The role of Food Stylist in Food Photography

A food stylist or Home Economist as they were original referred to is someone who usually comes from a food background that has adapted their skills to prepare food for camera. We must draw a distinction here; preparing food for the camera is not the same as preparing food to consume. Food for camera must be prepared in a way that it’s able to sit in a warm studio for many hours before sign off and still look as good as it did when it was first place on set.

Food stylists will draw of their wealth of experience to make dishes or products look as good as they can. Picking the best of the bunch seems a fairly obvious starting point, they will also carefully build dishes that have the right colours, textures, tonality into a composition that works best for the camera angle. They work closely with the photographer, working in stages to create the perfect composition and allow the photographer can craft the light until we’re ready for that sauce pour or delicate garnishes. This methodical approach not only assists us in crafting the perfect shot it also give more flexibly in post production.

We’ve all seen those posts on social media giving us a behind the scenes on food styling trick that adverts employ. Largely they are clickbait and perhaps a relic of the past when photography was all film and much slower to create. Successful food photography must have a sense of real, after all its those gnarly bits that makes food look so appetising. Thats not to say theres not some “tricks”, there definitely is; good luck getting a food stylist to part with their closely gaurded skills.

Check out some of the tools a food stylist might carry from job to job below.