Episode 654: Food Styling Like a Pro – Tools, Composition & Creative Tricks with Ashley Freeman

EBT654 – Ashley Freeman

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Supercut  00:37

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Megan Porta  00:52

I have recorded quite a few episodes over the years about food styling, food photography, how to choose props, that sort of thing. However, I have never recorded an episode on this topic that has brought so many novel ideas to me. Ashley Freeman from little black skillet joins me in this interview, and she provided so many details about food styling and food photography that I had never thought of ever before. So I think you’re gonna find some really good ideas, even if you are a more advanced food photographer and food stylist that you can use in your food photography. She talks about setting yourself up for success. She talks about the equipment she uses props. She has so many good ideas for props. You guys, composition is an important detail for food styling, which I feel you can develop over time. But she gives some tips for that, also just the fact that we need to practice constantly in order to get better. I absolutely loved this conversation. I hope you enjoy it. It is episode number 654. 

Megan Porta  02:07

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Megan Porta  02:50

Ashley Strickland Freeman is the creator of the blog Little Black Skillet. Just like a “Little Black Dress,” she strives to create approachable, everyday recipes her audience can trust and turn to again and again. With over 19 years of experience as a food stylist, cookbook author, recipe developer and tester, and culinary producer (culinary content creator for short), Ashley offers a unique perspective having worked on all sides of culinary publishing. In addition to developing recipes and food styling for some of her favorite brands, she’s currently working on her fourth cookbook. 

Megan Porta  03:26

Hi, Ashley, thank you for joining me. How are you today? 

Ashley Freeman  03:29

I’m great. I’m so excited to be here. 

Megan Porta  03:31

I’m so excited too. So you joined me and a couple other bloggers on a recent podcast, which, by the time this publishes, people will have heard that. So you were one of those newer bloggers who has found success in various ways. So thank you for joining me for a second time. 

Ashley Freeman  03:49

Yeah, I’m excited to do it again.

Megan Porta  03:51

Yay. Okay, we’re gonna talk today about food styling and how to improve that and make your photos stand out from the rest, because you do have a background in photography, which we’ll talk about in a little bit. But before we get to all of that, do you have a fun fact to share with us?

Ashley Freeman  04:07

I do, and it’s actually quite timely. My grandmother was the first woman under Under Secretary of the Treasury for the Jimmy Carter Administration. No, yes, and she’s actually she taught me how to cook, as well as my mom, and broke the glass ceiling. And just was a big, you know, woman pioneer, and… 

Megan Porta  04:30

So I got chills as you were talking about that. That is, that is so cool. I just love especially older, bad ass women, because back then, it was really hard to be a badass. Definitely the people who were just are so inspiring. I think that is awesome. And Jimmy Carter, yeah, he just passed away, right a few weeks ago, yep, at age 100 or something. 

Ashley Freeman  04:55

Incredible, incredible person. 

Megan Porta  04:58

He was a good person. One of. One of those few that is actually a good person. Sorry to offend anyone, if anyone, anyway, I don’t talk about politics on Eat Blog Talk, so moving on. I do love that fun fact that is so cool, and it has your grandmother passed away.

Ashley Freeman  05:16

She we, yes, we actually lost her in September. 

Megan Porta  05:19

Oh my gosh, so recently. 

Ashley Freeman  05:20

Well, and the fact that they kind of passed around the same time that just, you know, maybe they’re hanging out together eating a bowl of grits.

Megan Porta  05:29

Absolutely that’s so cool. Yeah, all right, you are here to talk about food styling. I love your story with how you got started with your blog, because it’s a little bit different than the norm. So tell us a little bit about that, and what Little Black Skillet is all about.

