A food stylist is to food photography, just as a fashion stylist is to fashion photography. With food styling, you can create beautiful pictures by arranging the scene in a visually appealing manner to make the food appear more desirable.
In today’s time, it is a vital skill to possess, especially if you wish to make the onlookers feel a strong presence with your food pictures. Whether you are a content creator, restaurant owner, food photographer, food blogger, home cook, foodie, or someone who likes presenting their dish beautifully, taking food styling classes can help you.
Often you see restaurants or cafés failing. Do you know why it happens? Typically most people give reasons like poor management, lack of accounting skills, location, poor promotion, bad food execution, or poor inventory.
While these are the obvious reasons, another thing that most restaurant owners overlook is the food styling, which is an unsuspecting yet significant cause of failure.
If you wish to start your own food business, you do not want to make the same mistake. So, you, too, must consider availing of these best food styling courses online.
Top Nine Best Courses To Learn Food Styling
- Styling Food for Instagram: Creating Collages to Photograph – [Skillshare]
- Food Styling Techniques: Create Your Delicious Photography Portfolio – [Skillshare]
- iPhone Food Photography: Styling & Shooting for Instagram – [Skillshare]
- Quirky Food Photography: Style and Shoot a Moment in History – [Skillshare]
- Food Styling Tips and Techniques for Beginners – [Udemy]
- Four Food Creativity Methods for Food Design: Free Food Styling Course – [Udemy]
- Online Food Styling Training Courses – [Domestika]
- Story on a Plate: Food Photography & Styling – [Creative Live]
- Online Food Styling Class – [Suzy Eat On Designs]
How Did We Select?
Our in-house team of stylists chanced upon the idea of styling foods, and then we thought of it as an interesting subject and decided to research further about it. Naturally, the first thing we did was perform a Google search for food styling classes.
Our search results left us overwhelmed because the internet is full of such classes. So, we decided to screen through various courses and picked 20 sessions we liked. We selected them based on their offerings, certification, fees, and the instructor’s background.
Then we sent these classes for review to some global food enthusiasts and stylists, and they helped us narrow our list from 20 to 9. So, here is a list of the nine best food styling sessions.
Let us address them below.
9 Best Food Styling Training Courses
1. Styling Food for Instagram: Creating Collages to Photograph – [Skillshare]
| Who should take this class? | These food styling classes online will benefit:
1. Photo aficionados seeking newer and unique ways to make an image 2. Artists 3. Foodies |
| Enrolled | 6,935 students |
| Level | Beginner |
| Duration | 8 Lessons (45m) |
| Instructor | Julie Lee |
| Certification | No |
| Paid | If you buy their annual membership, you can enjoy this as a free food styling course. |
| Cons | Her food photography techniques are not comprehensive. |
Do you like styling your food to make it seem prettier? Try this 40-minute session by ace photographer and artist Julie Lee. In these classes, you will see your beloved instructor traveling to the farmers market to get hold of the most colorful and freshest ingredients for a scrumptious meal but also a lovely food collage.
You have to be hands-on across the session. So, follow her as she prepares the ingredients and finally arranges them into beautiful collaged artwork.
These are one of the top contenders in our best food styling courses. Across the session, you will see Julie photographing her work, editing the pictures, and then sharing the final picture in a step-by-step, on-location class, bringing you a real amalgam of art, photography, and food. It is a hands-on class. So, you will work on 38 projects across the session.
Who should take this class?
These are beginner-friendly food styling classes online. So, if you have the time and patience, you will love this class.
2. Food Styling Techniques: Create Your Delicious Photography Portfolio – [Skillshare]
| Who should take this class? | It is not one of the free food styling courses. So, if that’s what you seek, this may not be the pick. But, it is still a well-rounded course for:
|
| Enrolled | 659 students |
| Level | Beginner |
| Duration | 16 Lessons (1h 15m) |
| Instructor | Rose Nene |
| Cons | The instructor is good and engaging. So, it is hard to find a low in the class. |
| Certification | No |
| Paid | If you buy their annual membership, you can enjoy this as a free class, but else it is paid. |
Do you like styling and plating food? If yes, we have one of the top food styling courses online for you. In this session, you will study with Rose. She has spent years studying videography and photography. Rose and her husband went viral through their food photography and wedding highlight videos for local businesses in the Philippines.
What will you learn?
In these food styling classes online, you will discover the following:
- Steps and behind the scenes of creating a delicious food photo
- How to perform food styling
- How to select props
- Tips for planning a shoot
- Using color harmony, layering, and storytelling in food styling
Why this class?
One thing that makes this one of the best food styling courses is Rose’s 3-step workflow. It helps level up your food styling skills. Rose devised this workflow after experimenting with hundreds of brand photoshoots and personal projects.
