Fast forward 20 years. I’m no longer in my early career, but in the heart of it. I have a family, a mortgage, bills, a dog, bills, a lot more clients than I used to and a whole lot less memory. I don’t know if it’s simply a function of getting older, not having enough sleep, or having too much on my mind, but to be honest, I don’t really care. The long and short of it is I need to get stuff done. If I can’t remember it, I need to write it down. So now I’m a firm believer in the power of the pen. I have to do lists all over the place: on my desk, in my wallet, on the computer. iCal and I are new best friends and I probably couldn’t function without my Blackberry.

One of the new methods I use for keeping things straight is what I call the lesson log. It’s a simple three ring binder that sits on the book shelf in my office. At the conclusion of every job I try and make and entry of something I’ve learned. It might be a lighting diagram or a technical trick I’ve used. It might be something specific about this client or this type of work. The point is to write it down. First off, (as my 9th grade history teacher said) the act of writing something down can cement the knowledge in your brain. Second, even if you don’t remember it, the log book serves as a reference.

Of course the best written information in the world is useless if you can’t find it when you need it. I keep all of my notes chronologically and listed by invoice number (which is the same system I use for backups). My memory might not be what it used to be, but I can usually remember the fact that I’ve worked for this client before. Using that info, I can search my invoices and come up with a list of past jobs.

The systems I’ve set up are specific to me and the way I work. They may or may not work for you but the point is: have a system in place. Whether you use pen and ink, journal entries on your laptop, private pages on a blog or some other system, the goal is the same. Getting the information into a permanent format that won’t fade with time is important, no matter the system you use. After all, you know yourself best.

We eat with all of our senses. Obviously there’s flavor, but there’s also mouth feel, aromas, sights and even sounds associated with some foods. When creating a food photograph, we’re limited to just visual stimulation. And even more restrictive than that, we’re limited to two dimensional visuals. As a result of being limited, we must milk that 2d visual stimulation for all it’s worth. I think of food photography as more of a photo illustration than an objective representation of reality. Food stylists are an important part of this illusion. There are also certain legal and ethical factors to consider when deciding how far to take that illusion. But straight ahead, photography skills and knowledge are still the backbone of a strong food photo.

Composition
A food photo is still a photo, and all of the basic rules that apply to photography apply here. A photo is only successful if it engages the viewer and a bad composition is one sure way to turn off most viewers. As visually astute types, we can usually look at an image and realize that it’s composition is less than perfect, and very often we’re able to look past that. But most of the people in the world don’t see things the way we do, they see something wrong and that’s that. The exception to the composition rule – advertising work. Below are two examples of the same photo for a restaurant client of mine. First, my shot. It’s the one I composed and the one I like and the one I would put in my book. Second, the one I delivered. It’s wide and a closed composition. It’s straight and boring, but it’s versatile. If the art director wants to crop it the way I did, they have that option, but if they need a strong vertical, or a shot with more air around it so they can lay type in, they’ve got that option. If I just deliver my tightly shot version, they’re stuck with what I shoot. Yes I’m giving up a lot of creative freedom here and allowing others to make final decisions on how the photo will look, but this is commerce, not art.

Lighting
Food images, to me at least, are all about texture. The texture of the meat, the texture of that french fry all scream to me. Texture is created by focused, directional lighting, usually from the side or behind. I usually light a scene with multiple grid spots and snoots from various angles to accentuate the texture in desired areas. I personally tend to shun soft light for food photography. It flattens out that texture that I love so much. I’ll usually use a softbox over head, or maybe bounce a head off the ceiling to provide a fill, but that soft fill is usually very low in power. I also use a lot of silver and gold reflector cards to bounce light back into the scene. Exception to the lighting rule – food items with no texture. Some food just doesn’t have any texture (roasted chicken) but it does have shape and color. If you don’t have texture, use shape. Shape is best achieved using, my favorite, soft light. A softbox to one side of a dish with a fill card on the other will usually give a nice definition of shape.

