As you're flipping through the fall 2011 catalog, looking at all the pretty photos with appetizing sweets and dishes, you may want to think again ... We stylists have many tricks up our sleeves when it comes to getting products and food "photo ready." 

 



An elegant but spooky shot of our smoky Demibottle Trio was perfect for holding some black licorice; candy easily found during the fall months. However, we are often a few months out of season when we shoot for catalog, and in this case it was more like last spring! Point being, black licorice was not so easy to find, and because we felt it was just perfect for this shot we had to improvise.

 

 


Our wonderful stylist, Mary Beth, spray-painted — yes you heard me — all of the licorice! Not so appetizing now, right? On top of that, after the licorice dried and we placed it in the shot the candle from the middle bottle began melting the spray paint, what a mess! 

Now look at those yummy looking ripe red tomatoes and cheese. This is a shot of Susan styling some appetizers for her outdoor table scape at convention.

 


The problem is, these need to stay looking fresh and ripe for a few days. So what do we do?

 


Windex! A stylist's best friend! Still want to take a juicy bite into those appetizers? That's what I thought ... The Windex keeps it looking shiny and preserves it just a little longer, but for catalog photography we usually just use a spray bottle of water.

Of course not everything in the catalog and convention has Windex and spray-paint on it, believe me I've nibbled on my fair share of prop food! But next time you flip through any catalog you might think twice about that pretty photo of sweets!