Ashley Freeman  05:45

Yeah. So I actually started right out of so I went to college. My undergraduate degree is in journalism, and then I got an internship at Coastal Living Magazine, which, back then was a dove southern progress. So Southern Living magazine cooking light, it’s like a big umbrella. My dream, growing up being from Savannah, Georgia, was to work for Southern Living along with many other of my friends. And so that’s why I applied for that internship, and I was paired with a food editor. I didn’t even know that job even existed. And so after I finished my internship, I went to culinary school and then landed a job in the Test Kitchen for Oxmoor house, which was the book division for Southern Living and cooking, like all those under that umbrella. And it was like my dream job. I started in the Test Kitchen developing recipe, then one day they were short on a food stylist, and I was volunteered to do it, and just jumped right in and discovered that, like, I actually, like, really loved it and had a knack for it. And then I moved over to the editorial side and was a cookbook editor for a bunch of years before meeting my now husband. Birmingham is where we were located, and he’s a marine biologist and was getting his PhD. And of course, Birmingham is landlocked, so we moved to Florida, and I became a freelancer, and so kind of took all of my skills that I had learned there, and I really focused in on the food styling stuff, because I had some connections in Savannah, where I’m from, and did cookbooks and the whole gamut. So yeah, anyways, that’s my long, drawn out story of how I got to where I am. But a couple of years ago, I really, I don’t know, I just got this feeling I wanted to do something for myself. I was doing all these recipes and photos and cookbooks for other people, and that was great. But I just, I don’t know, I had this desire to have my own connect with people. So that’s when I started my blog. I launched it, fall so I’m still kind of.

Megan Porta  07:42

Yeah, and your blog has found some great successes in a short time as well. 

Ashley Freeman  07:48

It’s been really great. And I think I just, I love it. It is like, so fun every day. Is just, I mean, of course, there are some things like GA4 and SEO and,

Megan Porta  07:57

I mean, right, you know, there’s so many pieces we can’t like it all right, exactly. Yeah, I love your story and how you kind of fell into what you love. That doesn’t often happen where something accidentally falls into your lap and you end up loving it. That’s the coolest thing ever. So food styling was one of those first things where you were like, Oh, this really inspires me? 

Ashley Freeman  08:21

Yes, absolutely. I mean, because think about it, like we eat with our eyes first. I mean, everyone, when you go to a restaurant, a lot of people, before they even eat, they take a picture of their food with their phone, right? And so, yeah, I don’t know, like, I just love making full food. And yeah, it’s so yummy. And want to dive right in. 

Megan Porta  08:39

I know. And you can tell I’m just looking at your site. Your Visuals are great. I love your colors and just the way that you’ve captured everything. You have some great scenes. Okay, let’s talk about it, because I need to learn from you. So since this is a piece of the puzzle that you really love, who have some tips for us, for those people who might need a little bit extra hand holding in this area. So how do we go about setting ourselves up for success with this? Does it start with camera lens? Where do we get started? 

Ashley Freeman  09:14

Yeah. So the big thing, I think, the big takeaway, is you don’t really need a ton lighting, lights and all the, all the things. So I have, kind of my must haves. I do recommend getting a really good camera. I have a Nikon DSLR. I know a lot of food photographers that use Canon. So it’s, it’s, honestly what you feel comfortable with. We had gotten a Nikon because my husband’s father was a big photographer and had tons of Nikon lenses, and so that’s why we went with that one nice use the lenses, you know, but I feel comfortable with the camera, and I think that’s the big thing, is, whatever makes your life easier, you don’t need all the fancy schmancy, expensive things. It’s just. Whatever works best for you.

Megan Porta  10:01

So starting off with a solid camera is a must.

Ashley Freeman  10:06

Yeah, yeah. And I have a zoom lens that I use the majority of the time. So that’s another way to you don’t need to have 45 different lenses necessary, right?

Megan Porta  10:16

45 is a lot. And yeah, I agree. I found a lens that I love, a zoom lens that I loved a couple years ago, and I don’t need anything else, honestly. It does such a good job with food. It is currently broken, by the way, but 

Ashley Freeman  10:30

Oh, bummer.

Megan Porta  10:32

 I know I need to get that fixed. It does such a good job that I was like, I don’t need to look for another lens. So once you find that magic lens, stick with it for a while, right? 

Ashley Freeman  10:40

Right? Yeah. The other thing that I really couldn’t live without is my tripod. So I shoot with a tripod, just because tending to be in focus. So the one I use is a, I always will probably pronounce this incorrectly, but a Manfrotto. But it’s an Italian brand very well known.

Megan Porta  11:00

I like how you said it Manfrotto.

