What is food styling?

Food styling is a culinary art form, based around photographing food. The key difference
between food styling and simply photographing your lunchtime sandwich is that the shots
are composed. The goal is to make the foods look as fresh, bright, and delicious as possible.
These photos can look magical, even surreal, but always capture the beauty and excitement
of the food.
According to Kimberly, food styling is there to “communicate something you’ve created”
with the goal of making it “look as good as it tastes”. The great challenge is that, of course,
viewers cannot actually taste the food. This means a stylist needs to communicate texture
and flavor using images alone. The dish needs to be elevated, and trigger our brains to want
a bite! As you become more experienced, your photographs can even develop a personal
stamp and sense of your style. Perhaps you like to focus on warm colors, or dark and moody
backgrounds, or something else that stirs emotion around your creations.
Color and texture can hugely impact the performance of a post, as explored below.
Where to find examples of food styling
Food styling shows up almost everywhere, from ads to restaurants, but here are a few
sources you can look to build a bank of inspiration…
- Cookbooks. Find chefs you love and see how they present their food.
- Food magazines. Look at how the food tells a story and matches with the articles.
- Advertising. Think of how succulent fast-food chains make their food look! It is carefully
staged to encourage you to visit their restaurants.
- Films and TV. Food can be used to communicate a scene’s mood or the personalities of
the characters.
- Social media. This is where amateur food photography has really taken off. Now anyone
can share their creations using hashtags like #instafood, #foodstagram, #foodphotography,
and more.
So, once you understand the goals of food styling, and have some sources for motivation,
how do you actually get started? Kimberly identifies six important principles to keep in
mind, and explains how each one works to make a successfully eye-catching image.
The six principles of food styling
1. Motion
Even though photos are essentially still life artwork, Kimberly notes that “we want the
photos to look and feel dynamic.” This means including elements like swirls or lines of
crumbs. The goal is to ensure something is happening in the scene. The movement you
choose to create will also guide the viewer’s eye, and move them around the image.
This hummus is sprinkled with oil and seeds to add both motion and texture, guiding our eyes in
a crescent shape.
2. Texture
Sometimes, texture is already present in food. Kimberly demonstrates with figs: smooth on
the outside, but when you tear them open they are full of bobbly texture that will catch the
eyes of a scrolling Instagram user. If your food doesn’t have a lot of natural texture, try
using a garnish. Sauces, dips, seeds, and other sprinkles can very quickly build the
impression that the food is crunchy, chewy, or any other texture you like.
3. Contrast
Here, Kimberly tells us to choose a key object to pull from the frame. Perhaps it’s a slice of
fruit, or the irresistible oozing chocolate in the middle of a pudding. Highlight this chosen
element by darkening or muting the background, or other food in the image. If you can
contrast a muted plate with a vibrant food, you will instantly inject drama into your
composition.
Every prop and background element is darker than the flour, allowing it to pop with high
contrast.
4. Abundance
For Instagram, it’s important to remember that you are staging the food. For a lush and
enchanting effect, Kimberly explains that the food must look, “fit for a king or queen”. You
want that sense of luxury to shine through, so try using a range of colors, shapes, and sizes
of food, as decoratively as you can.

A good example of abundance in practice!

5. Color
Color is arguably the most important element to consider for a feed post. When someone is
scrolling, you have seconds to capture their attention—so demand it! Use seasonal
ingredients and editing to pop out noteworthy hues. If you have a soft, muted backdrop or
props, make sure the food or relish has a poppy, glowing color that leaps off the screen.
Emotive hues like red work well.
To help you get started working with color, it helps to learn the basics. In her course,
Kimberly goes over the color wheel and introduces basic combinations: monochromatic,
analogous, and complementary colors. All of these will have a different effect on the viewer.
The red of these strawberries is so vibrant, they really pop from the creamy-hued background.
6. Shapes
Finally, the shapes you create from the food layout are essential to crafting an effective
overall scene. Like motion, shapes can guide the eye and create points of focus. This could
be the way you cut a cake or vegetable, for example, or it could be how you arrange many
small parts to make an interesting whole. Some shapes you might consider include a line,
swirl, circle, triangle, or crescent moon.

Consider how the circular plates are arranged, and how the triangular crêpes are broken up with
smaller shapes.
What doesn’t work?
When you don’t consider the above principles, your posts may go unnoticed on social
media. For example, placing small, plainly-colored food on a large white plate will not only
create a flat image without contrast, it will also lack abundance and make the portion size
look unappetizing. Smooth objects, like apples in a white bowl, will also look boring and
lack the sensory appeal of texture. Finally, piling food on a plate without thinking about
shape or focal point will make the image look messy and confusing.
Food Styling has many core principles to consider when you start out. Kimberly encourages
following inspiring accounts, reading books, and beginning some reference boards on
Pinterest to motivate you and help find your sense of style.
Want to find more inspiration before you get snapping your snacks for Instagram? Check
out these food photography courses. And to learn more about food design, including cakes
and confectionery, you can also explore this wide range of food design courses.