There’s no telling how food stylist and creative director Farhana Afreen’s work day would pan out. You may find her colour coding a backdrop for a shoot, you may find her at the kitchen of a Kolkata hotspot consulting with a chef, you may see her rushing her team over an ice cream shot (they lose their shape notoriously fast!) or you may just find her with her canvas, brainstorming inspirations for her next mood board.
“Styling came easily to me because I had always been a painter, I was used to painting frames anyway. This is also why I call each of my frames an art composition because the process is very similar,” Afreen tells us.
The food stylist is also an editor, a creative director, a product stylist and a custom backdrop designer, so she brings quite a lot to the table — since she has to style it anyway. But in the age of content, what is the true impact of a well-styled shot or the right camera? How pivotal can a stylist be for a brand aesthetic? If food photography really is high art, what are the parameters involved? Afreen demystifies the realm of food styling in a chat with My Kolkata.
Excerpts from the conversation:
Tell us how you ventured into food styling…
Farhana Afreen: When I started out around seven years ago, I just wanted to get good pictures for my blog. I had always been a painter, I have a diploma in fine arts that I had pursued alongside my academics (I’m a post-graduate in plant genetics). So I was used to the idea of painting frames. When I began blogging, Instagram was new here and some European artists and content creators were so good at what they do with the platform. I was overwhelmed with their compositions, I realised I could do something along the same lines because I found it so interesting.
That’s how it began, I would take pictures for my own blog (nowadays though I don’t get enough time to work on it). I figured out I’m good at doing this, which made me switch professions. Back then Instagram was more helpful than it is today, so I’d gotten a lot of work over Instagram — most of my earlier projects. There were not many stylists out there, the idea of food styling was so new. I started out with a few Mumbai clients.
How much time does a regular food styling session take?
It really depends upon how complicated each composition is and how many layers it has. I also have to think about the lighting and the frames. When you have a stylist and a photographer in a team and they’ve never worked together in the past, their framing methods are different and they may be trying to do different things with one picture.
It’s a common problem but because I do everything on my own, it’s easier for me to assemble and shoot. I learned quickly that you can’t trust someone else’s framing (haha!). Now I have a team and interns who know how I work which makes it easier. So, one composition can take me anything between 30 minutes to an hour.
Are liquids harder to style?
Not really… beverages can come out very well if you have good lighting and use sound techniques. A lot depends on how thick or thin the glass is and if it can diffuse light at all. You have to know if it will reflect or refract light, these aspects matter a lot. So, there’s quite a bit of research involved before we can actually take a good shot.
Do you usually work with mood boards?
Yes, they help us outline how we should envision the shoot and what elements we’re using and how to sync it with the theme. Sometimes clients will tell us, ‘you can style it any way you want (jo bhi accha lage).’ But that’s difficult because they may not like what I like, visually at least. I always start by asking them what they want. We usually make a mood board based on their preferences and share it with the clients to see if it works for them.
Is timing key to styling because many foods tend to lose their shape?
Yes absolutely, you can’t keep shooting something for more than 20 minutes. And with certain things you need to be even faster. With ice cream, for instance, you have to be really quick. So we work with a mock first and then when we have set up the lighting and finalised the frames, that’s when we bring out the real stuff.
What’s the hardest thing to style?
It’s quite hard to style Indian food. They’re usually gravy-based and they’re usually the same colour! You need to be technical about plating it. I usually communicate how it needs to be cooked and if it needs something for the ingredients to shine through.
We always have to analyse what can go wrong, we need to have a knowledge of what we’re shooting. Despite this, things do go wrong and sometimes they don’t turn out the way you expect them to.
Have you ever had an on-set blunder or faux pas?
Yes, so we try to do a lot of motion shots which are trickier because you have to leave enough room for the movement when you’re framing the composition. During such a shoot, one of my interns was pouring cream over a makhani and it spilled over the entire backdrop. It was everywhere, except for the food! I have no clue what had happened there, maybe it was too dark (haha!).
And since backdrops are custom-made, if you ruin one, it’s hard to use them again, so you always need to anticipate what could go wrong with a shoot.
Editors are often under pressure to make subjects look better than reality. Have you ever put your foot down, especially vis-a-vis air-brushing?
There are obviously some lines I can’t cross as a stylist and an editor. So, we put in a lot of effort when the food is being made to make sure it looks good and is true to what will actually be offered to customers.
I have often had this issue with product shoots when I’ve been told to work with 3D mocks or have been asked to remove details, like creases from packets, because that would end up looking unnatural. In these cases when brands want something to look too prim and want to make inauthentic or artificial edits, I put my foot down or try to explain why this shouldn’t be done.
You teach food styling as well
Yes, I do. I teach courses and I would like to scale up my courses so more people can learn about this art and appreciate it
Tell us what camera you use…
I’ve used a range of cameras over the years. I mostly use Nikon. Currently, I use the Z 7II Red (mirrorless) Body which has a good dynamic range
What are some key know-hows any beginner should know about food styling?
I think more people need to realise that food looks best in its natural colour and using too many filters or warm lights may not work the way you want to. So the food ends up looking very different than what it’s supposed to. I always insist that the product should be the star and every composition tells a story, that’s the whole point.
