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- My name is Anna Lee. I'm a food stylist.
I've done a lot of TV shows and feature films.
So, I will say we are a combo of prop department
and hair and stylist for the food.
There's definitely a few simple tips
that everyone can apply to their everyday food
to make their plate looks better.
My personal trick is to apply
all your ingredients separately.
Usually people mix everything in
a big bowl and dump it on a plate.
They're not gonna be evenly distribute
therefore the color is not pretty on the eye.
So, what I will do is take out the greens,
toss it with just enough dressing.
You want the salad to look moist, not dry.
I will then add my berries, my nuts.
I will rearrange this so there's
not all red on the right-hand side.
It's evenly distribute.
That will make a really balanced, pretty looking salad.
You don't see like the cameras do.
If we are making chow mein with broccoli beef
I look what the camera's looking at
and then I will pull out best looking
piece of beef in front of the camera
a little off center so it's not so staged.
I will grab some good looking broccoli around it.
You have to know what you're trying to sell here.
You want the best looking piece
of whatever to be in the center of your picture.
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So, this is the most important
and the oldest trick in the book.
With vegetables I will spray nothing but water on it.
It gives you a very fresh and crisp look and it's simple.
With protein, meat, steak, burger patty,
I will brush it with oil.
You can either use vegetable oil the fat from cooking.
It will create this shine that takes
your picture to a whole other appetizing level.
I don't like food to look too staged or too artificial.
I will add a few drops of water droplet
or when I'm doing a cookie I will
sprinkle of the crumbs around so it look more natural.
It's almost inviting people to come grab one.
The way I see it I think you can't
go wrong with garnishment.
You can drizzle olive oil on your soup. A little cream.
You could chop all kinds of herbs
to make it look more fun and vivid.
So, adjusting a lot of different layer of texture.
There are different layer of flavor.
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Watch a lot of food channels.
Watch a lot of Instagram.
Have fun. You'll get it.
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