Food Styling for Photographers

MAKING A SALAD FOR THE CAMERA

the salad with water and then sprinkling herb and spice

fl akes onto the salad. Th e water helps to hold the herbs

and spices in place. Herb fl akes and spices can also be

mixed with a light oil dressing and applied with a brush

to all of the non-greens produce in the salad before it

is built into the salad.

If you want to achieve an appearance of dressing on the

salad, once the salad is built, use a small bulb dispenser

or eyedropper to place dressing in areas around the salad.

If you choose, you can touch some dressing in a few areas

on the greens using a small artist’s brush or bulb-type

dispenser, but don’t go crazy doing this or the dressing

will cause your salad to collapse.

Building the Salad and Taking It to Set

As you start building the top layer of the salad, work

some of the hero greens into the layers of lettuce below.

Once the height of the salad is achieved, and you are

pleased with the alignment of the greens, it’s time to start

placing other ingredients for color. If an element in your

salad is heavy and sinks into the salad, it will need to

be supported. Th e support allows you to keep the heavy

item within the camera view. To support a heavy piece

of produce or meat, insert a toothpick into its base

TRICKS OF THE TRADE When you build the salad, work

on set with your eyes at camera level. This troubleshooting tech-

nique is good to remember whether building a hero on set or off

set. The camera angle is all that matters for photo food. As you

build any hero plate in the prep area, protect your back and

neck. Avoid slouching or bending to maintain your eyes at the

approximate camera relationship to the plate. Instead, use a box

or other solid platform to raise the plate to duplicate the right

height relationship for the plate so that your eyes will be at

camera height.