If you are looking to elevate your Food Styling this year, here are some of my top tips for you to keep in mind. Some of them may sound basic, yet very powerful and effective in this line of work.
Research Global Cuisine - As a food stylist, you will find that understanding global cuisine and having knowledge of various dishes from across the world will help you appear serious and professional while dealing with professionally trained chefs who will enable you to produce your best work in turn.
The best way to go about this is to explore Youtube videos of cuisines from across the world, their preparation techniques and ingredients and also reading about the origins of these dishes.
Even a simple Google search (and now ChatGPT) can really help you quickly understand dishes you've never heard of before, giving you an edge as a Food Stylist.
Master your plating skills - This is an absolute must-have skill as a Food Stylist and is much revered in the F&B world. The key is to practice a lot, so you can look effortless on assignments that require extensive plating of dishes.
Hone your cooking skills - I know this sounds basic but mastering and working on your cooking skills is a non negotiable as a Food Stylist.
I would like to clarify that a good chef does not always equal to a good food stylist because working for the camera requires know how of techniques involved in keeping the dish to look its best irrespective of its taste. It is still very important to know how cooking impacts the look of your food so you can produce best results according to the nature of assignments.
Your cooking skills make you extra efficient on set and make your job a lot easier as a Food Stylist.
Understand Camera Angles - The greatest mark of a good Food Stylist is that they know how to style a dish based on the camera angle that they are working with.
Make sure to learn about camera angles and basics of composition skills so you can style the same food in various ways based on the chosen angles for stills or video.
These are some insights based on my own experience as a Food Stylist and in my endeavour to get better at my line of work. I hope you can find value in these tips and wishing you success in all your upcoming Food Styling projects!
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