I'm not going to add any illustration to this post because I'd like to write more about the process of photographing food. What goes through my mind when preparing a shoot. And noting the differences between my process as a food stylist and that of a home cook or chef.
Precision. Knife Skills ! Boy are they fast! Food is plated in the kitchen by the chef. Hot!
Hopefully seasonal ingredients. There is less and less of flying in your ingredients halfway 'round the world. Meat and fish should be sourced locally. Sometimes they aren't. Exotic fruits and vegetables too. Mangos, pineapples, sweet potatoes, may be flown in from the caribbean. Mint from Morocco !
Home Cook :
A cooks repertoire can include family recipes or one they have seen in a magazine or television show. This is quite rare. I think the numbers are something like one recipe per month per magazine purchased. If that. Some cooks don't need to follow a recipe, nor do they weigh out ingredients.
Baking is an exception to the thought that home cooks are less precise than a chef. Home bakers are precise because they have to be! A cake is not a forgiving animal.
White porcelain plates, usually huge shiny things with the food floating somewhere in the middle. Precious and just so. Squeeze bottle decorative drips, splashes and dollops.
Some sort of herb or spice of contrasting color adding visual texture, plopped on the top or 'round the outer rim of the plate. The diner often removes this stuff and doesn't even eat that poor chervil garnish !
Some sort of herb or spice of contrasting color adding visual texture, plopped on the top or 'round the outer rim of the plate. The diner often removes this stuff and doesn't even eat that poor chervil garnish !
Home Cook :
Less precise. More olé olé ! Food comes to the table in platters, large serving bowls, for communal eating. Hot!
A cooks repertoire can include family recipes or one they have seen in a magazine or television show. This is quite rare. I think the numbers are something like one recipe per month per magazine purchased. If that. Some cooks don't need to follow a recipe, nor do they weigh out ingredients.
Baking is an exception to the thought that home cooks are less precise than a chef. Home bakers are precise because they have to be! A cake is not a forgiving animal.
The menu and choice of ingredients will hopefully be built around what the home cook has found in season at their market.
Choice of plate, bowl, cup. Backups of all of those objects too. I have a huge collection of objects in every possible color, material, and size. Even then I still find myself with a can of spray paint out in the courtyard the night before in preparation for the next days shoot.
I'm constantly on the look out for new objects and backgrounds for our work. I may spend a day trying to find some particular object. A napkin of a certain color. The perfect bowl, glass or chopping board. That "perfect" is quite subjective! What is "perfect" for one client is simply "awful" for another.
It means listening carefully to what your client thinks their food looks good on. Not whether the plate is or glass is lovely in and of itself. Everything, every object on set, is there in service to the food alone. Not the other way around.
We work with smaller portions. And smaller plates. And the smaller salad size of cutlery.
This is just a question of optics and not any willful deception on our part. A camera exaggerates the size of what it looks at. That hamburger patty looks like it must weigh a good pound ! So thick is it!
In reality, it's exactly the amount stated on the menu.
The larger the plate or portion, the less appetizing it will look. Chefs often get this part of food photography wrong. The larger a plate, the less you see of the ambiance around it. The life around it. Most of the photographers I work with want to tell a story and that means putting your food in some sort of context.
And no, I don't throw out food when it is all over. I have 24 hungry testers and one large dog working next door that can be called in on a moments notice. All perpetually hungry beasts.
They know to add a bit of salt and pepper as I don't season anything ! Regular table salt is too small to be seen and ground pepper looks like dust or dirt!
Some photographers are very very good at photoshopping images. Changing the color, brightening something. Rebuilding an entire surface. This retouching skill comes from seeing an awful lot of real food. Yet they can go too far. I think our brains recognize when something is overworked. It looks a bit odd. Too bright, too smooth, too uniform in color...like the facelift of a celebrity.
We are slowly moving towards food photography that is closer to reality. It's been a long haul. In advertising and packaging, this search for perfection is still pretty much our client's goal. But you do see some interest in something less clean. Allowing for some imperfection.
Plate, bowl and tableware ? Whatever is in the house ! Even if it isn't the family china, dishes are usually matching tableware. People seem to like that. Everyone has to have the same type of plate, glass and bowl !
Large serving platters have pretty much disappeared. Our families are smaller. Lessing washing up afterwards. For large gatherings, family sized service will be brought out.
