Food Styling for Photographers

A Guide to Creating Your Own Appetizing Art

Linda Bellingham, Jean Ann Bybee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136101656
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Digital Media

"You eat with your eyes first, and no one turns a photograph of food into a culinary masterpiece like a food stylist. Food Styling for Photographers is the next best thing to having renowned food stylist Linda Bellingham by your side. Linda has worked with clients Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, McDonald's, Tyson Foods, FritoLay, and many, many more. Professional photographer Jean Ann Bybee has worked with Harry & David, Dominos, Sara Lee, Seven-Up Company, and more. Jean Ann provides a seasoned photographer's point of view with helpful tips throughout.If you are hungry for unique photo assignments and want to expand your portfolio, this guide provides the well-kept secrets of food styling techniques that can make your photos good enough to eat. Each chapter covers step-by-step instructions with mouth-watering photographs illustrating techniques for the creation of hero products that photographers at any level can whip up. Bon Appétit!

ONE

---

INTRODUCTION TO
FOOD STYLING

During my years as a food stylist, I developed professional relationships and solid friendships with numerous other stylists, photographers, and assistants. Occasionally, photographers or assistants would ask me for advice about projects on which they were working. These projects invariably involved food they wanted to style and photograph when no funds were available for a food stylist. I offered time and assistance when possible, but due to my busy food styling schedule, advice was often my only contribution. As the years went by, I noticed that these requests for advice were becoming more frequent. I eventually recognized that the questions had increased for two reasons: Either the photographer’s food client had no funds for a food stylist or the photographer was pursuing a food client and needed a new portfolio shot of a specific food. It is no wonder that with current budget reductions for advertising, especially for smaller projects, photographers are often being asked to provide food photography without the aid of a food stylist. As for the second reason, it can be difficult to find a stylist who has the time or interest to contribute to portfolio shots.

My advice to photographers is this: Always use a food stylist when your client can pay for one. In most cases, to accomplish commercial food photography, there absolutely needs to be a food stylist on the production team.

In reality, however, whether it’s being done for fun, for a portfolio shot, or for a small project, there are times when a photographer or non–food stylist will venture into the world of food styling. For this reason, when you want to play with—and photograph—your food, this book will help you be successful with the food styling part of the project.

The techniques and styling methods given in this book are general guidelines for food styling. The topic of food styling is vast and at times can be very specific and complicated. It is impossible to cover everything within the confines of one book. My goal with this book is to provide photographers with a general reference source and to relieve some of the intimidation you might have about food styling. I’m going to share some knowledge that I’ve accumulated over the years and help you build confidence when working with food for photography. Even if you don’t intend to tackle food styling yourself, the fact that you are taking time to read this book will better prepare you for shooting food. You will become familiar with the techniques used by food stylists. You will have a better feel for the pace of food styling and will not be surprised at the time it takes to prep or achieve some food styling techniques. You will also be better equipped to anticipate requests from stylists for equipment and tables in your studio.

A FEW RULES FOR FOOD STYLING

To begin our study of food styling, you should familiarize yourself with some of the unwritten rules of food styling. A few of these rules are obvious, but should be mentioned nonetheless, especially if you are new to food styling. These unwritten rules became apparent to me byway of trial and error. My hope in listing these rules and guidelines is that you will be able to avoid some of the pitfalls and disasters that can occur when photo graphing food. As you venture into food styling, you may discover some additional guidelines to add to this list.

(See the Glossary at the end of this book for definitions of terminology that may be unfamiliar to you.)

Rule One:

The first rule is to never eat food that has been on set or handled as a hero. I’ve always said that it’s bad karma to eat photo food. This rule makes good sense not only because hero food is usually handled a lot, but also because it isn’t always managed in ways that keep it safe for consumption. In some instances, substances are added or applied to the food that render the food unsafe for consumption.

Rule Two:

Always read safety and use instructions for equipment that is being used for the first time and as a reminder to be safety conscious when using any equipment. Simple tools and tasks can become dangerous if you aren’t working “in the moment.” Always follow safety guidelines for working with knives, scissors, and other sharp-edged tools—and remember that a sharp knife is less dangerous than a dull one.

Rule Three:

As you build a hero food item, sit or stand with your eyes at camera level whenever possible. Build the hero with the camera side toward you. In other words, your eyes are the camera. Focus on the front and sides of the food that the camera will see. Don’t pay any attention to the appearance of the back of the hero. The camera angle is all that matters when photographing food.

