Do you style your food?

Hello everyone,
I've been playing around with food photography for a little bit now and just had a general question. Do you stylize/cook your own food for shooting? How'd you get better at styling? Any recommended books or videos?


Thanks in advance!

I know there are a couple of workshops for sale at http://www.creativeliv​e.com that focus on food photography. At least one of them uses some styling...

If you're just starting out and trying to get practice there are a ton of books on Amazon aimed at food photography and food styling. I imagine it would be cheaper to start there than to hire a stylist.

Thanks gentlemen

Check out foodgawker.com

"Do you stylize/cook your own food for shooting?"

Yes - it is all I can afford Seriously, cooking and styling your own food is a great way to learn and not go hungry. Find a food blogger you like, select a recipe that appeals to you and photograph it - then enjoy eating it.

The Pioneer Woman food blog is a good site to explore ... some pretty tasty and visually appealing recipes.

Thank you both!

Food Styling for Photographers and The Foodstylists Handbook are both very good. Show you the tricks of the trade, i.e. faking frosting on a glass, replacing ice cream (which melts away fast) with mashed potatoes, create nice sear marks on meat, 'brown' a roast, etc. Some of these make the food inedible though. There are also a couple good books on food photography, just poke around on Amazon, some might even have the 'look inside' feature and the reviews by other readers are always helpful.

Food + Photography = Fun

This is an area that i certainly lack in. But, I think looking at other's setups and trial and error is a good start

I do some food photography for my little blog but I don't go over board and use whatever I have This one was accepted by Foodgawker

Watch cooking reality tv shows. You can see what lots of other chefs do for styling their food.

I don't think that I have anything on my website that I styled. As a Food Stylist once joked, "It's like a straight man styling Fashion". Besides, I really don't do it well and love collaborating on projects especially when it's for a client. I will stick to what I do well.

Get in touch with a local cooking school/culinary program. The number of chefs that want to transition into food styling has exploded in recent years. Seems there's always someone looking to test.

I just subscribe to a load of food magazines like Bon Appetit, Saveur and some others from across the pond. I get inspired from them. I dont think you need to take courses. When im shooting for some larger clients i have a stylist come in and love it. If could with her every shoot i would.