In the home cook's world leftovers are carefully saved, sent home with a guest, used in some later meal. Nothing wasted.
In home cooking : abundance, generosity, plates full of food are the norm. Nothing precious about the presentation. No fiddly bits.
Large serving platters have pretty much disappeared. Our families are smaller. Lessing washing up afterwards. For large gatherings, family sized service will be brought out.
In the home cook's world leftovers are carefully saved, sent home with a guest, used in some later meal. Nothing wasted.
In home cooking : abundance, generosity, plates full of food are the norm. Nothing precious about the presentation. No fiddly bits.
Food Stylist:
A food stylist's food doesn't need quite the precision of a chef's. It is a bit looser, less cerebral. But not quite like you will find on a table at home either. A bit more care goes into the preparation as well as the presentation.
It's the food stylists job to be prepared for almost anything that might happen during the course of the shoot. What if I have to remake the entire dish ? Do we have enough additional material on hand ? You can't drop everything, go to the store down the block for 200 grams of meat ! Not with five people standing there looking at an empty set and their watches in dismay!
Ingredients like vegetables, herbs and salad greens, fruit, meat and fish are carefully selected for their visual quality, color and size (small) . They are treated with special care the entire journey from place of purchase to studio. At the studio, the choice is again winnowed down.
Greens and herbs with the slightest discoloration or bruising or holes are separated out. The chosen are carefully wrapped in a moist kitchen towel which is then put in a large ziplock bag that stays in the fridge until it is needed.
Vegetable color is treated with care and attention. Sometimes we parboil veg like zucchini finishing with a dunk in an ice water bath to "pop" the color. Khaki colored over-cooked zucchini is considered dead on arrival and set back to the kitchen.
A food stylist's food doesn't need quite the precision of a chef's. It is a bit looser, less cerebral. But not quite like you will find on a table at home either. A bit more care goes into the preparation as well as the presentation.
It's the food stylists job to be prepared for almost anything that might happen during the course of the shoot. What if I have to remake the entire dish ? Do we have enough additional material on hand ? You can't drop everything, go to the store down the block for 200 grams of meat ! Not with five people standing there looking at an empty set and their watches in dismay!
Ingredients like vegetables, herbs and salad greens, fruit, meat and fish are carefully selected for their visual quality, color and size (small) . They are treated with special care the entire journey from place of purchase to studio. At the studio, the choice is again winnowed down.
Greens and herbs with the slightest discoloration or bruising or holes are separated out. The chosen are carefully wrapped in a moist kitchen towel which is then put in a large ziplock bag that stays in the fridge until it is needed.
Vegetable color is treated with care and attention. Sometimes we parboil veg like zucchini finishing with a dunk in an ice water bath to "pop" the color. Khaki colored over-cooked zucchini is considered dead on arrival and set back to the kitchen.
Ingredients out of season. I'm often asked to source something that is out of season. Peaches, cherries and watermelon in January. Black truffles in July. We work anywhere from four to six months in advance of our book or the advertisement appearing. If that sounds sad. It is ! But again, all part of the job.
So I've got a whole network of suppliers for things like out-of-season fruit! It means we have a substantially larger budget too. I'll have to order a whole flat of those peaches in January. Have them flown in from New Zealand. Luckily I live about 20 minutes from the largest food market in the world, a veritable city of food! Rungis ! I don't think there is much that you can't find there, all year 'round.
Oh maybe mirabelle prunes. And sweet corn. Yum. Or Belon oysters. Can't fake or replace those with anything else !
For a food stylist, unlike a chef, you aren't tasting that peach with anything other than your eyes, I'm afraid. And yes! It was mealy and in-edible but had perfect coloring and shape! For my peach ice cream client, that was all they cared about. The idea of a peach.
I also prepare props well in advance. Christmas decorations. Every year I purchase new Christmas kit so that I've got something new on offer when we shoot these photographs in July!
Also candied chestnuts. Ever needed four candied chestnuts in the week before the summer holidays ? I have. Hours and hours calling around, traveling by foot looking for those monsters. So now I buy several boxes in December. .
Choice of plate, bowl, cup. Backups of all of those objects too. I have a huge collection of objects in every possible color, material, and size. Even then I still find myself with a can of spray paint out in the courtyard the night before in preparation for the next days shoot.
