What foods are the most challenging for you to shoot by yourself? I think this varies for every food photographer, but for me it’s definitely sandwiches. If you’re not working with a professional food stylist, it can take several tries, extra ingredients and a lot of patience to make a sandwich look GOOD for the camera. I decided to face this challenge at my home studio (without a food stylist) and wanted to share some food styling tips for sandwiches that helped me get through it. I’m also sharing this Garden Greens Sandwich with Green Goddess Dressing recipe at the end of the post. YUM!

This post contains affiliate links. Read the affiliate disclosure.

Garden Greens Sandwich with Green Goddess Dressing: Food Styling Tips

FOOD STYLING TIP 1: USE FRESH INGREDIENTS

This may seem obvious, but I’ve tried grabbing what’s on hand in the fridge and it just doesn’t work out. It’s very obvious when ingredients are not FRESH in food photo shoots. And, if the food doesn’t look good, the images won’t look good either.

Whenever I’m shooting by myself, I either buy ingredients the night before or get up extra early on the day of the shoot to buy the ingredients I need.

FOOD STYLING TIP 2: GET REALLY GOOD BREAD

For styling sandwiches, it’s important to be selective in the type of bread you choose to use. I chose a multi-grain bread (for texture) that was pre-cut into thicker-than-normal slices (for height).  You could also pick up a variety of bread options to see what will shoot best.

READ MORE ABOUT: GETTING STARTED IN FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

FOOD STYLING TIP 3: BUILD LAYERS FOR EXTRA HEIGHT

The goal with sandwiches is to highlight each ingredient so you can see them. I used extra of each ingredient as I layered and although the sandwich looked huge in person, the extra height made it look extra appetizing in front of the camera.

Here’s how I approached the layering of this sandwich:

1. I chose a thick slice of bread for the base and placed it on top of a small cutting board for additional height.
2. I added room temperature goat cheese so it was easy to spread smoothly and made sure extra was towards the front of the sandwich so you could see it.
3. I layered in some curvy lettuce greens and thicker avocado slices.
4. I added a thicker slice of tomato and a slice of fresh mozzarella.
5. I added thinly sliced cucumber (I used my mandoline) for some additional thin, curvy layers.
6. I added some green pepper slices.
7. I added some pickled red onions towards the front of the sandwich to make sure their vibrant color was visible.
8. I added more curvy greens and finally topped it with some broccoli microgreens.
9. I used an eye dropper to carefully add the dressing

FOOD STYLING TIP 4: USE GOOD LIGHTING

Lighting the sandwich is really important to make those pretty layers and colors actually show up and not get too dark.

For this shoot, I used natural light, set my camera on my tripod and adjusted my camera settings to let even more light into the shot with a slower shutter speed. I set up my sandwich next to a large window where there was lots of natural light hitting the side and front of the sandwich.

I used a diffuser on the window to slightly soften the light on the ingredients without taking away the light. The window and diffuser were on the left and I used a white V-flat (two pieces of white foam board taped together) on the right to bounce light back to the other side of the sandwich.

Studio lights would definitely come in handy as well if  you didn’t have enough natural light to work with.

READ MORE ABOUT: NATURAL LIGHT FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

FOOD STYLING TIP 5: USE STYLING TWEEZERS (NOT YOUR FINGERS)

Styling tweezers are an important tool to have on hand for food styling. It allows you to move little pieces without disrupting the other pieces. I have this food styling kit on hand at my home studio which includes a variety of tweezers and special spoons for manipulating the ingredients. Having a food styling kit on hand (or just some styling tweezers) will help you be much more precise and careful.

READ MORE ABOUT: FOOD STYLING TOOLS EVERY FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER SHOULD HAVE

FOOD STYLING TIP 6: PRACTICE

I always say the real secret to awesome food photography and styling is PRACTICE. I have struggled with sandwiches for a long time and they rarely make it on my blog because of it. But, I hope these food styling tips for sandwiches provide some guidance to help. This garden greens sandwich is far from perfect, but it was good for me to practice and share the tips that helped me.

Don’t forget to grab the delicious recipe below!

Happy Creating!

This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click or make a purchase through my site, I might make a small commission (at no extra cost to you). I only promote products and equipment that I actually use for my photography business. Your support helps me continue to produce educational content about photography. Thank you! 

All images ©Regan Baroni 2018.