Once you finish this class, you can style a salad, a soup, dessert, and the main dish. Whatever you need in the class is listed in the resources.
3. iPhone Food Photography: Styling & Shooting for Instagram – [Skillshare]
| Who should take this class? | It is one of the best sessions for:
It is not one of the food styling courses online, free. But, anyone seeking a class that inspires you to click better pictures, irrespective of your cooking or photography experience, will love this session. |
| Enrolled | 2703 students |
| Level | Beginner |
| Duration | 9 Lessons (52m) |
| Instructor | Melina Hammer |
| Cons | Though a good class, it covers only one aspect of clicking pictures. |
| Certification | No |
| Paid | If you buy their annual membership, you can enjoy this as a free class, but else it is paid. |
Next, we have another one of the top contenders in the food styling classes online. If you wish to take mouth-watering, show-stopping, and award-winning food pictures, what better way than to learn with a chef, stylist, cookbook author, and food photographer, Melina Hammer?
She is an award-winning book author, food photographer, chef, stylist, and a mastermind behind Catbird Cottage, and has worked with the New York Times, Eating Well, Blue Apron, Food52, and others. So, you will be learning with the best.
Melina believes, be it an extravagant charcuterie board for your group of friends or family or breakfast for one, you do not need expensive equipment or fancy ingredients to stylize it. That’s the purpose of this one of the internet’s favorite food styling courses online.
In this class, you will see her showcasing her years of experience forward with simple steps that are easy for you to follow. So, join Melina as she takes you inside her beautiful bed and breakfast in Hudson Valley, New York, and depicts fresh local fruits handpicked for the class.
What will you learn?
Unfortunately, it is not a free food styling course, but it will not disappoint with its offerings. Some things you learn in this class are:
- Depicting raw ingredients to capture the beauty of a beautifully plated dish
- Everything you need to share the story of your next meal
- Building a click-worthy, compelling story around the food
- Styling the perfect line, smear, and sprinkle with household tools
- Highlight ingredients with their texture, shape, and color
- Editing pictures on the phone
- Improving your Instagram pictures
- Upgrading your plating skills
- Making your meals more memorable
- Tips and techniques to shoot and style like a pro
4. Quirky Food Photography: Style and Shoot a Moment in History – [Skillshare]
| Who should take this class? | These are not food styling courses online, free. So, if you seek a freebie, it is not the class for you. But, this session will benefit:
|
| Enrolled | 2415 students |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Duration | 14 Lessons (1h 1m) |
| Instructor | Henry Hargreaves |
| Cons | There is some fluff in the course. |
| Certification | No |
| Paid | If you buy their annual membership, you can enjoy this as a free class, but else it is paid. |
Our parents always told us – never to play with food, right? But, Henry Hargreaves, a New Zealand-born, Brooklyn-based photographer and food artist, did not like this advice so much. It motivated him to create these food styling classes online.
It is a compact 60-minute class wherein you will study Henry’s techniques to craft and present a visual story out of food and shoot it with real perfection.
It is not one of the food styling courses online free, but worth every dime. Across the session, Henry takes you through some ways to bring history to life via food photography. Ever since he started working in fashion in the early 2000s, he aspired to be the guy who called the shots behind the camera.
So, he didn’t think twice and purchased a camera, and ever since then, there’s been no looking back for him.
What will you learn?
Though brief, these are one of the best food styling classes online because they are wholesome and have a lot to learn. Some things you understand in this class are:
- Sourcing supplies on a budget
- Styling the food
- Setting up lights
- Classic photography tips and tricks applied to a unique medium — and a mouth-watering piece of art to share
- Capturing the perfect angle
- Retouching pictures
What do you need?
It is one of the most straightforward food styling courses online. So, you need a background in photography for this class.
5. Food Styling Tips and Techniques for Beginners – [Udemy]
| Rating | 4.3 |
| Who should take this class? | These are one of the top-recommended food styling classes online:
|
| Enrolled | 3,506 students |
| Duration | 1 hour of on-demand video |
| Paid | Yes |
| Certification | Yes |
| Instructor | Rose Nene |
| Return or refund policy | 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee |
| Cons | The course could have been shorter if Rose kept it crisp and to the point. |
Do you like styling and plating foods? If yes, it is one of the top food selections from Udemy. Your instructor for this session will be Rose. She has many years of experience behind her in food photography and videography. Once you finish this class, you will be well-versed with the knowledge to style a salad, soup, dessert, and main dish.
What will you learn?
