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Welcome to the liveblog of the BlogHer Food '10 panel "Visuals - Food Styling."
Here's the description:
An instinctive eye can certainly help you create beautiful food images, but consistent and beautiful food styling also requires understanding the specific intricacies when food is your subject, not to mention strong creative thinking skills. In this session, Delores Custer, Adam Pearson and Tami Hardeman share the techniques of their trade and discuss successful styling tips, such as the use of light, composition and props, plus plating, assembling for the camera, considering camera angle and color combinations. Together, this trio will help you create visually-appealing and mouthwatering images.
cuss how to get started and what you should consider beforehand.
Your liveblogger is Hedonia. Check back during the panel (10:00am - 11:15am October 9) for the liveblog!
Can't make it to BlogHer Food? Get the virtual conference pass and don't miss a thing!
Tami Hademan introduces the panel: To her left, Adam Pearson, food stylist whose work you can see on his husband's blog, Matt Bites. To her right, Dolores Custer, author of "Food Styling."
Tami asks for a quick show of hands on who has done food styling professionally, and for aspiring food stylists, then for who just wants to improve the styling and photography for their blog -- vast majority raise hands for the last. Dolores will lead questions for the discussion.
Dolores notes that Matt Armendariz scanned some images from her bookj. Dolores has worked as a stylist for 30 years in virtually every medium. From the time she was tapped to do the book, it took about 15 years to publish. Next slide shows six images of styled plates. Dolores has been teaching food styling at CIA for 20 years. The six images show the same recipe for tuna salad, styled six different ways by different students. She's given this same recipe to students over the years, and no two have styled it the same way.
Next slide is a look at a styled shot from the 50s. It's important to view images from the past and today to see how trends. Slides from the 50s and 60s are full of rich earth tones, homey compositions. Slide from the 80s is stark white background, graphical and sharp. In the 90s, chefs became stars; fat and chocolate with salt or caramel were back. Gree, sustainable, farmers markets became popular. It's up to you to track and come up with new trends because that;s how you get noticed.
Next slide shows a shot from the 50s with three-bean salad, long view, warm tones. Adjacent is the same food, with a modern view, close-up, beans nested in salad, lighter composition. Below, an 80s ad image of chicken breast, and a modern version of the same recipe and ad. Modern version is a quicker version, due to prevalence of boneless, skinless breasts.
Next a cover shot of Donna Hay Magazine, issue one. Donna Hay is the Martha Stewart of Australia. On first view, people were appalled by view of melting ice cream. Food is real, yet graphically striking.
Cover of Dolores' book, with a stall-stacked sandwich against a bright orange background. She has tried to make the book fun, but informative.
Dolores must think about what she is doing when shooting food. First to make it visually appealing, second to make it mouth watering. Side-by-side pics of cereal; the first just cereal in a bowl, dim lighting on the cereal itself. Second image is more styled, milk poured over cereal, berries added, toast on the side, and better lighting bounced onto the cereal so it becomes the star of the image.
Question from the audience: Do you use real food or fake food? Dolores admits that there has been a history of using "tricks" of the trade, but the current trend is to shoot real food as authentically as possible. The breakfast shoot often becomes lunch.
Slide of three slices of pumpkin pie. One on left has droopy cream, bite taken out, gingerbread man propped on: This is the editorial look. Center is ver classic whole slice with cream dollop on top: This is a more advertising look. On the right is whole slice with cream, more styled with chocolate dusted over.
Thinking about color: Primaries are red, yellow and blue; when you combine primaries you get secondaries: Green, orange and purple. Opposites complement each other, so if you are shooting something blue, orange is the complement. Think about your colors, even white. Is it a blue white,
