Hot on the heels of my sponsorship by Irish porridge oat brand Flahavan’s to attend Cybermummy, I received an exciting invitation with an Irish flavour. It was to attend a food photography and styling workshop hosted by Bord Bia, the Irish food board, led by professional food photographer and stylist Alastair Hendy and taking place at the Irish embassy.
I seem to be doing rather well at getting out of Walthamstow these days but even by recent standards, this workshop was a lot of fun and I was delighted to see lots of familar faces from Food Blogger Connect; Anne, Bron, Jeanne, Pascale, Michele and Matina. I was also delighted to finally meet the Irish food blogger in London, Niamh from Eat Like a Girl.
Hadji Bey’s Irish Turkish Delight – originally made by an Armenian immigrant!
After a talk by Alastair we were set loose on several tables of Irish produce and some of Alastair’s magnificent prop collection to put into practice what we’d heard. Despite the quality of material to play with I’m not massively delighted with my pictures as the light was awkward (very bright low direct evening sun) and I didn’t have a tripod with me.
Tripods and toddlers are not easily transported together – I had dropped Ted off with my husband on the way so the tripod had sadly been left at home. I took my mini gorilla tripod but didn’t find it very helpful. A delay on the tube also meant I arrived breathless in the nick of time and was too disorganised to take pictures of the wonderful black pudding, smoked salmon and pastry canapes we were treated too nor the wonderful displays of Irish food (which we promptly dismantled to photograph and then take home).
Therefore, these pictures are much grainier and tell a less complete story than I would like so please ignore that today if you can. Meanwhile I will share my favourite shots from the evening and the many tips I picked up from Alastair. A lot of these points were made with magazine photography in mind but they can still be interpreted for blogging.
Irish jelly beans. This is horribly grainy and I’m not sure you’d need a napkin to eat jelly beans but still…
21 Food Photography and Styling Tips from Alastair Hendy
1. Pictures of some foods sell more magazines than others. Chocolate is the most obvious one but strawberries, ice cream and figs are also very popular on the news stands.
2. Use a series of images to create a “story”. Mix close ups and long distance shots. Use a palette of common colours to link pictures together.
3. The three winning elements for great food photography are the look, the light and the lens.
4. Adding a “human element” can lift food that is difficult to photograph – have someone holding something or taking a bite.
5. When photographing ice cream, freeze the plate or dish to give yourself more time to shoot before it melts.
6. Make sure the food is the hero of the shot. Do not over style.
7. Use coloured paper as a background.
8. A picture of an empty bowl or plate can still tell a story. A “dirty” bowl of soup would still be styled so it looks like a “nice” used bowl!
9. Tie a napkin around a small pie to convey warmth!
10. If using hot drinks in glass cups, a plate rested on the top will create some condensation on the surface so the viewer knows the liquid is warm.
11. Leave space in magazine shots for copy.
12. Angled shots have more movement – an angled shot of a crowd will instantly look more like they are walking in a hurry.
Vintage metal tin, crying out to be photographed.
13. Use a blow torch to revive molten chocolate or butter which have solidified.
14. Toss salads in water to stop oil and vinegar dressings from breaking them down too quickly.
15. Keep herbs in bowls of cold water so they are fresh.
16. Does your soup ration look stingy? A small raw potato submerged in your broth will make the bowl look fuller and won’t soak up any liquid.
A scrunched up layer of baking parchment gives the effect of the tin looking fuller than it is.
17. When photographing in markets, don’t rush to take pictures. Stand around for a while and become part of the scenery. People around you will relax and forget you are there.
18. When disillusioned with scruffy backdrops in markets, remember you will be able to crop out tatty tarpaulin and unattractive pallets of rotting vegetables.
19. Photographing window displays, angle yourself so you don’t get yourself in the shot.
20. Angle cutlery so to avoid excess glare or reflections of yourself. (A further tip from me – wearing black will reduce the likelihood of your outfit being reflected in spoons!)
And last but not least…
21. Never, ever use a flash when photographing food!
Do you have a favourite food photography or food styling tip to share?
Thank you for posting these fantastic tips! I will be bookmarking this page.
These tips are amazing. Thanks for posting them 🙂
Thanks very much for all these amazing photography tips. Sure lots for me to digest 😀
Hi Sarah. I like your "top tips" approach. I've been reading people's different posts on the evening and it's cool how everyone has taken a slightly different approach to it. And despite what you say, I think you've got some fabulous photos here.
The bible, and that's it!
Great way to summarise the evening! it was fun, wasn't it, and Alastair's shots were amazing. I agree that the light was, umm, challenging, but I think you did a great job! Note to self – must get my post up…
Yeah I struggled with the light too, but hey, wait til winter comes and we'll think of the conditions at this shoot as heaven! Enjoy your August blogging vacation and can't wait to see the new wordpress site!
xx
Thank you Sarah for sharing these fantastic tips! Looks like you had a great time. :O
Now you have me on a mission to seek out some of that Turk-Irish delight – there must be some around here somewhere…
Good post Sarah, you really have given the essence of how much was given through the evening. Think you're a little hard on yourself though – your photos work really well!
