Food styling?

I'm trying to improve my prop styling and photography skills. I feel very out of practice since my one studio lighting class when I was 19! Unfortunately I remember how little I enjoy the technical parts of studio lighting - adding, subtracting, shielding, bouncing, deflecting, directing, manipulating, and controlling light; precise placements of every teensy detail, strand of hair, fleck of dust; taking color temperatures; setting and resetting controls. Blech!

But I do enjoy combining forms and textures, finding interesting subjects, playing with color. I like to work organically with natural light, making a little tent on the stair balcony to diffuse light, finding a bit of white paper to bounce light onto an object. There is a lot of thinking on your feet and improvising.

Now that I'm working at a chocolate company I have a very specific subject to work with. I can self-assign this project to myself and, depending on the results, maybe get some exposure this way.

Here's a website devoted to food styling and photography, specifically an article focusing on using no equipment other than your camera and available light: Food Pixels

Inspiring prop styling, really bright diffused light: Canelle et Vanille

And here are some things I played around with today (too lazy for Photoshop color correcting and editing, these are just exercises):



Extremely plain seamless white background. Some weird dot shadow in the foreground, not enough shadow on the bottom chocolate, and not enough light/interest on the top chocolate. But I like the simple, interesting composition - the precarious balance, like the winged alpaca is about to take off!


I love the crackle texture in the clear glaze. Not sure about the funny curved highlight on the left and lack of shadow to ground the subject.



Thinking about textures? Trying to incorporate the Asian-flavor theme, here. I like the contrast of the rich brown with the black sesame seeds. The chocolate really looks like it's floating/Photo-shopped in here. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing.


Thinking about the winged alpaca and travels? The seeds as sand/gravel or almost a "pathway". I don't think the execution of this idea is very successful, but an idea to try again.



Really piling on the visual elements here. Subject (chocolate) is much too dark. Overall picture might be too strangely busy. Interesting to think of chopsticks as a bridge, though.


Overturned bowl as a mountain? Alpaca conquers Glazed Stoneware Mountain?



Unrelated, but Soba eats purple-hued corn!