Ever wonder what it takes to make mouth-watering food photography?
The article “Say cheese: Food photography thrives in the Twin Cities”, published in yesterday’s St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper, takes readers behind the scenes of the General Mills Photo Studios, one of the largest in-house digital food photography and food styling studios in the U.S.
Photographers at the Golden Valley studios take more than 25,000 photos each year – with the photos appearing on General Mills food packages, social media sites, websites, cookbooks and more.
On the day that Pioneer Press reporter Tom Webb visited General Mills, the studios were buzzing with three separate projects, including recipe photography for Que Rica Vida’s next magazine. One of the delicious dishes we saw being prepared and photographed was a Peruvian recipe named “Lomo Saltado,” pictured below.
The recipes of all three dishes featured in the article are available on the Pioneer Press website.
I was surprised to learn that the food stylists, beyond having an eye for aesthetics, must be experienced and skilled cooks, since they cook and bake all of the food for the photo shoots.
What do you find most interesting and surprising about the world of food photography?
Editor’s note: The feature photo at the top of this blog post was taken by John Doman of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Photo courtesy St. Paul Pioneer Press.
