the art & science behind food styling

Food styling is the art of aesthetically preparing food for photography, making it visually appealing and camera-ready. It is also an expression of our love for food - an understanding of the limitations of food but also leveraging on all the amazing things that it can do.

Food styling techniques can enhance, modify and recreate the appearance of a dish. Essentially with food styling, you can expect the impossible to now, be imaginably possible - having that condensation on your glass to stay perfectly in place, to that epic cheese pull shot, or that soft serve that never melts on set.

We are not only attuned to the art form of food but we also have a deep understanding of the science and technicalities behind food and the ingredients that goes into a dish - food styling goes beyond ‘beautiful plating’ but is also an awareness of which substitutes to use and when to use them so that you get the ingredients to perform the way it is intended for the camera.

Realism in Substitutes

When it comes to food styling, we always stand by ensuring a delicate balance between substitutes and realism in all of our works. As much as we love incorporating food substitutes, we believe that food substitutes can be said to have only achieved its purpose when one is unable to tell a substitute apart from the actual. The ability to intrigue drives us to further push boundaries in both our food and set styling work.

The support of a food stylist is important at every stage, from pre-production to actual shoot as certain food requirements, ingredient quantity and kitchen prep instructions will be discussed. A food stylist can also advise the photographer/agency/ client on the camera angle that she believes would best showcase a particular dish.

Food styling & set building

Almanda is both a food stylist & set stylist based in Singapore. Her work as a stylist also extends to creative sets where she undertakes both the sourcing of props and set building. She has worked closely with photographers, video production teams and agencies on many conceptual work. She loves experimenting with colors and different textures which adds depth and dimension to the overall set.

When Almanda is not busy on set or working on prep days, you can find her in her kitchen studio with her culinary team and junior food stylists. Together, they hone their culinary skills, experiment with ingredients and substitutes and look at new ways of presenting and working with ingredients.