If you’ve ever done any research into food photography and styling, then you know how few and far between the guides are. There are a couple of books that focus on lighting and some of the basics of photography when it comes to food… almost a laughable number given the overall quantities of books on general photography and photography software. For food styling, there has been even less. However, I just received my copy of Food Styling for Photographers by Linda Bellingham and Jean Ann Bybee and I’m thrilled to see this kind of information more readily available to photographers and people considering food styling.

Food Styling for Photographers does a great job of giving photographers an idea of what they may be getting themselves into if they do decide to pick up styling. Starting from the shopping trip, to prepping the table setting, to preparing some of the harder to style foods, the book is comprehensive and easy to understand. There is a fantastic section on stylists tools, including brand name suggestions on everything from griddles (Presto Tilt & Drain) to paper towels (Bounty). The vegetable chapter has a neat trick for how to fold a corn husk, and the chapter on desserts (which yes, contains the expected fake ice cream for hot lights) has a great suggestion for using toothpicks to get neat stacks of freshly baked cookies. There are also some tricks that made me giggle… like using cardboard between layers of a cake to help it keep its height, or using Soil Moist granules to make a drink that looks like a frozen margarita.

For food bloggers interested in learning more on styling, be aware that this book is aimed at people who will not be eating any of the food being prepared. There are still good tips, even a few that say “follow the recipe” to make the food look beautiful (I had to laugh at the food styling for biscuits paragraph that simply says pop them open from the can and bake them!). The most useful chapters if you want to eat the food afterwards are likely the on making a salad and on garnishing, like how to perk up the green tops on strawberries and tomatoes. That said, the authors’ number one rule is never to eat the food from the set. But, even if you don’t use any of the styling tips, there are great shots of the lighting and setup of most of the images in the book, along with photographers notes which are incredibly useful.

Technorati Tags: food styling, food photography

How many people do you know that drive around LA with dead scorpions and a buckets of paella in their cars? If you know a professional food stylist, chances are, you just might know at least one. Last weekend, I got to sit in on Food Fanatics‘ Master Food Styling class, a great hands-on class by two professional food stylists, Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannagan, who have been in the business for years and years. The class was a virtual dumptruck of food styling info, from common styling techniques (which we got lots of time to practice ourselves) to thoughts on the food styling business and digital photography, to story after story of food styling challenges, mishaps and other, sometimes bawdy, adventures. I can’t remember the last time I was in a class for two full days that never bored me, but this was one of them. From the 9am start to Q&A over wine at 3 in the afternoon, the class is a non-stop riot of laughing and dirty hands. If you get a chance to spend sometime with Denise and Cindie, don’t miss it.
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This month, let’s focus on a styling technique… specifically garnishes. Little garnishes can make a simple scene elegant, but lots of garnish can quickly turn it into a chaotic mess. A garnish should always relate back to the dish, and help clue the eater (or the viewer) into some subtle flavor, aroma or color.
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I saw this food styling technique in Food & Wine a few issues back, and absolutely loved it… cool shapes of ice with a frozen treat inside. Brilliant, and so easy to do. I gave mine a whirl with some cranberries and fresh mint, with thoughts of mojitos to come. The little cubes stay just fine in the freezer for several months, although they do tend to loose their clarify. Still, they look fantastic in drinks.

For tips on making picture perfect ice, be sure to see Matt’s ideas. Then, once you’ve got that down, try some styled cubes:

1. Fill an ice cube tray just a hair over 1/3 full.
2. Drop something in it, like a berry or an herb.
3. Freeze it.
4. Remove the tray from the freezer, and top with water.
5. Freeze again.

Remove from the tray and use immediately, or store in a freezer container.

While you are at it, there are some great silicon ice cube trays now available. I love this square cube maker that I got at C&B. They also have them at Amazon:

“Perfect Cube Silicone Ice Cube Trays” (Netixchange)

Just make sure they are dishwasher safe before you try to wash them. I wrecked my all-to-cute penguin one.

If you are looking for one last idea for the white challenge, ice makes an interesting choice! You still have a few more days for shots!

Technorati Tags: Food, food magazine, Food Styling, Photography, Tips

The Ideas in Food blog folks, husband and wife team H. Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, and outstanding co-chefs in their own right, have just self-published a book… not a cookbook, but a book of photographic inspirations for cooks, food photographers and stylists alike. The photos included are all images from their blog, picked because they particularly inspired a sense of imagination and creativity. The printed book is big (172 pages) and a bit pricey (almost $50) for its content, but the online version is available for immediate download for only $18.75.

I purchased the online version, and with a quick look through, I think it’s a great collection of new ways to think about food… and gives some insight into how the authors think about designing their dishes. The book also contains a couple of sketches of food reminiscent of fashion designers or architects. A few of the fantastical creations are a crab “sheet” that incorporates broccoli, cocoa nibs and powdered yuzu lemon or foie gras cotton candy.

The photography isn’t world class… many of the shots have unflattering harsh shadows and would be improved by more careful and selective focusing… but the presentation and plating is still beautiful and I think quite inspiring for home cooks and bloggers. It’s tricky with limited studio gear to get your photos to look like they’ve come out of the pages of a Donna Hay magazine. The Ideas in Food book gives novices a bit more reachable goal, and I think it’s a great fresh entry into this space.

Technorati Tags: Food, Food Styling, Photography, Review

My class continued last week, after a Monday off for Memorial Day, with more beautiful food, this time focused on presentation of a buffet table. We focused on summery dishes… roasted fruits and vegetables, a spring vegetable fritatta, herb and aspic topped cheeses, a fresh fruit cascade with a bittersweet chocolate fondue, and perhaps my favorite, a mushroom ratatouille with potato medallions… fresh herbs sandwiched between two nearly sheer slices of potatoes, generously brushed with butter, and baked to a crisp… heavenly.

I’ve never bothered much with a buffet table before… I typically just fill up the table. But a properly set table can make a difference… and it’s not as much a matter of whether it’s attractive as much as functional. For example, providing some height makes dishes at the back of the table easier to reach (as well as being more interesting to look at). Hope, our chef, gave us some great tips:

• Turn large bowls upside down and place under the tablecloth to add height
• Make sure that there are places to set down plates on the buffet table to allow guests access to both hands
• Be careful with tiered dishes. While they add height, the bottom layer may be hard to reach
• Try fresh herbs (ideally related to the dishes) as a garnish between dishes
• Pay attention to the order of the food. Salads should be near the front, the main dish at the end of the buffet.

More photos from the evening here.

Technorati Tags: Food Styling, Photography

Imagine a cooking class that is like piling into the kitchen with 8 or 10 of your close friends, each choosing a part of the meal to prepare guided by a professional chef. Wine is liberally shared, dishes are seasoned to taste, people are bumping into each other and the jokes are flying. That begins to describe the atmosphere of the cooking classes at Culinary Communion, a cooking group more than school, in a West Seattle house that offers hands-on seminars on a wide variety of culinary topics. I’m the newbie in the group, and as we sit down and meet our chef, Hope Sandler, who will be teaching us a thing or two about how to make garnishes, tablescapes and other tricks of food presentation, I learn a little bit about the rest of the team. A few of the students are also apprentices, and some have taken upwards of 60 different classes with Culinary Communion. For the next 4 Monday nights, from 6pm to 9pm (or later, depending on how the conversation over dinner goes) we’ll cook and then plate and replate food, critiquing our own work and the work of our fellow participants. Dinner may be cold by the time we sit down, but if the first class is any indication, it will still be delicious.
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