ASSIGNMENT THIRTY SEVEN

Pizza… is there nothing it can’t do?

Pizza, Baby, Pizza!

2024 Phoenix Home

PIZZA: WONDER FOOD OF THE GODS

THE BRIEF:

What the client wants is a shot of her pizza as a homemade favorite. They use all traditional ingredients, and they use fresh ingredients whenever possible. They add little twists to the popular pizza dish by creating new and extraordinary blends of ingredients.

Sausage, mushroom, and stuffed jalapenos for one.
Taco, tostada, and enchilada pizza.
Veggie pizza with olive oil and croutons.
Sushi pizza.

Creative stuff.

The image needs to portray a simple, homemade experience. People are optional but the pizza MUST be the focus of the image and quite clearly it is a hero shot.

No colorful napkins or red-checked cloths or any other overly cliche pizza thing. It can have an adult beverage but not a demand to include.

Pizza
Ingredients
Meal implements
An interesting POV
Clearly a hero shot

Shooting Pizza.

You must photograph it when it is quite hot. So if it is a store or pizza shop purchased item, you will have to quickly and shortly reheat it till the cheese is shiny and there are bubbles in the oils and meats. This can be a tricky time thing, so make sure you use a stand-in to get it all ready before the pie goes in for last-minute shot.

Also, a spritzer of 1/2 glycerine and 1/2 water can be used to freshen it up but very, very slightly. Olive oil and a small watercolor brush may also be used to keep meats and cheeses from looking dried out.

Try adding fresh greens just before you put the pizza back in for reheat so they maintain some crispness and freshness as well.

A checklist.

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✔■ Preheat multiple pizzas to rotate during the shoot.

✔■ Use damp cotton balls (microwaved) behind the pizza to simulate steam.

✔■ Use a heat gun to re-melt cheese for gooey texture.

✔■ Prepare cheese pulls using fishing line or skewers.

✔■ Dab excess grease with blotting paper; add gloss with corn syrup.

✔■ Brush crust with oil or egg wash to enhance color and shine.

✔■ Add fresh toppings after baking to keep them upright and vibrant.

✔■ Use directional lighting to bring out crust texture and cheese gloss.

✔■ Support cheese pull slices with cardboard or hidden tools.

✔■ Use color correction tools to manage strong reds and yellows.

✔■ Use RAW format for maximum flexibility in post-processing.

✔■ Have dummy pizzas for composition and layout testing.

ASSIGNMENT:

Two photographs of Pizza.
A full shot of the pizza and a close-up of the pizza.
Alternative: add the ingredients for props.

🍕 1. Steam Vanishes Fast

Fresh-from-the-oven pizza loses its steam in seconds—literally. That beautiful “just baked” vibe is gone before your camera’s warmed up. Capturing rising steam often requires:

  • Preheating multiple pizzas.

  • Using steam-generating tricks (damp cotton balls microwaved, placed behind the pizza out of frame).

  • Or compositing steam in post.

🍕 2. Cheese Congeals Quickly

Mozzarella and other pizza cheeses start to harden and lose that melty, gooey stretch within minutes of leaving the oven.

  • Use cheese strategically melted with a heat gun.

  • Create “cheese pulls” with fake slices held apart using fishing line or strategically placed skewers.

  • Sometimes, glue is mixed in with cheese for perfect stretchability (yes… glue).

🍕 3. Grease Management

Too little grease and the pizza looks dry. Too much, and it looks like a slice of regret. Grease control becomes a styling game:

  • Dab excess oil with blotting paper.

  • Add gloss where needed with glycerin or diluted corn syrup.

  • Shoot quickly before oils pool and make the crust soggy-looking.

🍕 4. Maintaining Freshness Over Time

Pizza starts looking tired the moment it hits room temp.

  • Rotate pizzas in and out like stage actors.

  • Use dummy pies for layout/composition.

  • Style one pristine slice at a time.

🍕 5. Crust Detail Can Get Lost

That gorgeous golden-brown crust? It often disappears under flat studio lighting. You’ll need to:

  • Use cross lighting or backlighting to emphasize texture.

  • Consider brushing the crust with a bit of oil or egg wash and giving it a quick oven toast just before shooting.

🍕 6. Ingredient Slide

On a hot pizza, toppings migrate. Cheese slides. Pepperoni curls. Basil wilts. It’s chaos.

  • Place key ingredients manually with tweezers after baking.

  • Add “hero” toppings to a partially cooked or dummy pizza to keep them upright and photogenic.

  • Consider undercooking a base pizza so it holds shape longer.

🍕 7. Lighting the Gloss vs. the Matte

Pizza has extremes—wet gloss (sauce, cheese) and dry matte (crust, some toppings). Getting both to look appealing in the same shot means:

  • Dialing in your bounce and fill.

  • Using scrims to control specular highlights.

  • Sometimes lighting in layers and compositing in post.

🍕 8. Slice Drama

The hero shot is often the “cheese pull” or single slice lift. This is where your whole setup can collapse if:

  • The cheese doesn’t stretch.

  • The slice breaks.

  • The crust bends awkwardly.

  • You didn’t pre-slice the pizza properly or reinforce the bottom of the slice.

Use cardboard supports, pre-melted cheese, and back support with a spatula or hidden hand.

🍕 9. Color Balance Can Be Tricky

Warm tones dominate—yellows, reds, browns. If you’re not careful:

  • The reds can go radioactive.

  • The cheese can go green or orange under certain lights.

  • The crust can look flat beige without texture.

Shoot RAW, use gray cards, and fine-tune in post.

🍕 10. Client Expectations

Clients want it to look both hot and fresh and perfectly composed. That’s tough. Real pizza often looks rustic and messy. Balancing appetizing realism with graphic perfection is an art form.