Food photographer Alice Santini serves up advice on weaving a narrative into your images
“No matter what I’m taking a picture of – this is very important for food photography, even though people don’t always think about it – it’s all about the narrative,” begins Alice Santini, a commercial photographer specialising in food.
Based in Paris, Alice is immersed in a culture that takes food very seriously. “I don’t know how it is in other countries, but food, and the moments in which we share food, are so important in France,” she points out. “We talk about food all the time – even when we eat, we talk about food.
“I know some people find this funny, but most French people don’t understand why. We think it’s important to talk about what we’re going to eat and when we’re going to eat it, and share the best places to eat. We love it.
“These are precious moments when we gather together to share a meal, no matter if it’s with family, friends or colleagues – it’s a moment we care a lot about. Whether it’s something simple at home – a quiet evening with cheese and wine – or you spend six hours cooking, sharing a meal is super important, and there are so many stories about that,” enthuses Alice. “Those are stories I want to tell.”
Building a narrative
Alice’s approach to food photography centres around intention. Before she can consider composition and lighting, her first task is to understand every facet of the food she is photographing.
“When I work with a chef, it’s all about the respect I have for their process and their way of working. I want this to be seen in the picture. It’s not just the setting, it’s all the people working on the meal, making the story together – it’s like a conversation,” she contends. “You need to have that established because even if people don’t notice the way the plate is dressed and how the food is arranged, it’s going to influence the way they start the dish and how they taste all the flavours.
“This is the story the chef is trying to tell you,” Alice continues. “There is a story on the plate – and all around the plate. Most of the time, people see the picture and say, ‘Oh yeah, I really want to eat that.’ But they want to eat it because we are telling the story, and making sure people feel it when they see the picture.”
For these reasons, a collaborative approach is key to Alice’s work. “It all depends on what the chef wants,” she explains. “Sometimes we work in their kitchen. Some chefs prefer not to be there and have their sous chefs or assistants present. And sometimes you don’t have a chef, you have a food stylist. I’m always adapting to the people I’m working with.
“I’m respectful of the person I’m partnered with, making sure I understand all the elements and knowing what should be most respected in the picture. We work together on technical details. Is this element placed correctly? Is it grilled enough? Is it too much – shall we restart it? All to be sure that what we make holds my point of view, but also that of the person who made it.”
Get it while it’s hot
From the second a finished dish is placed down, there is a critical period of time in which it still looks its best – when the colours and textures remain exactly as the chef intended. Preparation proves key for Alice to achieve a result in line with the creator’s vision.
“Usually I have a stunt meal to see how it will live in that setting,” she notes. “I can work on shaping my reflectors and using mirrors to fine-tune the details in the composition. After that we use the real meal, properly dressed with all the most beautiful elements.
“Sometimes there’s no time,” Alice adds. “We often have to be very quick because the plate comes straight out of the kitchen. In that case, I’ll watch the chef to see how things will be prepared, so I can anticipate and organise as much as possible before the plate arrives.”
For her food photography, Alice requires camera set-ups that create with either luxurious detail or effortless flexibility. That’s why she opts for bodies from both the GFX System and X Series. “I like a GFX on a tripod that’s not going to move, and my X Series camera in my hand to find other angles,” she explains.
“I have the FUJIFILM GFX50R with the FUJINON GF120mmF4 R LM OIS WR Macro. I also have a FUJIFILM X-H1, and FUJINON XF60mmF2.4 R Macro,” Alice details. “I like tilt-shift lenses as well because they let me decide on the central point of the photo. I can show what I want people to focus on – if it’s something very yummy, a texture, the dressing or something else. It’s one of the most useful things we don’t think about, but that’s used all the time in food photography.”
Time with a dish can be fleeting, and Alice is determined to make the most of it on each job. “You need to observe all the elements – what has to look fresh, what needs to look cooked and how you’re going to do that,” she remarks. “I like to work with my camera tethered to the computer, so I can see the image on a larger screen and look at how the colours render.
“I don’t want too much post-production – I want to get the best picture from the beginning. This way, you save time and grant yourself more editing potential because you already have something good.”
Lighting and modifiers
Where Alice grants herself the most creative licence is with lighting – in particular, modifiers. “What I enjoyed most when I learnt about photography is light shaping,” she notes. “No matter if it’s natural light, flash or LEDs, I’m always interested in the shapers and how I’m going to use them. When I discovered this, it was like a whole new field of possibilities for my expression.
“Most of the time, I mix a lot of different lights. I love to mix flash and daylight, or LEDs and daylight. Even if the general mood of a restaurant is just artificial light, I love to mix in a little flash or something to change it a bit. Or I’ll use shapers to adapt the ambience of the place we’re working in.
“It’s all about looking and observing the light around you,” she suggests. “This was most satisfying when I first started photography. As a drawer or painter, I was not satisfied with how I would render light. But when you make photos, because of the lenses and the parameters of your camera settings, you have control over the light. Photography is about choosing what you want to show.
“Do you want to depict things exactly how they look naturally, or do you want to underexpose or overexpose a bit? What do you want to show? Then, when you start thinking like that, you’ll analyse the light and shadows around you all the time.”
For those new to the world of lighting, Alice suggests a mindful approach. In her day-to-day life, she likes to observe naturally occurring lighting conditions and let them feed her inspiration.
“How does the morning light look compared to the evening? What are the differences – how do the colours change?” she asks. “Once you know this, you start telling a story just with lighting. You can say whether it’s a lunch or dinner – that temporality is expressed most of the time with how you light the dish.
“When I’m travelling, I’ll see that dinnertime in Italy looks like this in summer, but in winter it’s different. That will change again in another part of the world. This is how I get inspired most of the time – and then I want to create.”
However, crucial to her lighting direction – or any other creative choice – is Alice’s understanding of her subject’s narrative. “Lighting is just another tool for telling your story,” she points out. “Once you know what you want to express and how you want to express it, it becomes natural.”
Finding the passion
At its core, Alice’s photography is all about being true to her subject. Whether it’s an ambitious creation from a gourmet chef or a humble piece of fresh produce, all food has a story to tell. Alice’s role is to uncover that story and pay tribute to it.
“Know what you are taking a picture of and stay interested in the process,” she explains. “How are the vegetables grown? How are things prepared and why? What is the intention of the chef, what techniques are they using?”
It is only by immersing herself in culinary culture that Alice can piece together the narrative of each dish. “It’s not just about having a pretty plate. It’s the whole process because cooking takes a long time – and a lot of elements. There is a good reason why people get up so early to buy the freshest food possible!
“This is what it’s all about – talk to the people who are passionate about what they’re doing and let them help you understand more. The more you know about what you’re making a picture of, the better the story.”
