How important is food styling?
Are you the owner of a food brand/restaurant, snack bar or coffee shop? Do you manage a recipe platform or a food blog?
If the answer is yes, you should know by now that the visual presentation of the products is extremely important.
Every day, potential clients see a million different advertisements and appealing images of dishes either online or offline. In today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, it is no longer enough for a business to rely solely on the quality of its products. To all consumers, quality and freshness are a given.
So... what makes YOU stand out? I’m sure that you already have nice photos of your products, but the thing is...so do the competitors.
The answer is simple: FOOD STYLING!
What’s the difference between a stylist and a photographer you might ask.
Well, a food stylist knows exactly how to design, arrange, and present food to make it look great in front of the camera and consequently catch the viewer’s attention with mouthwatering stunning food pictures by arranging the scene in a visually appealing way that makes the food look even more desirable!
On the other hand, the photographer is our tech person. She or he knows everything about lighting, camera angles and of course, owns a variety of photographic equipment to be able to capture the product.
The food stylist and the photographer work closely together to produce aesthetically beautiful food images for magazines, cookbooks, social media, menus, websites, or any other media your product may live on and make your brand unique and recognisable.
Aren’t you convinced yet? Let me ask you a question.
Let’s say you sell or promote a cereal brand… How would you take pictures of the actual cereals?
An average person would say simply throw them in a bowl with milk, and maybe add some oats and honey around the bowl to show the raw ingredients. Also, let’s add the package in the background to show the brand’s name.
Sure... that sounds nice!
But how do you make the cereal float and look shiny and desirable to make the viewer instantly want to eat some? The food stylist knows that you shouldn’t have added that milk. Milk will melt the cereal and make everything look dull and soggy. You should use PVA glue instead. The glue keeps everything in their original shape, giving that extra shine you’ve been looking for!
This is a simple trick that would make your picture look much more appetizing.
There are various other tricks and techniques a food stylist is trained to use, to make sure your product will differentiate your business from competitors in today’s saturated market.
What are you waiting for?