December Styling and Photography Prompts

I’ve found spending time on my own creative work outside of what I might do for clients, or what I consider work, to be incredibly valuable. It helps me practice and build skills, of course, but more importantly, it has helped me to more easily generate new ideas. It also affords the permission to step out of comfort zones and try something new.

That’s why I offer these monthly photo prompt cards to help.

I find that daily prompts are a bit too much pressure for styling and photography. You need time think about the idea, gather your props, and make food if it’s included. Or you may just need time to wait and watch for the perfect moment or the ideal light to hit the room.

At the same time, one prompt or theme a month has never been enough to keep me creating new things. I like just the right amount of time to focus before I move on to the next thing. 

So that’s why I include 5 prompts a month. Find the number that works for you. Maybe you focus on 1 a week; maybe you do 3 in a weekend. 

My hope is that you collect these cards each month, whether you keep them in a spot for digital access or print them (they are designed to be 3x2-inch cards), and then return to them each year. See what it is that they prompt you to create as your skills, visions, and goals grow over time.  

Styling Pies for Food Photography

There are so many styles of pies. Flat, rustic crostata and galette styles. Inches-thick fillings and meringues. There are multiple ways to tackle them depending on the style you are working with. 

Thanksgiving is coming up here in the U.S. which is essentially pie season. I’ve photographed a lot of pies and tarts, specifically for my cookbooks. These are my best tips for working with these desserts along with some photos sprinkled in for inspiration. 

A favorite pie from a creative project. It took forever to style, but I share the photo of it often.

• First, if you have control over the recipe focus on the top. The more detail the better - crumble, lattice, piped meringue, layered fruits. Even if your pie doesn’t set up or look as nice on the inside, you’ll still get some lovely detailed shots of the dessert whole.  

• Practice patience. If you need a shot of the interior, give the pie all the time it needs to cool and set up. Rushing this step is a recipe for frustration. Consider letting it sit overnight if necessary.

• Go overhead for flat pies and galettes. Stacked plates can help elevate the subject. 

The acorn squash galette in my cookbook, the California Farm Table Cookbook. Slightly stacking plates helps separate multiple subjects from each other. Different colors of plates help, too.

• Thickly filled pies make beautiful slice shots. Lower yourself and your camera to focus on the height of the pie. Ensure enough light is on the filling itself. 

The deep dish quiche on the left from my book allows for a great filling shot. The pumpkin pie on the right is shorter but with a firm filling that holds well. Both have plenty of light on the filling, highlighting it for the viewer.

Crostata photographed at the breakfast table during a workshop in Italy. Backlight works well with the lattice top.

• Backlight works for whole pies and especially catches the light on toppings. 

• Keep styling simple. Pies are large subjects that deserve attention. Let them have it. 
  
  

• Slightly pulling away a slice or slicing the pie, but keeping it whole gives you another option that is halfway between the whole or single slice decision.

The tart on the left is from my cookbook Food on Tap and the one on the right is an outtake from a pie in my book, The California Farm Table Cookbook.

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New here? If this is our first introduction, maybe you’d like to know a little more about me, my work, and how I can help. You can always check out my About page at LoriRice.com, here are some recent articles I was featured in. It’s great to meet you!

 From Science to Art at Faire Magazine

The Writer Behind the California Farm Table Cookbook by Georgia Freedman

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Build some skills before the holidays. Take a look at my FREE trainings and PDF guides.

Food and Product Photography Props for Styling Holiday Season Photos

Most photos start with the subject. But when I get stuck in a rut, constantly grabbing for the same prop over and over again, I find reversing the process so helpful. This is especially true during the holiday season. I gather every prop I want in the scene to create the mood I envision and the finally place the subject last.

It’s a great way to use props you’ve had forever, to discover the unexpected that is sitting around the house, and to decide what you truly need in a collection.

These are a few of my holiday photo prop ideas. The things I keep around to style seasonal photo shoots for both food and products.

Old white painted stool - I use this all the time. Found at a church yard sale for $2.

Baskets of all kinds - larger baskets are ideal for setting on the floor and filling with seasonal items like blankets.

Blankets - you can’t have enough for fall and winter photos and I find IKEA a great place to get smaller, thinner options that are less bulky and ideal for stacking.

Bundles of fabric - with or in place of linens or blankets, buying clearance fabric in large quantities can create a seasonal look that can be stacked.

Dried greens, plants, and flowers of all kinds - Trader Joe’s is where I get most of mine and let them dry on their own, I keep the ones that dry well.

Wooden bowls - for a classic look that works from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Vintage cookie cutters and baking tins - always a favorite for holiday scenes.

Rolling pins - vintage are nice, but I also like printed versions for holiday-specific photos.

Heavy linens - moving into heavier fabrics like tweeds and flannels changes the mood of a photo for a seasonal look.

In-shell nuts - I’ve written about this one before and I love them for holiday photos.

Mesh shopping bags - these look as great with fall produce as they do with naturally wrapped gifts sitting inside.

Dried leaves and small branches - I gather them when I walk and sift through my collection each year.

Fuzzy table runners - they don’t have to be intended for that, just buy a few yards of something soft and bulky from the fabric store or use a scarf.

Candle holders - I keep red and green around for the holidays.

Pinecones - another thing I collect on walks and from old arrangements and wreaths that are discarded each season.

Antlers - a natural set painted white is perfect.

