November is the perfect month to discuss the tricks and hacks used to photograph holiday foods at their very best. Everyone knows that the ultimate feast is the annual Thanksgiving meal. Have you ever flipped through a magazine, scanned a food blog or read a restaurant menu and wondered how it’s possible to make the food look so scrumptious and delicious?
Professional food photographers know how to capture the beauty and appeal of dishes and their ingredients through the lens of a camera. These specially trained photographers usually study photography and graphic design or communications. Around 75% of food photographers tend to hold a bachelor’s degree and 15% associate degrees. The most common schools for students seeking to study food photography are Columbia University and other New York universities.
Food photographers find their talents in heavy demand as the holiday entertaining season kicks off. It’s more than a quick “point-and-shoot operation” to make food look fascinating.
If you’re ready to be fascinated and amazed by common food photography tips and hacks, I have a few of the “behind the scenes” tricks to share.
• Photos, ads and television commercials with fluffy pancakes dripping with melting butter and syrup want to make you drool. But what the picture doesn’t reveal makes such a stack of pancakes magic to the eyes, not the mouth. That dripping syrup is likely not what you believe, but rather Pennzoil or another brand of motor oil. Pancakes don’t absorb motor oil as quickly as real syrup, and a batter stirred up using half milk and half yogurt works to keep pancakes looking fluffy. You can give the batter recipe idea a try at home, but stay clear of the motor oil.
• Ice cream melts quickly especially under lighting, but using mashed potatoes with ice cream drips made of Elmer’s white glue can make all the difference. Food tints and sprinkles add a bit of extra charm to entice customers.
• You’ve seen the stretchy pull apart slices of pizza. The secret to making it look so darn delicious is to use part-skim mozzarella cheese melted with white glue. Photographers know to add this blend to the edges of the pre-cut pizza to make mouths drool.
• Water splashes, as for soda, are made of plastic. The same for lettuce and other produce splashes in photos. Ice cubes are almost always made of plastic.
• Want a “tall beer head” on your Miller? Just add salt and the foam rises to take a snap.
• Hot summer beverages revealing heavy condensation on the bottle or glass makes for mouth-watering photos. This look is created by using a blend of water and glycerin sprayed onto the container.
• If you like food that looks steamy and hot then give photography a lift by using burning incense, cigarette smoke, water-soaked cotton balls cooked in a microwave or by using hydrochloric acid with ammonia to make the misty steamy appearance.
• Eliminate the oxidation, browning or wilt from produce leaves easily by spraying with Accent, found in the spice aisle of your grocery. This form of monosodium glutamate does wonders for photos.
• The best burger look relies upon clever positioning using straight pins, cardboard discs and brushing the meat to a shine using oil. Cheese is melted in place using either a heat gun or hair dryer.
• You thought making garnishes float on top of bowls of soup was art. It is to a point, but trickery also resides inside the bowl. Before pouring the soup into the bowl, a smaller ramekin or bowl is placed upside down inside the larger bowl to eliminate the need for lots of soup and serves as a “rest” for croutons or other garnishes, thus preventing them for sinking to the bottom of the bowl.
• Fake alcohol? Likely so. Whiskey, bourbon or other brown looking spirits are mostly tea or burnt sugar water at play. Another technique is to add a few drops of Kitchen Bouquet or Worcestershire sauce to plain water. White wine is simply diluted lime juice or white grape juice while red wine is cranberry juice.
• To make bountiful food look more beautiful and plentiful, simple baking dough is often used as a cheap filler and covered with some of the real food.
• We all love those grill marks on our meat! Using cosmetic eye liner to paint such lines onto meat along with a touch of brown shoe polish can work wonders for photos.
• Cooking causes meat to shrink. With that knowledge, to make meats appear juicy and plump in print or television, photographers often use raw or undercooked meats to photograph.
• Shiny-looking fruits sell better. Spraying fruits with deodorant products makes this sheen possible.
• Coat or spray grocery produce with wax to make each take on a thicker consistency. Healthy-looking veggies promote sales.
• Like to see those small bubbles on the surface of a cup of coffee? A little dab of dish soap will do it.
• Precise positioning of every stem, leaf, petal that goes to garnish a food or dish requires time, a steady hand and a pair of tweezers. Check out magazine covers to observe such fine art of placement.
• It’s not just the food but also the ingredients amidst an appealing background that plays to the taste and wallet of consumers. With this thought, you wouldn’t expect to find a Mediterranean food product or dish photographed in a rustic, cabin background setting — it’s more likely to be photographed with Italian tiles, old wine bottles or Southern European travel posters. Positioning baked products with scattered wholesome ingredients of flour and eggs also plays well to consumer wallets.
• The Green-Red style: green salads photo best with a pop of red tomatoes, while a red pasta dish looks more appetizing with a leaf of basil for garnish.
• Hair dryers and heat guns make butter melt in an instant on muffins, waffles and pancakes. Melting drips of butter warms the appetite.
• Don’t try to drink the milk. White glue, not actual milk, stars in cereal photographs. White glue doesn’t make soggy cereal but keeps it crunchy and fresh looking longer than dairy.
• When photographing images of certain food dishes, the trick often is the angle of the shot. Flat foods, like pizza or the surface of a bowl of soup are photographed from above. When foods are tall or layered, like a cake or burger, it’s best to shoot from the side to reveal height.
Now that you have been exposed to a few of the tricks of commercial food photography, I’m sure you’ll pause with wonder the next time you run into an enticing food photo in a magazine, on a menu or TV screen.
CRANBERRY RELISH is the perfect holiday recipe: simple, easy and delicious.
1- pound cranberries, frozen
1 orange, everything but seeds
2 apples, cored and seeded
1 cup sugar
Grind all ingredients. Mix well. Refrigerate. Note: I’ve made this recipe with fresh cranberries and it tasted great.
For a new twist on tradition, try GERMAN APPLE PIE
Pie ingredients:
2 tablespoons flour 1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup dairy sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups sliced, peeled apples
1 pie shell or deep-dish equal
Nut topping:
¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup flour, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ cup chopped nuts, ¼ cup butter; mix until crumbly.
For pie: combine flour, salt, sugar, egg, sour cream, vanilla and nutmeg; beat well with fork, do NOT use blender. Fold in apples. Pour into either a pie shell (unbaked) or into a deep dish of equal volume. Bake in 400- degree oven 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake 35 minutes longer. Remove from oven, sprinkle with nut topping. Return to oven 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
TURKEY DEVONSHIRE is a great way to disguise the turkey leftovers. This recipe makes two servings but multiplies easily.
4 slices buttered toast
sliced turkey
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
Dash cayenne
1 cup milk
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
Smoked paprika
¼ lb. bacon, cooked
Butter individual shallow baking dishes or oven-proof plates. In each, put buttered toast cut to fit. Arrange turkey on toast. In saucepan, make cheese sauce: melt butter, add flour and stir until bubbly. Add salt, mustard and cayenne. Off heat, blend in milk. Stir in 1 cup cheese and return to low heat until cheese melts. Pour sauce over turkey. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, sprinkle with paprika, dot with butter, bake 15 minutes. Garnish with strips of cooked bacon, put under broiler just long enough to brown lightly.
Holidays always require a cheeseball, so try making a GOOSEBERRY PATCH CHEESEBALL
2 (8-oz.) pkgs. Cream cheese
2 (8-oz.) pkgs. Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 -oz pkg ranch dressing mix
¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
10 ounces chopped, toasted pecans
Combine cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, dressing mix and pepper sauce; form into one large ball. Roll ball in chopped pecans to cover. Refrigerate overnight before serving.
