Fall Styling Tips

First of all: umm…how is it September already?

Second of all: I AM SO EXCITED.

Colder weather… colorful leaves… pumpkin spice… apple cider… plaid EVERYWHERE. Best season ever. 

But autumn also means that your food photography game might need a bit of a tune-up. Which is why we’re bringing you 5 fab tips for food photography as we head into fall and (eventually) the holidays! Because those apple pies and homemade soups aren’t going to photograph themselves…

1. Embrace the season!

Ok ok ok, you’re probably thinking: Uh, isn’t this always true for food photography? And, yes, you’d be right. You always want to create with the season in mind. However, this is *especially* true for fall through winter. During this time people especially want to see heartwarming, hearty recipes—lots of soups, stews, and autumnal baked goods. 😋

This is because people are cooking and baking more than in any other season, so make sure you post photos that reflect peoples’ current interests!

2. Adjust that styling, baby!

PSA: Just because pumpkins, leaves, apples, etc. are in season doesn’t mean you have to put them in your scene to evoke that iconic fall feeling. 

Because let’s get real—adding an orange pumpkin to your scene feels so…meh. And for a lack of better words…cheesy AF! Focus on staying true to your style, while carefully injecting some of these elements. Have a light and bright style? How about painting a gourd or pumpkin a lovely shade of cream or white to go with your scene? Or if you’re a dark and moody kinda gal, have fun using warm, dark woods and thicker linens to conjure up fall coziness!

3. Absolutely NAIL those reds and oranges. 

Mark my words, editing oranges and reds will be the death of me.

They’re just so hard to get right! And since many fall foods are orange, red, or beige, that means we’ll be editing LOTS of orange and red hues. Save us all now…

That’s why I make sure to pay close attention to those colors when I edit. This means familiarizing myself with the HSL panel and tweaking the red and orange hues, saturations, and luminances accordingly. 

A quick tip for reds: I love bringing my red luminance down when I’m shooting red things. It makes the reds stand out without looking sickly red…it’s like going from a farmhouse red to a ruby red. SOOO much softer and easier on the eyes. 

A quick tip for oranges: I rarely want to touch my orange luminance. I find that tweaking that slider even ever so slightly makes the oranges in my photos look off immediately. So instead I play around with the yellow luminance slider (which many times overlaps with what our eyes see as orange hues!). This leads to a more realistic-looking tonal change that doesn’t leave your eyes like wtf just happened and why does my pumpkin look burnt?!

4. It’s all about the PEOPLE and PARTIES!

This tip is so important as you start shooting for the holiday season. Because from Halloween to New Years, the holidays are all about bounty and gathering with people (well, at least they were pre-covid amiright).

So let this come across in your photography! Don’t just photograph one bowl of chili—photograph 3 bowls in a setting that hints that maybe you’re at a post-Halloween chili dinner (anyone else have that tradition???). OR,  instead of photographing a single piece of pie, photograph multiple pieces with hands grabbing for different plates. 

Starting to get it? Once you begin incorporating the bounty of the holiday season with that extra special human element, your fall photography game will seriously level up. 💪

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Aren’t those tips just too much fun?! Hope they help make this season even better. 

Love and brownies,

Sarah & The Foodtography School Team

P.S. be sure to hashtag #foodtographyschool so we can see all your gorgeous fall snaps! Happy photographing!