Ashley Freeman  11:05

If you say it in an accent, then if it’s wrong, yeah. So it has a horizontal column. So what you can do is you can lift it up and then bend it over, so you can do over head shots. It also has the it’s a geared head, so you can, like, tilt it down for three quarter shots, or, you know, whatever. It’s very versatile. So I’d say invest in those two things for sure. Yeah. Then for editing software, I use Lightroom. There’s also Capture One that a bunch of my friends use, but a brain tends to work with Lightroom. I’m not very techy. 

Megan Porta  11:38

So Lightroom so easy, so easy, intuitive, and right, it’s okay. And I feel like people are kind of led to one editing software, and then they stick with it. So whatever you naturally are drawn to, you’ll use probably forever.

Ashley Freeman  11:54

Exactly, yeah. And I tend to have analysis paralysis. So if there’s anything I have to learn that’s new, it’s like, super overwhelming, yeah? So, like, I’m a Lightroom person, yeah, for now, at least. 

Megan Porta  12:06

I love Lightroom. I use Lightroom in tandem with Photoshop there. So I’m old school. I’m a graphic designer. I learned Photoshop extensively when I was younger in my 20s, so I kind of go back to some of the things I learned there, just that I feel like can’t be done anywhere else. So I’ll do like Lightroom, and then if I need tweaks, I’ll bring it to Photoshop. But that’s probably not necessary. Whatever is your your process that you end up with, stick with it, right? 

Ashley Freeman  12:35

Exactly. Yeah. 

Megan Porta  12:37

Do you have other equipment, like little tools? So camera lens, you mentioned the Manfrotto, the tripod, and then anything little that you like, as far as styling goes, yeah?

Ashley Freeman  12:51

So, I mean, like, yeah, Q tips, if you have a little smudge you don’t like. Also have a set of, like, small paint brushes from the kitty aisle from IKEA. They’re great little brushes, but, like, really, any Yeah, you want them to be quality enough that the bristles won’t fall off into your food, because that’s no fun to edit, you know, yeah, or eat, or eat, yeah, and then also tweezers. I have several different, you know, if you find I’m not, I don’t get too precious when I do food styling for my blog. So I won’t like move parsley unless it’s, yeah, really weird, yeah. But tweezers are great for that.

Megan Porta  13:32

Yep, yeah. Sometimes those little things get in the way and you’re like, Ooh, I don’t want to stick my finger in there, right? Yeah. So you got to figure out a way to move it around. Anything else for equipment,

Ashley Freeman  13:43

I think those are my major ones. Paper towels, I use Windex wipes are very helpful. Like, if you have, like, greasy smudges on glassware, those are, yeah,

Megan Porta  13:54

I feel like smudges are something that are often overlooked. Like you look at the food, and you forget to look around the food totally. So you have to train your brain to kind of see, look for smudges. It took me a long time to realize that, like, oh, that plate is full of fingerprints and smudges and oil and well, and

Ashley Freeman  14:15

that’s for me too. Like, I’m used to working on a team. I’m usually the food stylist, and then you have a photographer, and you have a prop stylist, and so I’m usually just focused on the food. And so when I started taking photos for my blog, it was that was a an adjustment, yeah, me too, because I had to look for everything, or I’d find it later in Lightroom, like, dang it, yeah, this fingerprint.

Megan Porta  14:38

You see it while you’re editing, and you’re like, How did I not see that exactly on the plate or through my viewfinder? It’s so funny how that happens. Okay, so equipment we’ve got, and I’m wondering, so this is where I kind of lack props. I’m so simplistic, I tend to just I’m kind of lazy. So I’ll go. With the basics, like the basic, simple, simple, but I love it when I see scenes that are propped and just looking so nice and styled and patterned and all of that. So what are your thoughts on props? 

Ashley Freeman  15:14

This is one of my favorite parts of food styling. We actually joke that the reason why I went into having a blog is that I had a way to use all these treasures, as I call them, that I find, like, antique malls and stuff, and often, like, if I do see something that I really love, I will develop a recipe just so I can use it. Oh, I love it. That’s awesome. So yeah, but like you said, I mean going simple, that’s that’s totally fine for me. Like, because this blogging world, I feel like I was late to the game since I just started, and it’s, it’s kind of, it feels a little oversaturated, and so I was trying to figure out a way to make myself stand out, and honestly, like I feel like props, and what I use can help me do that. So with that said, Though you don’t have to spend, I’m still a new blog too, so budget is very important. So like, I’ll go to like, Home Goods or antique malls, like I mentioned, thrift stores have lots of great thing. Or I’ll go shopping in my mom’s cabinet when I go visit her. Great idea, I love that you can recycle, like, pickle jars, you can wash the dishwasher, and they work great with all the labels on it. And there’s so many things, I think the the key is you don’t want to use something that’s going to detract from so something with, like a soup pattern that I I would stay away from that so you don’t have to go white. Yeah, but that’s something to keep in mind.

