5 must-have tools for food and product styling
These are 5 tools I use at almost every shoot—the essentials! And won’t break the bank. Links below for each item!
Palette Knives: these are perfect for texture swatches for skincare products, smoothing out food textures, and so much more. They come in many shapes and sizes, you can usually find them in a mix pack.
Tweezers: grab a set of long chef/kitchen tweezers. These are super helpful for drinks (for example, layering ice and garnish), as well as adjusting small food/props—especially when everything is already perfectly placed.
Helping Hands: these are my second set of hands when I don’t have help in the studio. You can clip gobos, props, and even hold up items with these. One of the more expensive items, but it will last forever and will make your life so much easier.
White Foam Core Board: you’ve probably seen this in craft stores or used it when in school, but these come in all shapes and sizes and they make the perfect bounce/fill card. I have multiple sizes in white and black. While white foam core boards will bounce light into your scene, black will pull light from it. Sometimes this is useful when you want to create more dynamic shadows and contrast. I also love the white foam core boards for reflective objects—you can surround the object with the boards to avoid unwanted reflections in the room.
Sticky Tack: this stuff works. It’s a great way to hold products in place, especially when using water. I also use this to hold items up at a specific angle (along with the helping hands) to then composite in Photoshop. So many uses and definitely a great addition to your styling kit.
These 3 images are examples of how I used a lot of these tools! The white foam core board was used in all of these (off to the right side as I had my light coming from the left) to bounce a bit of light to the front right side of the products.
First image: the palette knife allowed me to create a smooth texture and shape with the product
Second image: this was a composite (about 3 different images to make one). The sticky tack was used to prop up cookies and hold the top jar in place. The helping hands held up the spoon to create the floating effect. And the tweezers came in handy to carefully place cookie crumbs.
Third image: The sticky tack held the top jar in place. And I used the palette knives to get a nice smooth look to the product before putting it on its side.
LINKS
Foam Core Board (I got mind from Michael’s, but you can find different sizes/colors at any craft store)
Sticky Tack (I got mind from Michael’s, but you can find at any craft store, even Amazon)
