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Holiday Inn Express
5606 Carpinteria Avenue
Carpinteria,CA 93013
Phone: 1-800-315-2621

Motel 6
5550 Carpinteria Avenue
Carpinteria, CA 93013
Phone: 1-800-466-8356

Motel 6
4200 Via Real
Carpinteria, CA 93013
Phone: 805-684-6921

• 35mm digital camera (Canon 5D, Rebel, Nikon D90, D70, D7000 or better)
• Prime lenses - NO zoom lenses - you need to get into the food, show the texture, eat the food with your lens
• Tripod
• Laptop and card reader for your computer flash card or SD card or whatever your camera uses

• Light: If possible we will use available light and on some of the workshops we will use strobes and / or hard light to create that beauty of natural light
• Get in the action: Food tends just to sit there – really waiting for the food stylist and the food photographer as a team to make it more alive . . . motion . . . or the feeling of being eaten . . .
• Get in close: Take a bite . . . Lift a fork in the food . . . Spoon up the soup . . . Make the food move . . . give it the life of celebration . . . love your food
• Use as much as natural light as possible and/ or a consistent light source with white boards or strobes to look like natural light --- ok yes it is all done with mirrors and reflectors
• Layers and details are important. Create layers with the foreground and background of a photo: don't just shoot a flat bowl of soup. Add dimension and layers with color, a few glasses in the background, interesting details.
• Telling a story about the food is critical. To do this, vary your angles, seek out the light, and photograph different stages of the meal: in preparation, plated, and in the process (being eaten).
• Perspective: Challenge yourself. Try taking photos from above and from below. Shake up the way you usually do things.
• Camera angles and visual pacing: variety is key. You need to work with many camera angles to keep your shots fresh and interesting. Your go-to angles will be the overhead angle (good for food with lots of color), _ view, and side view.
• Get close to the food! Don't stand back three feet and get the food with the stove, the dirty dishes, and all the condiments around it. Move in and get up close and personal, and let the pan... or the plate... or the cutting board fill the frame.
• Cut into the food! Though a finished pan of lasagna or a whole chocolate cake is a beautiful sight, sometimes it's nice to cut into the food and show folks what it actually looks like seconds before you take a bite.
• Use a wide aperture: Aside from the extra light this lets in, it also increases the bokeh effect – bokeh refers to the ethereal, blurry areas in the background and margins of a photo.

Instructor Bios

Claire Stancer

Claire Stancer, is a food stylist who has been helping photographers and art directors achieve beautiful and dramatic work for over two decades. With a range of stand alone editorial work to multiple issue advertising campaigns, Claire's broad experience enables the creative team to get right down to business and produce a dependable result.

Claire also teaches at a college level, Brooks School of Photography, where she shares her experiences with aspiring photographers and food stylists alike.

In her youth Claire worked as a research/writer in television and then trained at the prestigious cooking school La Varenne in Paris. Writing and developing recipes for food publications was her original interest and she has contributed on a regular basis or has had a regular column for a number of Canadian and American publications over the years: Woman's Day, Canadian Living, Toronto Life, Canadian Hotel and Restaurant, and the Oakland Tribune. Claire has worked editing a number of cookbooks and her own book, The Ultimate Salad Dressing Cookbook, went into a second publishing. She has taught classes for Peter Kump's Cooking School in New York and Cook It School in Santa Barbara.

Claire splits her time between Southern California and Toronto, Canada.