Megan Porta  16:41

Okay, I was looking at your let’s see. I think it’s the marry me, chicken, pasta, yes, recipe and your ingredient shot is unlike any I’ve ever seen outside. 

Ashley Freeman  16:55

Let me look at that. Remember it off the top of my head. 

Megan Porta  16:58

Ingredient shots, to me, are are boring and basic, which I think is, I mean, it’s fine, that’s how I do mine boring and basic, but yours is so perfect. It’s just this perfect composition. And I love the backdrop that you use and you’ve got, I mean, it’s styled, but it looks natural too. It’s really cool how you did that. 

Ashley Freeman  17:20

Thank you. Yeah, so that’s another I don’t know I have. When we built our house, we had an extra room and it was going to be become my office. Like, that was a big reason why we bought this house, and I have a whole wall with all my props and, like, sometimes if I’m in a bad mood, I’ll just go in there and, like, I’ll get all my little bowls and things and so like the ingredient shots are a way for me to use all these little things that I’ve picked up that just make me happy. 

Megan Porta  17:47

I love that so much. Your props make you happy. They do. They’re fun, aren’t they, just the colors and the textures, talking about placemats and backdrops and dishes and all the different patterns. There’s so much that if you’re that creative minded individual, like most of us are, yeah, it’s just this creative world. So I totally know what you mean, how that can make you happy. Definitely. Yeah, anything else with props that you would recommend? I love your suggestion to just go to your mom’s house or maybe your grandma’s house or something. Yeah,

Ashley Freeman  18:22

exactly. You don’t have to spend a ton of money or any at all. So when I’m buying props, I tend to go for smaller things. So like, even if you’re shooting like a main dish, I would go for either a salad plate sized, because unless you know, you have a giant piece of chicken. It’s kind of swallow, which, I mean, that is kind of what you buy, but it might look a little weird once you take a picture of it. So like smaller plates and like juice glass height, because when you have your angle of your shot, usually smaller. It’s like the proportions end up looking better when you take that photograph. Yeah. Oh, for linens, one tip that I actually know I didn’t think of this, but another food stylist was doing, is you go to a fabric store and they have remnants super cheap, and you can just get, I mean, because you don’t need a pack of eight napkins, usually you only need, like, a couple so, like, you can go to a fabric store and get some quote, unquote napkins, you know, just get little pieces of fabric, and it’s like, so cheap.

Megan Porta  19:30

Great idea, another great idea. Never would have thought of that. But what about backdrops? Do you have any tips on that?

Ashley Freeman  19:37

Yeah, so backdrops, I love to use vinyl ones that can just roll up and you can tuck away, because a lot of us don’t want a space for storage. And actually some of my friends, a food photographer and a food prop stylist, they started a surfaces company, Southern Ash Surfaces, so I use a lot of their backdrops. And actually we’ll share code, a discount code, and, yeah, 20% offer, a really great deal for. 

Megan Porta  20:04

And are those the role of variety? 

Ashley Freeman  20:06

They are. And a lot of that’s a lot of what I use. But I’ve also made my own. My husband loves to do little well, he loves an excuse to go to Lowe’s. So yes, so that was right up his alley. But, you know, those pallets that you find by the dumpster that people are getting rid of, those make great surfaces. What you all you have to do is they’re usually like, there’s big space in each board, so you have to pull them off and, you know, push them together. But I mean, that’s like a another free way to create a surface. You can paint it whatever you want to. I also have gone to home improvement stores and just looked for like sheets of random product, of like they use. There’s a concrete one that I have. I don’t know what it’s used for, but makes a great surface. Anyways, there’s, there’s lots of places where you can look for that. You can spread plaster on sheets of plywood, use a spackle brush or a spackle tool.

