Food Photography Tips

Working with a team vs. how to shoot solo

A Subscriber reached out last week to ask for some tips and tricks on shooting food when you’re starting out and doing it all on your own. This was exactly one of the key things that I was hoping that Lens Soup would be - a resource for photographers in their own practice, so thanks for making my day (channeling my inner Clint Eastwood there...¹)

There are some shoots where I’m surrounded by a team of brilliant people, and some shoots where it’s just me. So who makes up a shooting team? And can you create gorgeous photography when you are just working alone?²

Prop Stylist

A Prop Stylist is the person on the team who finds and gathers all the crockery, linens and cutlery ahead of the shoot, and then hauls them all to the studio or location on the day to create whatever scenario has been outlined in the brief. Finding props — especially the unusual ones — takes creativity and flair (and a substantial sized car boot..) so it will always bring an extra dimension to the shot if there is enough in the budget to bring a pro stylist onto the team for the day.

Prop Stylist Jaine Bevan

A lot of photographers have to be their own stylists, so spending the odd afternoon trawling some charity shops and flea markets to gather yourself a box full of interesting pieces to use is a great place to start³. A pile of linens, some old battered cutlery, a vintage corkscrew and some well worn wooden chopping boards may well be cliché, but they remain great starting points to bring some depth and style to your food shots.

I often chose to use handmade pieces, with my two favourite local potters Little Earthquake Pots and Starling Pots being my go-to’s. (I have recently taken things a bit further and learnt how to throw on a pottery wheel, so I sometimes use my own work in shots, but not everyone is a big show off like me… )

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Food Stylist

Food stylists are absolute magicians. They cook and plate up all the recipes during a shoot day, often having to cook a dish multiple times if the shot is taking a while to get right⁴ and the food has started to wilt. Food stylists generally have a background in food writing and/or cheffing, and are complete Ninjas - on a standard shoot day they will typically cook around 8 - 10 recipes.

Without a food stylist you are unlikely to be able to shoot anything like that many dishes, so firstly be realistic about what you can achieve. Avoid that banana skin of getting overwhelmed and ending up shooting everything in a rush with disappointing results (we have ALL been there). I would say that a realistic number is 2 or 3 recipes in a day. Maximum. Chop and prep as much as you can the day before, and keep anything delicate like greens and herbs in iced water to keep them fresh.

Cooking for camera is completely different to cooking for dinner, so with that in mind I’m planning a live zoom for paid Subscribers so you can ask a pro stylist to reveal some of their top tips. Watch this space for dates.

Food Stylist Fern Green

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Art Director

An Art Director is responsible for the overall vision of the shoot, so when you’re working without one it’s really important to plan your shoot (rather than just whack on a pan of food and start to click away)

A simple Pinterest board can really help to clarify your vision for an image. An example below of a pre shoot Pinterest board I compiled for the client, and then the actual outcome on the day, which (hopefully) illustrates how they connect.

The Board

The Shot

©Kirstie Young

Another useful planning tool is to make a rough sketch of the image that you have in your head (these are also known in the industry as SCAMPS) so that you already know the rough shape of the shot before you start cooking (or in this case, sandwich constructing!). Even the simplest of shoots can benefit from a quick sketch to give you the bare bones for a shot.

A very simple SCAMP example from a recent commission

If you wanted to up your SCAMP game (mine is awful!!) then this youtube is a great resource.

However you do it, spending time making a plan will mean that your food is unlikely to start to look tired and sad before you have the chance to shoot it. There is a reason that the food I eat for dinner, and the food I shoot, are very different things (besides the fact that I photograph food much better than I cook it..)

Camera Assistant

A Camera Assistant is primarily there to give the Photographer technical assistance and provide an extra pair of hands to free us up to focus on the creative side and feel less like an octopus spinning plates. They are an absolute treat to have on set, and on big location shoots they are completely essential, but in my day to day work in my small studio I rarely have that luxury.

When you’re working alone, a solid Tripod is essential, so that you can go back and forth adjusting the elements in the shot without changing the framing each time. I’ve had a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod for over 10 years now, and it’s still going strong. If you are shooting on a phone this still applies. There are plenty phone tripods to choose from, but the key thing to bear in mind is its stability. No one benefits from a cheap, wobbly tripod! I own one of these from Elitehood that I use to shoot behind-the-scenes bits and pieces.

If you are trying to capture your hands in shot, then using one of the self timing modes on your camera (or phone) is your friend. I also use this if I want to see a sauce being poured, or a drink splashing into a glass and I’m on my lonesome in the studio.

©Kirstie Young

Choosing your focus manually, rather than leaving it on auto focus is always a good idea. Auto focus has a tendency to wander & refocus somewhere random when you are crossing in front of the lens to adjust the elements on set.

Lastly, set up everything else in the shot before you bring the food to the set, and have everything you need close by, so any styling tools, props & extra ingredients are to hand when you need them.

©Kirstie Young for Vinotopia

I hope this has been useful, and do message me with any questions, I’m always happy to help.

Thanks for reading, I very much appreciate your support.

1. For readers who don’t like Cowboy films as much as I do "Go ahead, make my day" is a catchphrase from the 1983 film Sudden Impact, spoken by the character Harry Callahan, played by Clint Eastwood

2. Yup …

3. Warning - this can easily get out of hand once you start, so find yourself some large lidded plastic boxes and clear some space to store all your finds

4. Because the photographer is fannying about too much, tbh