Food styling has always been a field that I would love to go into, but I lack the skills and have no clue how I would proceed even if I did. So instead, I just read my boyfriend's digital food photography books and think about the tricks that one might use in the profession. Sometimes I consider using them for my personal blog, but I believe it constitutes cheating. Anyway, I thought I'd share some interesting ones just in case anyone needs to make their food more beautiful (though in some cases, it will result in it being inedible!):1) To make your coffee appear bubbly and hot, add a teaspoon of soapy water.
2) For an extra cheesy-looking slice of pizza, cook the pizza halfway, then cut out one slice and add extra cheese around the edge of the cut. Finish cooking the pizza, then photograph the extra cheesy piece as you lift it out.
3) Use food-colored mashed potatoes for ice cream. I would actually never do this because my likelihood of forgetting and eating mashed potatoes with chocolate sauce is way too high.
Any others, perhaps ones that don't render the food inedible?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-17-2008 @ 2:16PM
bakinglass said...
You forgot the ice cold pop trick - spray the cans with glycerin to make it appear that they are covered with condensate...
Used to have to do a bit of food porn (oh excuse me!) styling when I worked for a big cookie company...
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3-17-2008 @ 4:21PM
Red Icculus said...
Food porn sounds hot.
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3-17-2008 @ 4:43PM
Lynds said...
I got soap in my coffee the other morning by accident. That will ruin your day .
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3-17-2008 @ 5:02PM
moonablaze said...
colored crisco has also been used to sub for ice cream... extra ew
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3-17-2008 @ 6:31PM
Gobo said...
White school glue is often substituted for milk. It looks nice and thick and white... milk looks sort of blue on camera.
There's also the "light a cigarette behind food" trick to simulate steam.
I know some food stylists who take a lot of pride in not using any tricks, though -- it takes a huge amount of talent to make 'real' food look good on film
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3-18-2008 @ 1:41AM
NinaZero said...
I can add a few: A tampon soaked in boiling water can be hidden under garnish to get the whole "steaming hot" look and is more realistic than smoke. Soy-sauce and glycerin will make a nice brown glaze to go over meat and anything else that needs a shiny, brown effect. Perfect grill marks on fish will be yours if you heat a metal skewer over a stove and apply the stripes carefully by hand. A blow-torch is very handy to do last minute touch-ups to any roast. (Disclaimer: I've never tried any of these but I've seen the skewer/grill thing and it worked brilliantly)
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5-04-2008 @ 5:57AM
Jonathan Flash said...
I used to Professionally take pictures of food products, here are some tips i can give you...
For hot or cold steam behind food: boil water and soak cotton balls in it, then put them behind the food you want to steam. This is best done in the middle of the day by a window, letting the food be in between rays of sun and the camera really picks up the amount of steam the camera catches and the quality of shadow on the food.
How come strawberries are always totally ripe red in commercials and when you buy them they have splotches and white spots? Lipstick's used to paint the strawberries their delicious color.
Buns drying out and looking brittle? A thin layer of clear nail polish gives any bread the moist texture perfect for pictures.
Bubbles in beer? Make soap bubbles, then carefully pour the small ones into a cup half full of beer or coke. These bubbles last a while so you can snap several pix.
Bronze skin on your roasted chicken? When you see the commercials for it, those chickens are mostly raw. If you cook it fully the skin dries out and cracks. the solution is to cook the chicken half the time you usually do. (if more "brown spots" are required you can use caramelized sugar)
Mashed potatoes for ice cream were already mentioned but they really are the best idea: easily styled and won't melt.
Ice cubes in drinks on commercials are rarely ever real; they're glass or plastic cut to look like ice.
That's all i can think of right now. Hope it helps!
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