Pre-Production

As part of the pre-production process, the food stylist discusses the recipes, dishes, and visual concepts of the shoot with the client. The client may provide specific recipes, or the stylist may be asked to develop and test them. A strong nutritional background and menu-planning skills are advantageous at this stage of their work because food stylists are often called upon to pair and balance a wide variety of complementary foods and beverages in a single layout. After a client tasting, the recipes are given final approval, and they may even be quickly photographed for a visual record of what they look like.