I'm constantly on the look out for new objects and backgrounds for our work. I may spend a day trying to find some particular object. A napkin of a certain color. The perfect bowl, glass or chopping board. That "perfect" is quite subjective! What is "perfect" for one client is simply "awful" for another.
It means listening carefully to what your client thinks their food looks good on. Not whether the plate is or glass is lovely in and of itself. Everything, every object on set, is there in service to the food alone. Not the other way around.
We work with smaller portions. And smaller plates. And the smaller salad size of cutlery.
This is just a question of optics and not any willful deception on our part. A camera exaggerates the size of what it looks at. That hamburger patty looks like it must weigh a good pound ! So thick is it!
In reality, it's exactly the amount stated on the menu.
I make double to three times the amount of food that we are shooting. If say, we are shooting a salad I've got two heads of lettuce tho we will only need one eighth of that. Salad is a delicate beast. It sometimes works like a champion boxer and hangs in there. And sometimes it doesn't and has to be changed repeatedly.
Four - five carrots when the recipe calls for only two. Four times the amount of meat needed for one hamburger shot. The first one might not work out or the client has changed their mind about what kind of cheese they want on it. Nothing looks quite so bad as food or a sauce that has been fiddled with.
We've thought ahead of time about the precise placing of the plate and the direction the food will be facing. Where the fork will sit. Yes, we can quickly change something. But preparation ahead of time is half the job.
Four - five carrots when the recipe calls for only two. Four times the amount of meat needed for one hamburger shot. The first one might not work out or the client has changed their mind about what kind of cheese they want on it. Nothing looks quite so bad as food or a sauce that has been fiddled with.
We've thought ahead of time about the precise placing of the plate and the direction the food will be facing. Where the fork will sit. Yes, we can quickly change something. But preparation ahead of time is half the job.
My photographer is ready and waiting for the star of the show to come out of the oven. We have chosen the background, the forks, the napkins and the surrounding atmosphere. We have discussed what we are trying to show or highlight.
Our food comes on set just a hair above room temperature. This isn't just because I am slow at plating. I wait and plate something when it has cooled off a bit. We don't want a sauce to congeal or make kind of a skin. That happens if it is plated too hot and then has to sit around. A camera lens sees everything if it is close enough. And it often is.
Sometimes you are looking for the moment, the immediate and that "hot off the grill" feel. A high flying act. Luck, experience and lots more preparation comes into play when you are photographing food "of the moment" .
Some photographers need more time with their subject than others. Food gets to the set, they turn it this way and that. Try several points of view. With today's digital cameras and flash lighting, we have a bit more leeway than we did in the past. Working pretty quickly at this point, we make a few adjustments and shoot the picture. All the while, the food is on the slow march towards its inevitable death.
Sometimes you are looking for the moment, the immediate and that "hot off the grill" feel. A high flying act. Luck, experience and lots more preparation comes into play when you are photographing food "of the moment" .
Some photographers need more time with their subject than others. Food gets to the set, they turn it this way and that. Try several points of view. With today's digital cameras and flash lighting, we have a bit more leeway than we did in the past. Working pretty quickly at this point, we make a few adjustments and shoot the picture. All the while, the food is on the slow march towards its inevitable death.
And no, I don't throw out food when it is all over. I have 24 hungry testers and one large dog working next door that can be called in on a moments notice. All perpetually hungry beasts.
They know to add a bit of salt and pepper as I don't season anything ! Regular table salt is too small to be seen and ground pepper looks like dust or dirt!
Some photographers are very very good at photoshopping images. Changing the color, brightening something. Rebuilding an entire surface. This retouching skill comes from seeing an awful lot of real food. Yet they can go too far. I think our brains recognize when something is overworked. It looks a bit odd. Too bright, too smooth, too uniform in color...like the facelift of a celebrity.
We are slowly moving towards food photography that is closer to reality. It's been a long haul. In advertising and packaging, this search for perfection is still pretty much our client's goal. But you do see some interest in something less clean. Allowing for some imperfection.
Food is beautiful in and of itself. It has an ephemeral beauty as do all living things. We food stylists and food photographers aren't trying to control that beauty only underline and highlight some aspect of it. A fine line, I'll admit.
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