I was really sad not to be able to attend this event so it's great to benefit from these tips – not sure boyf would be happy about finding a raw potato at the bottom of his soup bowl! Blessed are the food photographers who have the luxury of not trying to photograph and eat the food before it goes cold. I like your shots.
Thanks for these tips, they're great! I always wonder if all food bloggers (including yourself) are professional photographers as well (as if just being incredible cooks isn't enough for you all hmph ;p) because you always have such lovely and professional looking photographs while mine always look distinctly amateur 🙁 I'll try and use some of these tips and hope my photographs improve!
Thanks so much for posting these, some I had not heard before (like using parchment to help fill a container) – very useful list!
Fab tips, not that I often take pictures of food, but helpful nonetheless 🙂
(Am thinking some of them will transfer to crafts!)
Thank You for such an informative post. I have always found a flash makes my food look, well overexposed. I am by no means a prof photographer but these tips will help me alot.
Wonderful post Sarah!
Sarah, you are one busy lady. you seem to know of fun events. I am always so out of it all. I always seem to learn about things with delay. It is so lovely of you to summarize the tips here. They are very useful. one thing that is already saddening me is days like today when i get home at around 6.30 and the light is already poor. such shame. I do like your pictures but I guess we are our most severe critics, aren't we?
Great post! The tip for freezing the plate when photographing ice cream is brilliant – as I learnt recently, ice cream melts pretty fast when it's warm…
p.s. I use a flash for at least half of the photos on my blog. Reason being I get home late, and if I didn't resort to a flash I'd only be able to blog in the summer. I agree that direct flashes are awful, but indirect ones are actually really good. (Just thought I'd defend the flash seeing as I use it so much :P)
Brilliant tips thank you for sharing, I'm really struggling to get good shots for my blog, even at the best of times my house is really dark. Will def use the coloured paper backdrops – thank you x
Some great tips there – thanks. I love your first photo of the Turkish Delight – it is just gorgeous.
Bonjour Sarah,
Thank you for these marvelous tips. I need every last one of them. What an exciting time you have been having lately!
a bientôt,
Mimi
I'm really happy everyone found this summary of Alastair's tips so useful, I've been blown away by how many of you retweeted it on Twitter. To answer a couple of the points in your comments:
@vickii I'm really flattered you think that but seriously I have no training beyond a 2 hour food photography class I did last year and studying other people's work!
@liveotherwise A lot of these would definitely transfer to crafts or even Ebay selling
@Valentina Yes those dark nights are drawing in…!
@su-yin I've never noticed you use a flash so your pics must look good regardless!
@Ruth a big sheet of white paper will help bounce in some more light.
Thanks everybody!
Great, practical tips! Thanks for sharing.
I really wanted to go to this but couldn't as it was my husband's birthday. So thanks so much for writing up the tips so we can all share them.
EXCELLENT tips, Sarah! Even though your lighting wasn't optimum, your composition is lovely. 🙂 Good job! 🙂
When I first started blogging and photographing my food – I had no idea what I should / shouldn't be doing and the results were very poor. Thanks to other bloggers sharing tips they have learnt has taught me more than any photography school could in 3 years. Thanks for sharing these tips.
When I first started blogging and photographing my food – I had no idea what I should / shouldn't be doing and the results were very poor. Thanks to other bloggers sharing tips they have learnt has taught me more than any photography school could in 3 years. Thanks for sharing these tips.
When I first started blogging and photographing my food – I had no idea what I should / shouldn't be doing and the results were very poor. Thanks to other bloggers sharing tips they have learnt has taught me more than any photography school could in 3 years. Thanks for sharing these tips.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing them with us!
Cheers,
Rosa
Loving the new site – very stylish.
Great photos Sarah – I particularly like the vintage metal tin and chocolates. I always get Alistair Hendy muddled up with Alistair Sawday.
I think you do these things already though.
One of my friend’s little sisters used to work for a food stylist and we went along one day to watch her at work. We saw all the tricks of the trade – how to stop ice cream melting under the lights, etc. Then a few years later the same friend offered a group of us her house to stay in in Provence – bought off the back of being a food stylist. I thought we’d died and gone to heaven. She had a great job – wandering round the market, choosing the perfect orange, the perfect napkin. I think good styling is quite an art – you do notice when it’s overdone.
I definitely buy some magazines over others because of the styling.
What sort of aperture setting did you have for instance on the jelly beans for instance?
I was browsing the new Nigella yesterday and completely seduced by the styling but still wondering if I really need another cookbook.
Great post.
Really enjoyed this post with some really interesting photos with the ‘Turkish Delight and old tin box’ being my favorite, the list of top tips is also very helpful. Thanks for sharing, Phil.