Food Photography

Creating Appetizing Images

Joe Glyda

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351384537
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Arte
• Subtopic: Tecniche fotografiche

As a food photographer for 40 years, Joe Glyda has shot everything from appetizers to entrées to desserts. In Food Photography, author Glyda brings his experience as a teacher and professional photographer to the page, instructing photographers how to light food, use unique camera angles, and work with styles and trends to create timeless and mouth-watering images.

Including setup diagrams, toolkits and instruction for editorial imagery, recipe and cookbook images, as well as images for packaging, this book is an essential resource for taking photographs that creatively meet your client's needs. Including invaluable advice on building your team and working with art directors and clients, this one-of-a-kind book is essential for students of commercial photography, food bloggers and professional photographers alike.

Chapter 1
Introduction to Food Photography

Food photography is one of the most difficult and yet rewarding forms of commercial photography. It has been said that food photography started around 1832 when a French inventor was given credit for composing a still life, which included a bowl, a goblet and a piece of bread. In 1906, WK Kellogg ran the first Corn Flake print ads. And by the 1930s, companies like Kraft Foods, Campbell’s, Bakers and Nabisco were producing color food advertisements showing recipes to consumers in magazines. During these early stages of print media around the late ’50s and early ’60s, food photography was changing the way consumers viewed food. By the ’70s and ’80s, photography was influential in the way the consumer observed food overall in advertising in the grocery store, at restaurants and at home.

During the late ’60s and early ’70s, the food photography business had acquired a bad reputation because of reports dealing with food manipulation and instances that the food was fake and tampered with to make it look better than it was. The Federal Trade Commission was carefully watching what companies were doing when it came to food advertising. Truth in advertising had become increasingly important at that time because of a story about Campbell’s soup manipulating their food. Allegedly they were using charred glass or marbles in Chicken ‘n’ Stars soup to displace the ingredients. This gave the illusion that the stars were visible at the surface of the soup when in fact they would sink to the bottom of the bowl. When I started as a photographer at Kraft in 1977, this was still a hot topic, and I was told not to misrepresent the products. We had to use real food, and anything that was used on the food to make it look more attractive had to be edible. I was also taught to be aware of the product limitations and to not add or subtract ingredients to make the food appear what it was not. If there were 12 pieces of sliced pepperoni on the pizza packaging, there had to be 12 pieces on the actual pizza in the box. This represented the truth in advertising for the product. My goal was to make the food look as appetizing as possible without misrepresenting the product. That’s how I was taught and I abide by that same philosophy today. We spent hours as a team preparing and styling the food to create beautiful food images for photography. It was, and still is today, a team effort and an all-day project.

It was also important to pay close attention to details and move and reposition items on the set before exposing a sheet of Polaroid film. The Polaroid was the test image to make sure everything was good to go before exposing three to five sheets of transparency film. These became the “1/3 stop” bracket of over- and under-exposure to ensure the correct exposure. The film was then sent out to a lab for processing, and the images were reviewed the following morning. Retouching at that time was also a true art form. This was performed by a retouching technician, who painted directly on the emulsion side of the transparency film. It was very expensive and time-consuming. The food stylist, which I will explain in detail later, is the person who had an artistic approach to food in the ’70s but who, later in the ’80s, changed the trends of styling from an artistic to a lifestyle approach. This was a look designed to sell the lifestyle and not the food. The perfect looking food that was so popular in the ’70s became more relaxed and less styled by the ’80s. Larger table spreads of food were in almost every food magazine in the late ’80s. So, the stylist had to prepare multiple dishes at one time.

Multiple dish table setting was a trend

During my 40 years as a food photographer, styles and trends throughout the years keep changing and then appear recycled. Every few years a new trend emerges, and some of those styles and trends return just like fashion. When I started in 1977, ceramic tile and tablecloths were the backgrounds of choice. In tabletop food photography, the surface that the food is placed on is most likely referred to as the “background.” In traditional photography, the background is a vertical surface that the subject is placed in front of to create dimension.

