Food Photography is a business all unto itself. It is used in commercials, print adds, posters, menus, for packaging, cookbooks, and recipe books.
We have all noticed that some foods which you see on print and media advertising look great, then you go to the restaurant ,order it and somehow it looks different? This is because there are several tricks that photographers use to enhance appearance, and we are not referring to Photoshop, although that is also heavily used.
Most ingredients are carefully arranged by a food artist/stylist and ingredients are cut by hand to precise standards all to make them ever so more appealing.
For dishes to look fresh, for sodas or drinks to look refreshing, water mixed in with glycerin or other wetting agents is constantly sprayed as a fine mist unto soda can, glass or the product itself. Little bubbles that seem to last forever in the shot of a cold refreshing soda or drink are made by applying small drops of soap liquid.
- Dishes, especially soups, are propped up; use of conclave dishes that raises the contents of the dish.
- For any dish that is supposed to be served hot and consumed as such, the number one tool used is dry ice to give the effect of smoke emanating from it.
- Nebulizers are also heavily used to create steam.
- Products that are presented in such as way that you wonder why it does not fall of the table. They are nailed, glued or screwed into place.
- The use of artificial props is also very common. Things like plastic ice cubes, fake cakes, fruits are commonplace.
- Most foods are prepared on site just before being photographed, so they always look tempting and fresh. Meats and vegetables are usually undercooked since cooking them fully browns them too much to look appealing.
- The studio can get very hot due to the lights set up. Products that are required to be kept cold, such as ice cream are not really made from “ice cream” but of lard for the shoot. Hungry yet?
- The secret of Cereal ads is in using heavy cream so that the cereal won’t become soggy or sink to the bottom of the plate.
- The shinny fresh picked appearance of fruit is done by misting them with a water glycerin mixture along with a healthy application of wax.
One of our favorite places to obtain “Food Props” is TrentGrove Studios. Check out their products, you will be amazed!