3 Ways To Garnish With Herbs - Food Styling Tip

When I first started my food blog, I never took the time to arrange or style the plate of food I was about to photograph. My photos lacked that polished professional look that I was desperately after. I quickly realized that all I needed to do was add a few finishing touches and details to make the photograph come alive.

In a previous post I wrote about 3 of my favorite garnishes to use when styling food, so today I'll show you some ways that I use those garnishes!

3 ways to garnish with herbs in second part of post...

#1. Accent Garnish

This garnish is used by clipping the very end of a sprig of mint, one leaf of sage, or one stem of rosemary then carefully placing it on the edge of the food. In the first photo above, I placed a bud of mint on the very edge of toast, allowing the white plate to be in the background of the mint.

Think of this garnish as the bow of ribbon on a present. This tends to produce more elegant and sophisticated results.

#2. Sprinkled Garnish

This herb garnish is probably the simplest. In the second photograph above, I took a sprig of mint, chopped it up, and evenly sprinkled it on the outside of the plate. Depending on the dish, you could also sprinkle it on the food, but only if it's a flavor component of the recipe.

This type of garnish is especially great for over-head shots.

#3. Bunched Garnish

This herb garnish is easy to make but hard to plate. It's simply three or four sprigs of mint bunched into a bouquet and placed on the side of the plate next to the food. Play around with the placement to make them seem integrated with the food.

This garnish is great for a more rustic and casual type of photograph.

Do you have any herb garnishing tips? Leave me a comment and let me know.