Ceramic tile

Tablecloth

Black Plexiglas

Stone

In the early ’80s, black Plexiglas was the background rage. The bright colors of the food against the black Plexiglas just jumped off the page. The clients as well as the art directors loved how vibrant the food looked. As of the writing of this book, black backgrounds are back! More and more packages in the grocery stores, as well as some fast food restaurants, are going back to that glossy black look. After the Plexiglas craze, came the stainless steel phase inspired by the food service trend. The industrial look of the food service kitchen was becoming very popular in the mid ’80s. The next trends were Formica, gradated backgrounds, and then on to the natural looks of stone, water, glass, woods and paper. During the ’90s, more real estate was given to the props and not to the food. Even though the food was smaller on the set, darker and more dramatic lighting portrayed a classical look. By the 2000s, a clean and white look was influenced by trend setter Martha Stewart. Linen tablecloths and vintage props were used on simpler sets with brighter lighting. The mid 2000s brought on selective focus and white plates. Painted woods like faux finished backgrounds were used with high-key and even brighter lighting. The next few years used a combination of rustic and modern props to create a fusion of earlier styles. By 2010, a world mix of global flavors came, which included international props and sets. There was also a return to the trend of straight down camera angles. The current trend is still presenting the color of fresh food on white. The white plates bring a freshness and clean background for the food to be showcased. However, the influence of the black background is resurfacing.

The camera angles also changed with the times and trends: From a bird’s-eye view, high camera angle to a lower table perspective and to one of my favorites, the ECU or extreme close-up. I fell in love with this kind of food photography because this style brought the food visually closer to the consumer for a more intimate experience.

Stainless steel

ECU, extreme close-up

Portion control

These different types of angles and backgrounds were driven and inspired by consumer demands and attitudes toward food. By the ’90s, portion control sizes were more important to consumers. It used to be “the bigger, the better.” Larger-than-life slices were cut to show more product surface. However, the trend later turned to smaller portions with products showcased in healthier surroundings. Lighter plates, pastel colors and smaller serving sizes became the new normal.

The bigger the better

Portioned size with sugar-free chocolate

Today, careful preparation and styling of the food and dishes provide the viewer with the impression that the image was just photographed prior to being consumed. Good food photography needs to have a sense of freshness and a sense of “home cooking” while appearing appetizing. This gives the viewer aspiring ideas for making the recipes themselves or having them delivered. Even though most food photography is captured as a still life set, or tabletop as it’s called in the business, it represents food at its best. Food photography was only seen and displayed for advertising in magazines, cookbooks and store displays. Today, food photography is found everywhere. Besides the normal places where food was viewed, such as grocery stores and TV, food is now showing up in more public places like gas stations, train stations, at the airport on mobile food trucks and certainly on social media. Food photography is more important now than ever because it is a vital element of our everyday lives, and it is being displayed 24/7.

In global terms, food is portrayed differently in worldly cultures. Internationally, smaller sizes represent luxury and being expensive. Quantity is associated with quality in the American food culture. The American consumer would think that the garnish on the right is more abundant compared to the one on the left, which looks skimpy and cheap. Their European counterpart would feel that the dessert on the left was considered more expensive and more appetizing.

Compare the chocolate garnishes

French European styling uses less food and is more artistic

Because of the internet, we are now able to view food imagery and trends around the world easier than before.

The majority of food photography falls into three categories: Editorial, Recipe and Packaging. Even though different trends and styles play an important role in portraying the food, it’s the category of food photography that the photographer needs to understand prior to designing the session. But like anything else in life, there are always exceptions. There will be an occasion that these categories may cross over, but the end usage needs to be identified in case the images are multipurposed. Always have the end result in mind. A nonspecific layout will help a photographer with setting up knowing the end result is more important. Careful consideration of how the food is styled and positioned on the plate will also make a difference in the way the food is photographed.

Editorial photography is viewed in magazines, websites, blogs and other media that is quick and fast paced. These images are seen quickly by the viewer or reader and the food is usually portrayed in an environment, such as in the home or in a location setting. It displays the food as a feature item with other supporting foods around it and is sometimes shown as the hero in focus while the other dishes or foods surrounding it are blurred or have a soft-focus...