Food Styling for Photographers

VEGGIE PERFECT

Veggies on Set

Arranging vegetables on the hero plate requires consid-

eration of the color, texture, and shape of the vegetables

in relation to each other and to other ingredients on the

plate. Unless you are specifi cally drawing the viewer’s

eye to a focal point, the factor you want to build into

your shot is visual fl ow. For visual fl ow, the eye of the

viewer should move through the plate in a diagonal or

S curve. Avoid abrupt edges unless they are a planned,

integral part of your design.

As a general rule, most vegetables in a photo image, both

raw and cooked, look better to the camera moist, not dry.

When styling raw vegetables in a display like the shot at

the beginning of this chapter, most of the vegetables are

spritzed with water. However, there are a few vegetables

that should not be misted when raw. Examples of these

are onions that have their outer paper skin covering

intact, garlic, and acorn squash and other fall harvest

squash including pumpkins. When applied to these veg-

etables, water mist does not look good to the camera.

Depending on the specifi c presentation of vegetables on

your set, cooked vegetables will require either an applica-

tion of water or vegetable oil periodically while on set

and immediately before fi nal exposure or capture. If the

vegetables are incorporated in a recipe having a liquid

base or sauce, you have the option to use the sauce to

moisten the vegetable. If the sauce has oil as an ingredi-

ent, add a small amount of additional oil to some of the

reserved sauce or use plain vegetable oil to keep the veg-

etables looking moist. Apply liquids to the vegetables

with an artist’s brush.

Vegetables that were steamed as the only technique for

camera presentation will need to be brushed with an

artist’s brush wet with water or misted with water occa-

sionally while on set and immediately before fi nal

capture.

Vegetables appearing either grilled or browned will need

a light application of vegetable oil applied with an artist’s

brush occasionally while on set and immediately before

fi nal capture.