Megan Porta  21:04

There’s great ideas. You’re giving us so many budget ideas for styling. This is great. You ever would have thought of the palette either.

Ashley Freeman  21:12

Super easy. 

Megan Porta  21:15

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Megan Porta  22:19

Okay. Should we move on to composition? Because I think composition is super important and something that you definitely learn over time, right? 

Ashley Freeman  22:27

Yeah, absolutely. 

Megan Porta  22:28

Yeah. So what are your thoughts on composition?

Ashley Freeman  22:30

So I think one thing that’s really helped with me, now that I am a one woman show like I have to think of everything. I usually plan out my photos ahead of time. So when I am testing the recipe, I usually test using the casserole dish or the soup bowl or whatever that I am thinking that I want to shoot it in so that I kind of get an get a visual of it ahead of time. That way, if I need to make a change, I’m not doing it like on the spot. I also try to figure out the best angle for the image first. So if it’s a drink, usually it’s going to be a straight on shot. And that kind of helps me. I’m a big planner.

Megan Porta  23:09

A lot of food bloggers are, yes,

Ashley Freeman  23:11

So that really helps too. And then I set up my scene before I do anything. So if I need to do a stand in I will, I’ll kind of have the idea of the color, of what it’s going to be. So if it’s a brown food, I will maybe put a crumpled up paper bag in a bowl, you know, so I can kind of see what the colors are. I really use color theory when I set up my shot. So, so I’m a southern girl, and a lot of the foods I make are brown. We have lots of brown food. 

Megan Porta  23:42

Yep, casseroles.

Ashley Freeman  23:44

Exactly. So parsley goes a long way, but also colorful props. So I found that blue really goes well with brown. So you’ll see blue and a lot of my photos, but like a colorful napkin or a glass that has water in it, just something to add a little more umph to the scene. But I usually use multiples. Multiples tend to be more pleasing in the eye for the eye, so like three bowls of soup, or, you know, you can even have, like a pot of soup in the middle, but then, like an odd number of things.

Megan Porta  24:20

Okay, and do you go with odd odd number? Most typically

Ashley Freeman  24:23

do. There will be, like, for drinks. I’ll have two. I don’t know just when I’ve tried to do one, it feels naked to me. That’s just a gut unless you’re like, super into it, into if it’s a far back shot, I try to have things.

Megan Porta  24:39

Can you talk more about color theories. In case somebody doesn’t know what you mean by that. Yeah, of course. 

Ashley Freeman  24:44

If you you’ll see you can, I mean, you can Google it, you look up a color wheel, and so I usually go with complimentary colors. So it’s like, on a color wheel, you’ll have your color, and it’s whatever color is directly across from it. So like, yellow and. Purple. That’s just colors that go together, that are either they’re opposites or they’re like, close to each other.

Megan Porta  25:07

Like blue and I think Is it blue and orange? That are blue and orange? I experimented with that for a while, and that pops for food photography. I loved that combo for a while. 

Ashley Freeman  25:16

Yeah, exactly. 

Megan Porta  25:17

Yeah. The color wheel is really cool, if you look at I the color wheel for me is kind of like props for you. I just love colors and art and opportunity to put different things together. So I love looking at colors and like those Pantone I’m sure, as a stylist, you know what I’m talking about, those Pantone paper samples that you can just like I could look at those for days. And the same goes for the color wheel, just like, oh, this color, these colors go really well together, or these do not, right? I just find that so inspiring. 

Ashley Freeman  25:50

Yeah, it’s really fun, too.

Megan Porta  25:52

 I know we get so nerdy about the funniest things, don’t we? Anything else for composition, so I like your use of odd numbers and multiples too. I think that’s really important to you. So if you have a stack of plates, yeah, you stack plates and then multiple pieces of silverware too, yeah.

Ashley Freeman  26:11

So one thing I do is like, I’ll close my eyes, and then I’ll look at the photo. And if my eye is going to one particular place and I don’t want it to then I know I need to make a change. So like, a stack of plates, if it, if it’s too jarring, I’ll like, put a napkin on top, and maybe some forks. Like I obviously, you want the food to be the focus. So that’s a trick that I do. Also, you want your eye to move around the photo. You don’t want to be just stuck on one thing. So the direction of your fork, if it points up to the right, like you want your eye to move around. So that’s another thing that I’ll look for when I close my eyes. 

