Food Styling vs. Photoshop

What you see is not what you get

It’s no secret that the Photoshopping human beings to the point of “perfection” really pisses me off. But what about the Photoshopping and styling of food? Should this offend me, too?

Just as I know that the images of women and men I see in magazines are not real, I’m also well aware that the pictures of food I see in print ads, on menus, or on TV in no way represent the food I’ll actually eat. The foods in the pictures have been poked, prodded, glued, styled and made otherwise inedible to make them “pretty”.

Here are some tricks food stylists use to make their dishes look desirable (and this is before Photoshopping even takes place):

[tricks found on PhotoCritic]

Cotton balls look like steam after they’ve been soaked and microwaved

Motor oil is a more attractive syrup than the ones we eat

Shoe polish makes raw meat look seared

Cardboard squares prop up burgers to keep them from smooshing the lettuce

White glue photographs better than milk

Are you ever disappointed that the food you eat doesn’t look like what was advertised? Or that the food you make at home never looks like what was photographed in the magazine or cookbook?

9 thoughts on “Food Styling vs. Photoshop”

Wow! How interesting. Glue instead of milk…weird.

ooh, glue. creepy.

some food stylists/photographers are actually chefs, though, that make delicious things that are also pretty… like cannelle et vanille.

your photographs always photograph beautifully………..a kind of Miss Photogenic. 😉

“Are you ever disappointed that the food you eat doesn’t look like what was advertised?”

Great post! And yes, it definitely irritates me. In one sense, it’s false advertising. But then again, our society is one that almost expects things to be altered.

Interesting! And most of the time food isn’t really food. It’s so gross. I love the Dove Body campaign to get rid of all the special effects
Katherine
whataboutsummer

I think frozen meals are the best example of the Box looking better than the Real Deal. When I used to eat Lean Cuisines, they’d look good in the picture, but after the microwave, gross!!!!