even during the shoot. Since getting more serious about food photography, there are a few different styling tips I like to utilize and I'm going to share them with you!
1. Utilize design principles!
Lots of different fields of art use the principles of space, balance, color, perspective, and more. Getting creative with these will help you get interesting shots. Sometimes I'll go for a completely clean, sharp look to emphasize things like color or shape, like in the image below.
This image was taken in bright sunlight, and the shadows you see at the bottom left and top right are from the chairs that sit around the table I shoot at. The harsh shadows emphasize the shape in a way that I really like! Things like this can make some pretty cool shots that are actually very simple.
I may also go for a more complex-looking piece that includes more elements. These have to be arranged carefully in a way that looks balanced, which can be a challenge.
For ingredients shots like this, I have to make sure each element is visible and clear to the viewer. Even with this image, it shows pretty clearly what's what, but there is some overlap that makes it less clean than I would like.
2. Be resourceful and use what you have.
Professional food stylists will work in collaboration with a prop stylist, who likely has a large arsenal of things like dishware, cutlery, fabric, and other props to use in shoots. I don't have a lot to work with, so I have to be creative. I use a mish-mash of photography equipment, like backdrops, and kitchen equipment like baking pans and cutting boards to create interest.
The well-loved baking sheet I used to chill these truffles on was a perfect base and the parchment paper had chocolate drips and loose tea all over it, which helped give visual interest. If I had just stuck all these truffles on a plain piece of parchment, I don't think it would have been very interesting.
For this image, I used a linen hand towel on the bottom, then a wood cutting board that you all have seen very often, then some of the parchment that I baked the scones on, and the food itself and a knife as a prop to finish it off. In other shots from this shoot, I also scatted around coffee beans and chocolate chips. Utilize the small ingredients! The layering of items helps create interest, and props like the knife provide context.
3. Use numbers!
In all these images, I use numbers to balance things out. Most food photographers (or artists in general) will keep the number of elements in their pieces odd. 1, 3, 5, and so on. The chai latte is the star of that image, it's the only thing you're focusing on. The bread image has two elements, and two elements are used in certain situations, such as cutting something in half or showing a paired food and drink. The croque madame has three elements, the latte in the background, the sandwich, and the fork. For whatever number of elements you use, balance them in the frame! Sticking to even numbers just makes this easier.
Those are the three things I try and keep in my mind the most when I'm working, and I hope they help you too! You don't need to go out and buy a whole new set of dishes and other props to succeed. If you work with what you have, you'll quickly determine what things you don't have that you need, and then you can make specific purchases and elevate your work that way.
Thanks for reading,
xx, Hannah