Food Styling for Photographers

SETS AND SETTINGS

spoon, and dessert fork positioned horizontally above

the plate. If coff ee is to be served with dessert, a coff ee

spoon can be placed above the top of the plate parallel

with the dessert fork. Th e water glass is directly above

the knife with a wine glass to the right of the water

glass. Th e napkin is shown here to the left of the forks,

but it can also be placed on top of the empty plate.

Working Fabric on the Set

If you have fabric on the set as an element in the shot

either as a surface or background, you need to be armed

with some knowledge about how to get it to look the

way you wish.

Always check the fabric content and run a test on a small

piece of the fabric to make sure it can withstand the heat

of a dry iron and tolerate the moisture generated by a

steamer or steam iron. Start your test with a dry iron.

You’ll need to determine what level of heat works best

with the fabric. Th en you’ll want to determine if steam

or water sprayed onto the fabric leaves any marks or

residue after the fabric is ironed dry.

If a photography surface is to be totally covered with a

fabric, for instance, a tablecloth, you will want to start out

by covering the shooting surface with a layer of white felt.

Felt comes in a variety of widths and can be purchased at

most fabric stores. You might want to purchase several

yards of the felt so you will have plenty around the studio

for future projects. Using felt under fabric on a hard

surface off ers many advantages. It will give the hero fabric

surface a softer appearance since placing a fabric over a

wood surface can make the fabric look fl at and hard.

When felt is under the hero fabric, the fabric will accept

light on the set in a warm and fuzzy way instead of being

hard and unfriendly. Th e felt will allow you to iron or

steam directly on the hero fabric on the set surface without