It is not one of the food styling courses online, free. So, in this session, you will discover the following:
- Three things you should know about prop selection
- Styling the main dish, dessert, soup, and salad
- Food styling tips and techniques
- Planning food styling
- Using layering, color harmony, and storytelling in Food Styling
- Finding inspirations for food styling
- Things you wished you knew about prop selection
What do you need?
For these food styling classes, you need:
- The food you will style
- Basic materials for food styling
- Camera – mirrorless camera, Android phone, or iPhone
6. Four Food Creativity Methods for Food Design – [Udemy]
| Rating | 4.4 |
| Who should take this class? | It is a free course ideal for:
|
| Enrolled | 6,311 students |
| Duration | 48min of on-demand video |
| Paid | No |
| Certification | No |
| Instructor | Dr. Francesca Zampollo |
| Cons | Some newer aspects, too, could have been discussed in these food styling classes online. |
Many of you are on the lookout for one of the best free food styling courses. So, here is this masterpiece for you. In this course, the instructor takes you through Food Design Thinking and offers detailed instructions on how to employ four food creatively methods – StarChat, IdeaHive, IdeaMarket, and IdeaShake, all available for purchase separately at fooddesignthinking.org.
When you learn these processes, they trigger your creativity and make it easier to design new food products, dishes, food events, and services. Along with each method, you utilize the playing cards that make the whole session more engaging and enjoyable.
The inclusion of the cards makes the games playful and fun and forms a light atmosphere that can make you more creative. It makes it one of the student’s favorite food styling courses online. Your instructor in this class is responsive and quickly responds to all your queries.
What will you learn?
In this course, you will learn:
- Using the four methods, presented separately for purchase as paperback books
What do you need?
For these food styling classes, you need to:
- Learn to use the food creativity cards mentioned in the 4 Food Design Thinking books.
Review Shyam.
It was very good very informative. thank you.
7. Online Food Styling courses – [Domestika]
Domestika is one of the leading hubs for students seeking food styling courses online. They have a range of such sessions. All of their classes are 100% online and self-paced. So, you can start and finish at your time and pace.
You can find intermediate, beginner, or advanced-level courses. Domestika also has free and paid classes. So, depending on what you seek, you can make your selection. You can find the certification if you hold Domestika’s pro plus membership.
Some of their top food styling classes are:
- Food Styling and Photography for Instagram
- Food Styling: The Art of Plating
- Introduction to Food Photography with Natural Light
8. Story on a Plate: Food Photography & Styling – [Creative Live]
| Who should take this class? | These classes will benefit:
1. People exploring a career in food photography. 2. Someone hoping to improve their skills at food styling |
| Enrolled | 41,400 students |
| Paid | Yes |
| Duration | 43 Video lessons in HD – 15h 55m of class content |
| Instructor | Todd Porter and Diane Cu-Porter |
| Cons | It lacks substantial technical information. |
Next, we have Creative Live’s food styling classes. They are 100% online courses, and you also get bonus content. These are flexible sessions. So, you can learn anytime, anywhere, and on the go. You can view it on mobile and desktop, both online and offline. It comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
What will you learn?
It is one of the best food styling courses to acquire information on:
- Artfully photographing food
- Capturing the picture and communicating the story behind it.
- Sharing your work with potential clients and collaborators
- Crafting a food story via images that are intimate, unique, and meaningful
- Ways to use natural light when shooting at the table or in a restaurant
- Techniques for food styling that will keep your food fresh on the set
- Strategies to create a thriving food photography business via a successful mix of community building and online marketing
9. Online Food Styling Class – [Suzy Eat On Designs]
| Who should take this class? | These food styling classes will benefit:
1. Food bloggers 2. Food photographers 3. Chefs 4. Food stylists 5. People hoping to amplify their existing food styling skills |
| Paid | Yes |
| Instructor | Suzy Eaton |
| Mode | Online |
| Self-paced | Yes |
As part of this class, the instructor shares with you some styling skills she developed and learned in her two years in the business. The tactics she teaches in the course are used on shoots for commercials of renowned companies, world class restaurants, culinary celebrity television shows, and the packaging industry.
You will also work on some styling techniques for prevalent dishes like pasta, sauces, sandwiches, meats, beverages, ice creams, and more. So, with the tips in the session, you can take your food styling and photography to the next level.
In this class, there are 35 exclusive food styling videos taught in 9 modules (+1 bonus module). Every lesson focuses on teaching you the drill to style foods to tempt your audiences.
Related: Best Nutrition Courses | Italian Cooking Classes | Sushi Making Courses | Baking Lessons
Conclusion
So, these are the top nine best food styling classes. They are all top-notch courses; one better than the other, but our personal favorite is the Food Styling Techniques: Create Your Delicious Photography Portfolio – [Skillshare]. It is a good, interactive, and comprehensive class, and we are sure you will love it.
