Food styling & photography

Food styling & photography Recipe books & magazines Newspaper articles Television, billboards, magazines Brochures & leaflets Posters & framed pictures Web pages Food labels & packages Menu boards TV shows

What exactly do food stylists do?

Gather Information Organising the job

Food stylists need the following qualities:

o Good cooking and baking skills

oWell organised

o Personable / team player

oCreative / Artistic /

oPatient with a sense of humor

Food styling & photography

Lighting often causes food to shrink, dry out and discolour so certain ‘tricks’ are used:

Whole roast chicken: partially cooked to keep plump & juicy. coated with Parisian essence or soy sauce with

a blow torch crisping the edges! a final coat of glucose provides a shiny, hot

look. mashed potato used to stuff or plump up the

chicken

Food styling & photography

Hamburger: treated/cooked in the same

manner as chicken sesame seeds are glued on layers of plastic used to

differentiate the layers pins used to hold in place tomato paste used with

sauce to stop it running and placed using a syringe

Food styling & photography

stir fries individually cooked and placed at random using tweezers

white glue replaces milk to stop cereal going soggy

plastic ice cubes used in drinks instead of water mashed potato or corn syrup, margarine & icing

sugar used for ice-cream as ice cream melts under lights

Food styling & photography chocolate topping poured onto a shaped paper

towel & positioned on ‘ice cream’ meat pies are cooked with mashed potato to

make it easier to slice, usually with a scalpel. Chunks of meat are then arranged in place.

hair spray is used on cakes to prevent drying out

shaving cream substitutes real cream swiss cheese gains holes by the use of circular

cutters.

Food styling & photography