Excellent food pictures add depth and color to food blogs. I believe that great pictures also create interest and complete the story. The food styling and photography class that I recently attended in Long Beach California helped me learn new techniques to improve my photography. The class was organized and lead by Food Fanatics; food styling professionals Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan. They partnered with food photographer Matt Armendaris of MattBites.com to create a delightful weekend of instruction on how to style food for photography.
On the first day we gathered around the table to learn from the expert food stylists. Cindie demonstrated several food styling techniques and Denise discussed styling techniques and many stories. While we laughed, we also learned a lot about methods to achieve great looking food in your photographs. I took lots of notes, but I can't wait for their Food Styling Book to come out later this year.
We studied food pictures and Matt talked about what he liked in different food photographs. I learned a lot about design and creating interest through light. I also learned that you can put too much into a photograph and it takes away from the message.
Our class was brilliant. There were ten foodies with various backgrounds ranging from chefs, editors and graphic designers. Our challenge on Sunday was to prepare, style and photograph a dish of our choice. Matt's studio had more dishes and background choices then you can imagine. It was great fun and also hard work to select the best background to highlight your food.
Everyone carefully styled their food. The class photos are outstanding!
I choose to photograph a salad. This salad was carefully constructed and lots of thought went into the elements that complete the image and the story. I will also post this image with my salad dressing recipe.
I love how the light highlights the lettuce and creates a fresh from the garden feeling. The background images complete the story.
This weekend class was inspiring and I learned so much. I highly recommend the Culinary Entrepreneurship Class Styling and Photo Techniques for Food Writers and Bloggers to anyone who wants to improve their food photography and food styling.
