Choosing the right surface, dishes and linens can be confusing and stressful. Here are three of my tips to help you. 

#1 Size does matter.

Using the appropriate sized plates, bowls and silverware is so important!

Don’t let your brain immediately think of a large dinner plate to put that piece of 10-cheese-italian-sausage-spinach-alfredo-lasagna on, JUST because that’s how you would serve it to your family.

That’s going to leave a whole-lotta extra plate to cover, and make your lasagne look small.

So, you might think, “Well, I could just put a big salad and a giant piece of garlic bread behind it.”…and well, you could. But then you have a lot going on, and unless you come in really tight while you shoot it, and just catch that lasagne, it’s just going to be a hot mess.

Think smaller plate. My prop arsenal has many more salad sized plates than dinner plates, and equally, more smaller sized bowls.

Place that same piece of lasagna on a small plate, add maybe, a small piece of bread leaning off the back side, some herbs or garnish sprinkled on the top and messily getting onto the plate and perhaps a fork lying across some of the empty space. Keep it clean and simple.

Which brings me to tip number #2

Knives, forks, and spoons. All kinds and all sizes.

They become arrows. Things that point and say “Look over here, see where I’m pointing, I want you to look at THAT!” Let them be subtle props creeping in to your shot, or partially hiding behind something. Try to direct them pointing out of the shot.

If you place more than one in a shot, make sure they are pointing different directions. Try not to create parallel lines. 

And, if placed too close to camera, can look like giant gardening tools. Try not to point them straight towards camera. The end closest to camera looks YUGE, and can be unrecognizable as a spoon or fork.

So, this obviously applies to cooking utensils. Wooden spoons, etc. They’re even bigger! Let them find their place near the back, tucked into a mixing bowl or just coming into the shot.

Again, the size matters a lot here too. I will generally use the small forks and spoons of the set, rather that the larger ones, unless you’re placing them towards the back of the shot, they will just compete too much with the lovely food you spent all day making.

And #3.  Just because it’s ‘cool’ or ‘pretty’, doesn’t mean it will work.

This doesn’t happen too often, but there have been a few times I’ve had a client want to purchase the dishes we will be using for a shoot. Can you say ‘disaster’?

I show up to find these ornate plates and bowls with wavy sides and patterned with some crazy color scheme. Or bowls so tall and deep that you would never see what’s inside of them.

Were they pretty dishes? (sometimes, haha). Will they work on a food shoot? NO!!!

This applies to you too! Don’t buy a dish just because you love it. It needs to work for the food you intend to put in it, or it will distract from the food.

It’s so important to choose your own dishes. Only you know what your food is going to look like and what ideas you have for plating it.

Think about color. Think about what color the food is you’ll be putting on it. You can never go wrong with white, or light colored plates, but you can also use contrasting colors to compliment it. Such as, something orange may work well with a bluish, or turquoise colored plate, Or light food with a dark plate and vise-versa. Monochromatic schemes also work very well.

You can also pull colors in with your linens if you want to go neutral with your dishes.

Just follow your favorites on Instagram or Pinterest and you’ll be inspired!