Rule Four:

Never open any container on or over the set. Instead, open containers in the prep area or on a side table away from the set. Remove food items from containers in the prep area and, when appropriate, drain any moisture from the items to prevent dripping on the set. If you are using liquids on set, cover the set with at least one layer of paper towels to contain any drips where the liquids will be poured or styled. Cleanup on a hero set is not fun and it can be a very time-consuming task.

One photographer I work with told me a story about a large set consisting of numerous pieces of clear glassware that she constructed for a client. The set took hours to finalize because she had to make sure the glassware was positioned properly and was clean and dust free. One glass in the middle of the set was to be shown with champagne in it. Before the photographer could stop him, her client popped the cork on the champagne bottle. Yes, you guessed it, right over the set. Champagne shot everywhere. Th e entire set had to be dismantled in order to clean the surface and the glassware. Unfortunately, the champagne incident forced them to start the project over from scratch. Needless to say, it was a very maddening experience for everyone.

Rule Five:

My rule for stand-ins is to provide a very loose translation of the hero. A few examples of my stand-ins are a wadded-up paper towel for ice cream and a brown grocery bag with a roll of paper towels in it for a turkey! Not only does this strategy give me more time and creative energy to focus on building the hero, but it doesn’t set a rigid mental image for the art director, photographer, or me to latch onto. There are a few exceptions to this rule and they will be mentioned in the appropriate chapters.

I learned the hard way about stand-ins. During the first few years of my career, I usually made a realistic lookingstand-in for the client to critique and for the creative team to look at while building the set. On one occasion the client fell in love with the stand-in and wanted the hero to be built exactly the same. By the time the set wasfinalized, the stand-in was well past its prime. My task of re-creating the hero to perfectly resemble the stand-in was painfully frustrating and time consuming.

Rule Six:

Have a plan. Be prepared. I can’t emphasize this enough: Make sure you have everything that you might need in the studio the day before the shoot. The only exception to this rule is salad greens, berries, maybe flowers, and ice if you don’t have room in your freezer to store it overnight.

HAVE A PLAN

The simple fact is that every shot is different. When clients make the decision to produce a selling shot, they want a shot that is unique to their product. They may choose to borrow some elements from other shots that they have seen, but their main objective is to create something new and different. Encourage clients to provide you with tear sheets (examples of previously printed work) that they like to give you an indication of what they want. Then ask them to identify elements within those tear sheets that they want included in their shot. These go-bys help you and others on the creative team by providing a starting point for the project. I have been in studios where the photographer put up a dry erase board and listed the separate elements that the client wanted in the shot. He posted the go-bys next tothe board for reference. I saw how these tools helped to give the entire team direction. I’ve also witnessed times when the team decided to take a total departure from its original idea based on some creative thinking by oneor more of the team members. Sometimes departure from the original idea happens because the team members learn that what they thought they wanted just doesn’t look good to the camera.

You can use the rules and tools just discussed as you begin planning your shot regardless of the size of your team. If you are working on a portfolio piece and going solo, the decision-making process is the same and requires just as much research and thought. Conduct preplanning for your project. This will help you determine direction and establish a better mental picture of your photographic image goal. Every decision you make in the planning stage will guide you. You will know what to purchase and you can mentally run a time-frame checklist for the prep required and for the day of the shoot. Similar to preparing a family dinner, the prep process for food photography is time sensitive. Some items can be prepped the day before final photography; however, the more perishable items will need to be prepped right before they are built on the hero plate.

BE PREPARED

In general, the food gathering, preparation, and hero process require a lot of table space, so you will need to have ample room to work. If you don’t have tabletop space available, set up tables using sawhorses and plywood sheets, or rent folding cafeteria-type tables from a party rental store before you start shopping. You’ll want to have the tabletop space ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Disclaimer
• Contents
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Introduction to Food Styling
• Chapter 2 Sets and Settings
• Chapter 3 Chilling Facts about Cold Beverages
• Chapter 4 Making a Salad for the Camera
• Chapter 5 Pasta and Sauces
• Chapter 6 Burgers, Sandwiches, and Beyond
• Chapter 7 Meeting Meat Head-On
• Chapter 8 Veggie Perfect
• Chapter 9 Ice Cream for Hot Lights
• Chapter 10 Desserts
• Chapter 11 Breakfast for the Camera
• Chapter 12 Garnishing Basics
• Appendix
• Glossary
• Index