The Art of Food Presentation – Tips to Make Your Meals Instagram-Worthy

Ever find yourself looking at gorgeous pictures of people’s food on the internet and think: “Man, that is a really appetizing looking dish. I wish my food was that beautiful!”

What you need are some tips for how to make your dishes look like works of art. Here, I lay them out for you.

Use Colors to Make Things Pop

Red tomatoes pop against an ashen background of pale pasta, for example. Isn’t that charming?

It’s best to plate differently colored foods on white or black dinnerware to create a strong contrast. Colorful plates work too, as long as the food and plate are visually different. Red sauce on a red plate? Snooze-worthy.

Lastly, leave space on the plate. You should never pile the food so densely that it camouflages all of the colors and hides everything from view. Leave a little space between your ingredients in order to let each one stand out on its own. Above all, do not forget garnishes. Green parsley is your best friend; a sprinkle is a blessing.

Stack It Up for Height

Try this trick: raise your food to heights for dramatic effect. Rather than laying a slab of salmon on your plate, stand it upright against some vegetables—it will look much more impressive. Try making small towers if you are carving slices of potatoes or carrots, laying an alternating slice of potato and carrot vertically to make a pile, little by little. Now this food is dramatic and dimensional!

When prepping ingredients, take the time to cut carrots into rounds instead of sticks, or shave Brussels sprouts into paper-thin ribbons. Arrange them creatively on the plate, and finish with a crunch factor—from crispy shallots or crushed nuts. Bam!

Channel Your Inner Mother Nature

For an aesthetic of nature, just use more nature. Scatter small fresh sprigs of herbs or full-blown flower petals across the surface. Put veggies in big leaves such as lettuce cups. Cute!

Carved-out lemon halves work well as little sauce bowls, and apple or pear slices make great little plates to hold the chicken or the cheese, or whatever it is. Let your imagination run free.

Accessorize Like a Stylist

Another neat styling trick? Props!

Embellish your spread with personality and playfulness. Pretty paper, napkins, or fabric make nice backdrops. If your theme is nature-inspired, use moss or wood slices, for instance. Add delicate sparkle with clear glass beads.

Raid your kitchen for vintage serving pieces—stack pancakes or cookies in a mug for fun presentation. Serve your dips in mini pumpkin bowls (super seasonal!) and put appetizers in your vintage teacups. The possibilities are endless.

Go for a Theme

Still want an upper hand? Plan from a theme! Holidays are rife with themes, but you can use anything—an Italian spread, maybe, or a backyard BBQ.

Choose serving utensils, colors, and props to fit your story: ‘Picnic’ might call for checkered napkins cradling retro sandwiches; ‘garden party’ would merit sumptuous flowers and herbal elixirs.

The skill is in choosing your point of focus and ensuring the other elements serve that point. Don’t overwhelm with details that distract. Simplicity helps.

Light it Like a Pro

Even the most artful spread pales under bad lighting. Bad lighting can make your work look a little seedy, even with an iPhone.

Daylight is your best bet when it comes to lighting. Stage your shot by a window and take advantage of that sunshine! Before you take your shot, look for shadows or glaring light. When you’re confident the light is right, snap away!

No good windows?

Place two lamps at either end of your set-up—soften any harsh bulbs with paper or fabric. You just created your own natural light environment. Shazam! Photo booth of your own construction.

Find the Angle

I’ve never understood why cookbooks photograph the food in such a straight-down shot. Sure, you can see everything, but that makes it all seem so distant, even cold. Photograph it from close to eye level.

Get right up to your dish so that it fills most of the frame, but not too close.

Then move, twist, and turn until you hit the money shot—that perfect sweet spot where your dish looks its yummiest.