Megan Porta  26:50

Okay. Point I was wondering about. I’m just so intrigued by your ingredient shots, because the kind of standard, like I said earlier, basic and simple. It’s fine. Most people capture the ingredients so that there’s white space all around them. I do this too, but you capture ingredients so that some of the ingredients are actually leading off the screen, which is so intriguing, because that kind of tells a story, like there’s more here. Yeah. So did you accidentally land on that? Is this something you purposefully do? 

Ashley Freeman  27:24

I just like the way it looked, yeah, I went with my gut, which is thing I do often. Yeah, I didn’t want it to be an afterthought. I mean, because that’s kind of how we just rush through the step, step by step, photos and the ingredients. But like, I just was having fun with it, so that’s kind of how I landed on that. Well, thank you.

Megan Porta  27:43

Yeah, it looks so good. It’s very inspiring. And then I am wondering about, sometimes, not in your photos, but in, in some other photos, I some of the food that’s kind of scattered around a scene can look unnatural. Do you know what I mean? Like, if you use, I don’t know, like rice in a dish or something, and then there’s right grains of rice laying around. It’s like, Wait, that isn’t actually what would happen if you were serving this dish, right? So do you have thoughts on that? 

Ashley Freeman  28:15

I don’t like that, which I know it’s like, I don’t want it to sound judgey, but I want it to be like, I want someone to feel like they have just arrived at this scene. I want it to be approachable. So if you have a cooked rice and there’s raw rice, I’m like, Oh, am I about to dig into this dish of raw rice? Yeah? No. So, yeah. So I, on the one hand, I try to embrace the mess. I want it to feel natural and not stuffy or perfect, which is hard for me, because I am a perfectionist, but I don’t know, I feel like, if you have crumbs or some parmesan cheese that’s fallen out of the bowl, that’s, you know, off to the side, like I just, I feel like that’s natural. That’s what would naturally happen. And it kind of invites your the reader, to dive in, feel like they can do it too,

Megan Porta  29:07

right? So something natural that you would actually encounter if you came upon the scene, not like, Oh, I dropped my rice before cooking it, oops on the counter. Here you go. I’m gonna serve you cooked rice. That probably is not going to happen. And yeah, not to judge, like, if you do that, it’s fine. Maybe it works for you and your blog totally. But yeah, just running through some different options here. I’m kind of obsessively looking through your recipes right now because you do such a good job with composition. I think that is such an important piece of it. The thing I talked about earlier with your ingredients shots kind of going out of the scene. You do that also with your hero shots, which I think is really cool, like a just a quarter of a bowl of rice on the top, or something, and that, that is kind of a hint that there’s more going on here. It’s. Not just what is in the frame. There’s a scene or an event or something happening that’s bigger than this picture, which is really cool. Yeah,

Ashley Freeman  30:09

I find it that gives a feeling of, you know, it makes you feel welcome, kind of like you’re not an outsider. It’s like you’re a part of it. That’s what I try to evoke in my photos. 

Megan Porta  30:20

So you mentioned embrace the mess. Yes, talk about that. What do you mean by embrace the mess?

Ashley Freeman  30:25

Yeah, so cheese that’s fallen out of the bowl, or parsley that, oops, you were garnishing your plate and you missed. I love drips and ooey gooey, like, just something that makes people want to have to make that like, that’s the goal. But also I want to make it approachable. Yes, I do have a culinary degree, and I do this for a living, but like, you can make this too. Like, that’s kind of the idea that I’m always thinking of when these photos is I want it to

Megan Porta  30:52

be, yeah, people like approachable. These days. They like real. They like messes, as long as makes sense, right? And that’s refreshing, I think.

Ashley Freeman  31:01

yeah. So, like, if I have a piece of cake on a plate, the photo, I will take one of, you know, a perfect slice. But then I’ll also take photos of a bite taken out. And that’s usually 99% of the time, that’s the photo I go with, yeah, just because it feels real, I lived in, yeah.

Megan Porta  31:18

People feel like they took the bite. It is a real scene. So the lesson or moral there is, if you do drop a crumb or you your parsley goes somewhere else, flies off the plate, try it right, exactly how it looks. Be Awesome.

