MAKING A SALAD FOR THE CAMERA
For the stylist and photographer, shooting a salad is
literally a creation of art. In a well-built, well-lit salad
the vibrant colors, textures, and dimension are a feast
for the eyes. Your eyes are taken on a voyage through
the image’s beautiful landscape.Selection of Salad Ingredients
When you shop at the produce market for photograph
quality salad ingredients, purchase a wide variety of
items so you will have them available in the studio when
you build the hero salad. Without ingredients that have
color and texture diff erences, the salad will appear
monotonous and boring. So, choosing ingredients is
extremely important. Th ink of color wheel opposites
and complementary colors as you select vegetable and
other salad ingredients.
Have a larger variety of ingredients in the studio than
you expect to use. Prep and hero all items before you
begin to build the salad. As you compose the salad, you
will appreciate having a large color palate of ingredients
from which to choose.
Red onion slices with purple tones, and bell peppers in
yellows, reds, and oranges are good examples of items
that contrast with salad greens both in texture and color.
Tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, herbs, and spices off er
color and textural interest. Carrots and mandarin oranges
have a lot of potential for shape and lend wonderfulorange tones; something as simple as adding an orange
element can visually pull the salad together.Don’t forget items like sliced beets, pickled vegetables,
canned mandarin orange segments, and croutons that are
found on shelves at the market. Be sure to check the deli
department too, because there may be some great ingre-
dients to be found there that won’t require prep work.
Gourmet baby greens add color and textural interest to
a salad. Th e tight growth pattern of baby greens will
create a bunch of color and texture in a small space, and
they mix well with other types of lettuce for a photo salad
base. Also, consider using the cooking methods discussed
in the chapter on vegetables (Chapter 8) for some of your
salad ingredients. Refer to Chapter 12 on garnishing for
more ideas about cutting produce for a salad.NOTE Techniques used for creating pasta,
potato, and vegetable salads for the camera are
more similar to the methods used for pasta and sauces than
to those used for making green salads. Refer to the chapter
on pasta (Chapter 5) for those techniques.Shopping and Handling Techniques for Produce
Whether you’re making a salad with greens or fruit,
quality and freshness are essential. If you have worked