Food Styling Tips for Pizza

Pizza. Flat. Round. Sometimes oblong. Sometimes colorful. Often little dimension. 

I love pizza in every form that I’ve encountered around the world, but the truth is, I’m not the biggest fan of styling pizza or photographing it. 

That doesn’t change the fact that my clients have me create and photograph pizza and flatbreads. I have also created it for my own cookbooks. Like it or not, I’ve had to develop some skills and styling tips for pizza throughout the years.

These are a few quick tips to help you style pizza and flatbreads. Some to think about before it hits the set and others to help it be its stunning self as you pick up the camera. 

Think about your garnishes before you take it to set. 

Sometimes when we look at pizzas we know there are so many good things tucked inside, but to the eye, it just looks like cheese. Think about what colors and textures you can add to the top to break up the monotony and make the subject sing for the camera. Fresh herbs, crushed red pepper, crumbled or shaved cheeses, cracked black pepper, flake sea salt, and ground nuts are a few ideas.

Pull a piece out.

Add some action and space between the sea of ingredients by moving some slices around on set. 

Overhead is nice, but don’t forget about 45-degree angles.

Overhead is often my go-to for pizza, but when it is piled with toppings for texture, an angled shot may turn out the be the winner. 

Elevate with boards. 

Pizza is most often flat. Give some distance between the whole pie or individual slices and the backdrop or surface. 

Add something to support the star. 

Pizza and beer are classic. But it might be wine. A bowl of crushed red pepper or a pizza cutter. When the pizza itself doesn’t have a lot going on for it, something added tightly in the scene can help complete the image.

Blacklight loves pizza.

Especially simple flatbreads where there is a lot of space that the light can catch. 

Change the set.

If your pizza is baked in an interesting spot - Outside, in a brick oven or on a grill - capture some of that scene. It’s so much more interesting than a pizza on a board.

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Club CreatingYOU.® is a community exclusively for solo creative stylist-photographers who want to grow their skills for capturing food, drink, and its origins while cultivating a distinct style. It’s always open to new members. This month we’re covering surfaces as they relate to style in our training and photo breakdown. The supporting podcast comes out next week where we’re talking about that elusive style and if you need to try so hard to find it, based on the work you hope to do. Hosted on Substack by me, Lori Rice.

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