Ashley Freeman  31:35

So with that in mind, too, I do have some food styling, like tricks I’ve learned. 

Megan Porta  31:39

Oh, let’s hear it, yeah. 

Ashley Freeman  31:42

o you want cheese to look ooey gooey. Sometimes that’s really tricky. Like, if, especially if you’re mac and cheese or whatever, it’s been sitting on the scene for a while. If you brush it with a little bit of, like, vegetable oil, it’s brushes. It looks hot and fresh. Same with, like, chocolate chips on a cookie. You just brush it with a little oil looks Ooby, gooey, like the oven. So, like, when I do food styling, I, you know, you say, Oh, I’m a food slice. People think put motor oil on your Yeah, you know, like, fake stuff. And I don’t do any of that. I mean, I do things that enhance it, because at the end of the day, I want whoever makes this recipe to, like, they can achieve this too, like, of course, I will do a few things to like, make it look the best it can. But if you want a stack of pancakes, you don’t have to use motor oil on top for it to look. I do have a trick for getting, like, that perfect drip. You buy a bottle of the Chi Aunt Jemima syrup. Boil it down for a little bit. You make it super thick. You can put it on top of the pancake, and it’ll drip like you can kind of pull it down with your tweezers, and it’ll stay. So if you want to get, like, a really nice drip shot, and it’s just you, and you don’t have, you know, someone able to click the photo, that works really well. 

Megan Porta  32:59

That is so great. I never would have thought of that love that does that work with any other ingredients for drip shots, 

Ashley Freeman  33:05

Not for drips. I love to use Cool Whip for whipped cream as a alternative, because it stays, yeah. So the whole thing is like, time is your enemy, right when you’re shooting a photograph. So any little tricks that I use, it’s like, just to extend the time that I can take the shot, yeah,

Megan Porta  33:24

to think through that too, just to take the time, like, if this is frozen, it’s gonna last a little bit longer. And, oh,

Ashley Freeman  33:31

shooting ice cream is, like, the worst thing ever.

Megan Porta  33:35

That’s why I stopped making ice cream recipes, because it’s so hard. Do you have any tips for ice cream? 

Ashley Freeman  33:42

Dry ice works really well. So you can, like, pre portion scoops, and so I’ll pre portion scoops, and I’ll freeze those. Honestly, though, like, it’s a little different shooting for my blog versus, like a commercial client. I mean, I’ve made fake ice cream before when we’re not selling ice cream, honestly, like melty ice cream. That’s real that’s real life, right? So I’ll just freeze the scoops ahead of time, like overnight, and that makes them last a little bit longer, or use dry ice if it’s like July and I’m trying to shoot ice cream or

Megan Porta  34:14

Something right in the middle of summer. Any other food styling tips you can think of?

Ashley Freeman  34:19

Yes, so one of my favorite tools is it’s a grill starter. So I actually call it the Home Alone tool. You know, when he puts the little thing on the doorknob, it’s like, the grill 

Megan Porta  34:30

Yes, yeah, yeah. 

Ashley Freeman  34:31

So that makes great grill marks. And it’s electric grill starter, as it’s techno, not the Home Alone tool. But if you’ve grilled something, and your grill marks are not like very prominent use that you just heat it up. Oh, gosh. And then also, if you overcook steak, grenadine paint grenadine in the center, it’ll make it look more rare. So, oh, helpful tip.

Megan Porta  34:56

There are at least 10 things you’ve mentioned that I never would have thought of in this interview. So mind blown. Thank you, Ashley. Anything else for food styling? 

Ashley Freeman  35:06

I think those are the biggie. Okay, yeah, lots of, lots of info there.

Megan Porta  35:10

Yeah, well, if you think of anything else before we say goodbye.

Ashley Freeman  35:15

Honestly, like, if anyone will share my contact info, but I love sharing this with people. So if someone wants to, like, reach out and say, Hey, I’m having trouble with this recipe or whatever, like, I would love to hear.

Megan Porta  35:28

That’s very generous of you. Thank you. And then one last thing I wanted to ask about, before we start saying goodbye, is just, I mean, we all kind of know this, but in order to get better, you’ve got to practice, and you gotta stick with it, and you just have to keep improving publishing, even if things aren’t perfect. So talk about that.