Focus
One look at my portfolio tells a viewer I like selective focus. I always have. It was really in for a while, then it was out, now it’s back in, I expect it will be out very soon. I don’t always employ selective focus techniques but often I will at least try it on a shot. Sometimes it just pulls everything together. Selective focus is often a by product of one of my composition tricks. Get as close as you possibly dare, shoot, then get a little closer. My thinking is that you don’t know you’ve gone far enough until you’ve gone too far. When you get close you tend to lose depth of field and selective focus occurs. Of course modern focus blending techniques have helped alleviate this but aesthetically I like the affect. Exception to the focus rule – commercial work (again.) When shooting for commercial clients I’ll often give them a version that’s sharp front to back and allow them to photoshop in selective focus if desired. Again the idea being that images like this are very often used for a variety of purposes and versatility is key.

Food photography is a very technical and methodical subset of photography. It’s not a shoot from the hip, quick moving discipline. It’s more of the sit down, think it through, spend a few hours lighting and testing and then, almost anti-climatically, shoot. We’re all made different, and if this isn’t your thing that doesn’t make you less of a photographer, the key is to recognize your strengths and talents and use those to your advantage.

Ice Cream.
Working with real ice cream is a pain. It melts very quickly, especially the lite or low fat variety. The higher the fat content in ice cream, the slower it will melt. Also, the first things to go on something like this are the small details and texture of the edges. Food is texture, so once that goes, you’re done.

When possible we like to work with fake ice cream. There are as many recipes for fake ice cream as there are food stylists, but they all are variations on the same theme. Shortening and powdered sugar. I know one stylist who uses margarine instead of shortening, another who uses store bought cake frosting. But if you look at the main ingredient of all three it’s partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (mmm, trans-fats.) The basic recipe I use is…

• 2 cups shortening
• 2 lb’s 10x powdered sugar
• Place the shortening and half of the sugar in a food processor and mix in pulses. Continue to add sugar in small amounts and continually check the texture of the mixture until it gets right. The total amount of sugar needed will vary depending on humidity and temperature. Also, if you over shoot and the mixture is too dry add small amounts of vegetable oil and mix.

Use paste based food coloring or actual food to make the proper color. (ie cocoa, strawberry syrup, etc.) The base recipe (white) is pretty shelf stable and it will keep fairly well.

When you must work with real ice cream there are a few tips that can help. Prepare several hero items, if possible prepare them in a walk-in freezer. Your fingers get cold but the food looks great. Work with a stand in and get things very very close to perfect. Bring out the least perfect of the heroes and shoot. Make any final adjustments and then bring out the next hero in line. Continue working along these lines until you’re out of heroes. If possible use ice packs to cool your shooting surface down prior to bringing out your heroes. A sheet pan stuck into the freezer for 30 minutes will also get very cold and is a great heat sink. Finally and obviously, move fast.

Slush and SnoCones
Ice cream melts fast, a frozen margarita, even faster. Pour a frozen margarita into a glass, and before you’ve set the camera up, it’s starting to separate. Luckily a few options exist to help us. First off, is ice powder. This special effects material is available from a number of photo suppliers, like SetShop. Mix this powder with water and in a few minutes, you’ve got “ice” crystals that will stay stable all day. Mix with food coloring or syrup and you’ve got a frozen drink. I’ve also heard of stylists using SoilMoist. instead of ice powder but I have no experience with this product. If you must work with real product, pre-chilling the glasses can be a big help and of course work fast. Pre-chilled glasses will fog very quickly, usually this is desirable but if it’s not, you’ll need to wipe the glass dry just before shooting to get the condensation off.

Working with cold items presents some special challenges that are easiest overcome with technology and some specialized supplies. Sometimes legal or time restraints can prevent you from using fakes, knowing how and when to work with real food is key.

Food styling by Harry McMann