Matte scrapbook paper - I think these printed papers work well as a substitute for wrapping paper in photos versus glossy paper.

Paper gift bags - I go with brown but matte colors work, too.

Natural twine - this works well with other natural props and dried elements.

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Five Prompts for Fall Photography and Styling

As the seasons change, so does what I’m inspired to create. My styling and photography shifts to deeper colors, darker shadows, and stronger contrast. 

I find myself experimenting more with flames, warm drinks, and scenes that feel cozier than those that came to me in the muted, lighter summer. 

If you are feeling the same, here are five prompts to use for pulling together some creative photos yourself during this new season.

Make food the supporting star not the hero.

The prompt: If you often photograph food, consider taking your focus away from it. Create a scene that includes food, or hints at it, but make your hero something else - a stack of books, a candle, a dinnerware set, glassware. 

Tips:  Move the food to the foreground or the edges. Catch just a hint of a mug or the handle. Shoot at a shallow depth of field so that it stays out of focus in the scene. Or pull back and create a full scene with a food or drink as simply a part of a bigger set.

Incorporate prints.

The prompt: I love neutrals and solids as much as the next person, but fall is an ideal time to ease into prints for linens and tablecloths. Plaids and prints with browns, grays, blues, specks, and stripes help develop your eye for what works with the subject without stealing too much attention from it. 

Tip: Start by using prints as a surface versus trying to get the placement just right with a linen. If prints make you uncomfortable, focus on tight shots that capture only a bit of the surface. 

Create a fall-inspired diptych.

The prompt: Pick your favorite printed fabric or linen, one that gives you all the autumn vibes, and take a photo of it. Search your archives for a styled photo that pairs well with colors in the fabric, or create a new one. Set them up as a side-by-side in your editing software or Canva for a pleasing visual to share. 

Tip: I love using plaid for this exercise. It has so many colors and shades of those colors to match up with a styled scene. Pairing my photos helps me identify connections in color and mood that I can apply to future work I create. 

Take a prop shot.

The prompt:  Gather props - plates, trays, linens, utensils, cups - with the moodiest vibes you have going in your collection. Style and capture in at least three ways - overhead scene, tight detail, 45-degree angle.  

Tip: Working with still options outside of food sharpens skills at controlling light and styling placement. Plus creating moody prop photos is just a whole lot of fun!

Hit the streets.

The prompt: Whether it is a trail in the woods, the sidewalk in your neighborhood, or the median in a public parking lot, pick the peak week for color change in your area and head out with the camera. Create at least three fall-inspired photos with a unique perspective, a different angle or focus than you would first turn to.

(Timing for my fall photos was sometimes not until early December when I lived in California’s Central Valley. Even if you don’t get a lot of color change, things are changing. When we lived on the coast near the ocean, colors didn’t change, but skies, greenery, and sunsets did.)

Tip: Experiment with a shallow depth of field, especially with leaves and colors. Photograph through branches, squat down and photograph up. Think of ways to photograph that you never have before.

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It’s baking season! Be sure you grab my creative guide with 10 Ways to Photograph Banana Bread.

New Ways I'm Using Pinterest In My Photography Work

First up, I'm super excited to share that my episode on the Simple Pin Podcast published today! I talk with Kate about styling images for Pinterest, what to focus on, and how to do it all yourself, as well as how to manage hiring a photographer and what to look for in stock images.

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 After a bit of burnout from creating my book last year and a big move, I've been starved for creative ideas. I've had to develop some new concepts for client work and, quite honestly, I've gotten so tired of Instagram. My photo-seeking heart is finding no inspiration in videos. 

I've been visiting Pinterest more and more again. If you look back at this blog post, you'll see where I advise not to rely on Pinterest so much for photo ideas. That is, if you are trying to find your own style, it can turn us into copy machines, trying to re-create something exactly as someone else has. 

I still feel that we should all be wary of using it to copy a style versus find our own, but lately I've found some new ways that it's been helping my work as both a business and a creative. 

Color Psychology and Seasonal Mood Boards

I've been using color psychology to guide my branding and my photo styling for a few years now. Not the traditional blue calms and red stimulates kind of psychology, but the kind that links colors, tones, and subjects to the seasons. It was introduced by Angela Wright and is taught in branding by Fiona Humberstone of The Brand Stylist.  

I created (and am still building) Pinterest Mood Boards for Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter with collections of photos that align with these principles of color psychology. I review these boards as a whole vision board as I think about the colors to use in my styling and what season I want my photos to reflect. 

Search Bar Exploration

The search bar on Pinterest is such a valuable tool. Put in one word and it will auto-fill with the types of things people are searching for most. I turn these things into photo inspiration as well as use them for what to write about on my blog. 

For example, I just typed fruit and fruit platter design came up. It's immediate inspiration for me to create some fruit platter photos to build my portfolio. Or perhaps to create photos and write a post about styling them to help promote my business. With pink, pink backgrounds comes up. I think immediately about creating blurred, double exposure photos with pink flowers. 

Pinterest Trends

I love browsing the Pinterest Trends site. For example, searches for zucchini bread and hand made mugs are up right now. Are you thinking about a kitchen table scene with both and an autumn vibe like I am?

Hopefully you get the idea. Inspiration is out there everywhere and it reaches far beyond simply looking at photos created by others to boost your creativity for styling and photography. Let me know how you are finding your inspiration right now. 

Need more idea inspiration? Check out the free guide 10 Creative Ways to Photograph Banana Bread.