Ashley Freeman  35:49

Yeah, like, honestly, that is, that’s my best advice. Is just practice. My background in food styling is I showed up and they needed a food stylist, and so I just, I went with my gut, and I’ve had several clients where I’ve had the opportunity to and, I think I’ve just gotten better the more I do it. Yeah, one thing that I have done that’s really helped is I will go on Pinterest or, I guess, Google Images, and see what photos I’m drawn to, like, what I like about them, study the photo, like, Oh, I really like their lighting or their angle, or the way that they made this casserole look great, or whatever, and I figure out what it is I like about that, and then I use that when I’m creating photos, too. The other thing that I think is really important that’s kind of hard to do is like, it’s great to be inspired by images, but don’t copy. That’s an easy thing to do is you see someone having success doing a certain thing like that’s great, but the whole idea is to, like, create your own look while still being inspired by what other people can do. 

Megan Porta  36:56

Yeah, it’s great to be inspired, but maybe just seeing it as you are taking elements from, like, colors or patterns or textures, props, etc, like you mentioned, and making it your own. Yeah, it is. It is kind of scary because you don’t, I know, sometimes I am so inspired by things that I see that I’m like, I have to be careful not to like, copy that, you know, like, even if you’re like, oh my gosh, this image is exactly what I want to convey, you have to be so careful. Because, I mean, that’s a real thing copying, yeah, the way people take their photos have, people have gotten in big trouble for that. So you do have to be, you have to be aware and just be very careful well.

Ashley Freeman  37:39

And the whole point two is you want to stand out so you don’t want to. You want people to be like, Oh, that is a photo from little black skillet or not. Yeah, you know, they’re copying that looks like half baked harvester. You know, whatever it’s.

Megan Porta  37:53

it is. So Ashley saying, practice, practice, practice. Don’t give up. Keep putting stuff out there, even if it feels like it’s not perfect. Do you have any other last bits of advice before we start saying goodbye Ashley? 

Ashley Freeman  38:07

I think like over time I’ve kind of my look has kind of developed. Yeah, just practice whatever makes you light up. No, I feel like that shows for sure.

Megan Porta  38:18

So you’ve mentioned a few times using your intuition. So I think that is probably a key point too, is just leaning into that, and what lights you up and continue to practice and put stuff out there, and eventually you’re going to have this look that is you and that you can be proud of, right? Thank you, Ashley, for sharing all of your wisdom and insights. I seriously gained so much from our chat today, and I know others as well. So we appreciate you just joining us today. 

Ashley Freeman  38:47

It’s great. 

Megan Porta  38:48

Yeah, it was so fun. Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

Ashley Freeman  38:53

I do, and it’s kind of my mantra, which is gonna sound really silly when you’ll hear it, but it’s fake it till you make it. A lot of times when I’m food styling, I’m like, I look at something, I’m like, Oh my gosh, how am I going to do this? But then I pretend it’s, like, all about your mindset. It’s like, you have to get out of your own way. And you just pretend that you’re like, the expert in it. So I’m like, this is going to be, this might be tricky to do, but you just go for it. And it’s, I don’t know, it’s always done well for me. So you just, you trust your gut and just just go for it, fake it till you make it. 

Megan Porta  39:28

I love it. The subtitle of this chat should be, trust your gut. Yes, you’ve said that a handful of times, which I love. I think that’s so important in photography, but also in food blogging and entrepreneurship, right?

Ashley Freeman  39:41

Totally. It’s there for a reason. Yeah, yeah. 

Megan Porta  39:44

And we don’t lean into it enough, I think, as humans. So when you get that nudge, follow it exactly. We’ll put together a show notes page for you, Ashley. If anyone wants to go look at those, we’ll put everything in there that we talked about today. You can find those at eatblogtalk.com/littleblackskillet. Tell everyone where they can find you Ashley? 

Ashley Freeman  40:05

Littleblackskillet.com. Is the link blog, and then you can find me on Instagram, my handle is @littleblackskillet, and then over on Facebook, I’m Ashley Strickland Freeman. 

Ashley Freeman  40:15

Awesome. Thanks again, Ashley, so much. And thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

Outro  40:23

If you enjoyed this topic, you’ll also love the episode I recommend in the show notes, click on the episode description to find the link. Thank you, and I will see you next time you.