Food is sexy. Really hot pictures of food: enticing. A flat image, created by a skilled photographer, becomes visceral. Advertisers and editors seek to conjure a magical transformation from visual medium to sensual desire. If the picture is good enough, it’s hoped readers can almost whiff the heady aroma of freshly baked pie. That they might salivate in anticipation of a well composed terrine. We want you to hunger for it.
In cookbooks and magazines, the hook is the photograph. Once hooked, the home cook attempts to recreate the dish. Results vary. Most cooks lament their product is not as perfect, as sublime, as sexy, as the dish in the picture. There are myriad reasons for this. In part it has to do with the skill of the recipe writer. In part it has to do with the skill of the cook. And then there are the style doctors.
A top end commercial food shot is the work of up to a dozen professional style doctors from the photographer to the food stylist to the prop stylist. People think fakery is the order of the day at these shoots, and indeed in the past the style was more fabricated. But digital photography allows modern teams to work quickly and realism is the rage. Still, some foods simply won’t behave as needed and require a little illusion.
Milk in cereal is replaced with white glue or wild root tonic if the stylist wants more flow and less glue skin. In either case, the cereal stays crisp and in place.
Bacon strips are placed in vegetable oil to keep them pliable. They are then woven through a wire rack to make them wavy. Finally, soapy water is spooned over top to give the bacon a hot, bubbling look. Soapy water will also make a cup of black coffee look freshly poured. Want those sesame seeds to stay in place on your bagel? Position and adhere with crazy glue.
Fake ice cream that won’t melt under studio lights is made of vegetable shortening, corn syrup, powdered sugar and food colouring.
But the real trick is simply that stylists take incredible care with the food. Shopping can take days. If shooting a packaged product, the stylist will prepare five or more packages and choose the prettiest. Tools are used, from long sharp tweezers to dentist’s tools and an array of brushes, to make surfaces perfect and to position each element in the most flattering light.
Huntsville photographer Kelly Holinshead is the go-to girl for food photography in Muskoka. We have worked together on a couple of shoots, and she has worked on a number of cookbooks and with area restaurants and resorts.
Her methods tend toward realism, often shooting on a stark white platform in her studio. I visited her recently as she was capturing images of celery and pie to print onto her T-shirt line. We chatted about food photography in her studio. While the Dave Matthews Band grooved from the stereo, she moved around the shoot, experimenting with angles and lighting.
“It’s all about the lighting,” she says. “The right lighting pulls the texture into the food.
“And props can do so much. You can really alter the mood of your food with linens, plates or cool cutlery. Sometimes less is more; a white dinner plate gives a clean simple shot that looks professional. Or you can create an easy picnic feel with a gingham cloth.
“I love shooting food – because it doesn’t care if you take a long time,” says Holinshead. “It’s never uncomfortable in front of the camera. And all food is photogenic.”
La Dolce Vita’s La Capresse
Eve Luchetta invited me to lunch at her Huntsville restaurant so we could nosh and shoot this dish
1 cup balsamic vinegar
16 pieces bocconcini cheese, whole
4 medium-large tomatoes (sliced thickly)
4 small handfuls mixed greens
4 tbsp basil-infused extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling and plate decorating
Simmer vinegar in a small saucepan until reduced by three-quarters.
Flatten bocconcini cheese with the palm of your hand.
Season tomato slices with salt and pepper to taste.
Divide mixed greens among 4 plates.
Stack sliced tomato and bocconcini cheese alternately, forming tower.
Spoon 1 tbsp of basil-infused extra virgin olive oil over top of tower.
Drizzle additional olive oil over the plate. Decorate with drizzles of balsamic vinegar reduction.
Makes 4 servings.
Vegetable Terrine alla Dolce Vita
This photographed beautifully, but it’s obvious chef Farago didn’t grill the vegetables because we wanted a clean tower effect. When you make this at home, it won’t look exactly like our picture, but it will taste much better.
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 roasted red pepper, peeled and slivered
1 eggplant, sliced into rounds and grilled
1 zucchini, sliced and grilled
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ lb firm goat cheese, sliced
¼ cup tomato sauce, hot
Simmer vinegar in a small saucepan until reduced by three-quarters.
Season grilled vegetables with salt, pepper and garlic. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Layer grilled vegetables, alternating with goat cheese.
Place in preheated oven 350 F for 10 minutes. On serving plate, pour a bed of hot tomato sauce. Slide hot layered vegetables onto tomato sauce. Drizzle balsamic vinegar reduction onto plate.
Makes 2 servings.
Tip: To achieve a stack as orderly as chefs, buy a stacking cooking cylinder at a specialty food shop.
Peanut Butter Pie
Kelly Holinshead shot this decadent pie I created for a corporate client.
2 1/3 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup homogenized milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup whipping cream
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
In a 10-inch flan pan, combine chocolate cookie crumbs with melted butter. Cover with plastic wrap and press crumbs evenly over bottom and sides of pan. Cover and freeze for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, sugar and egg yolks until mixed. Add peanut butter and warm over medium low heat until peanut butter is melted. Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring, until peanut butter custard begins to simmer. Simmer, stirring, for one minute. Pour into prepared pie shell.
Heat whipping cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Drizzle over peanut butter pie. Place pie in refrigerator or freezer for 3 hours to set.
Makes 8 to 12 servings
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