Plate, Frame, Create: A Food Photography and Reels Workshop Where the Plate Came First
Most food photos fail before the camera is even switched on. The plate is wrong, the light is wrong, or nobody decided what the picture was about. On September 19, 2026, CameraHaus ran a free afternoon workshop at Studio 90 in Pasig built on that idea. Content creator Forresty Garcia and food stylist Lizeth Querubin started with an empty table, built a plate, lit it, shot it, and then turned the same set into a reel, explaining every step out loud. The workshop was called Plate, Frame, Create, and that is exactly the order things happened in.
Why a food workshop
Food is the most photographed subject in the country and one of the least taught. Everyone with a phone shoots their lunch. Restaurants, cafes, home bakers, and small food businesses all need images and reels every week, and most of them are making do with whatever the overhead light gives them. Plate, Frame, Create was built for that gap: a working creator and a working stylist showing how a professional food shoot actually comes together, in a real studio, with the results on the screen before anyone left.
The other reason was video. A still photo of a dish and a ten-second reel of the same dish are now equally important to a food business, and they are usually taught as separate skills. Forresty covered both in one session, using one setup, so participants left with a single workflow that produces both.
The people at the front
Forresty Garcia is a content creator whose food work runs from stills to short-form video, the kind of creator whose reels make you hungry before you know what you are looking at. He built the afternoon as a production rather than a lecture: here is the shot we want, here is how we get there, watch.
Lizeth Querubin has been shooting and styling food commercially since 2016 for brands and editorial clients, and her role at the workshop was the part most photographers skip. Before a single frame was taken, she showed how a plate is built for the camera, how a burger is stacked so it stands up, how a drink is dressed so the ice reads, where a garnish goes and why, and how much of the food on a professional set is arranged for the lens rather than the fork.
How the shoot was built, step by step
The workshop proper ran from 2:30 to 4:45. Rather than a slideshow, it was a live shoot broken into its parts, each one explained as it happened.
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Plate
Lizeth styled the food live: a burger and pizza spread with iced drinks for the first set, then a steak dinner with roast potatoes and asparagus on red linen for the second. Every choice was narrated: colour against colour, height, negative space, the one hero element each plate needs.
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Light
Forresty placed and shaped the light for each set with Amaran fixtures and a large softbox, and this got real time in the program. Where the key light sits relative to the food, why food almost always wants side or back light, how a single bounce card changes the shadows, and what to do when the studio look has to be recreated in a restaurant.
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Frame
Composition and angle. When a dish wants the top-down shot and when it wants forty-five degrees. How to frame for a square feed, a vertical reel, and a horizontal menu board from the same setup. Participants shot alongside him on their own cameras and phones.
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Move
The same set went to video. A slow push in, a pour, a hand entering the frame. Forresty covered how the lighting changes when the camera moves, how to keep a reel steady, and how long each clip needs to be.
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Sound
Sound design for food reels: the sizzle, the pour, the crunch, and why a reel with the right sound stops the scroll where a silent one does not.
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Finish
Capture to edit. The colour and cut decisions that make the still and the reel feel like one campaign rather than two afternoons.
The results
Two sets, shot in the room, on the screen before closing. The first was a cafe set: a blueberry cheesecake, iced coffee, a takeaway cup, and a bowl of beans on a wooden table with soft window-style light. The second was a dinner set: seared steak and roast potatoes on a dark plate, red linen, a wine glass, hard directional light for drama. Same afternoon, same room, two completely different moods, and every participant watched both come together.
What participants took home
The biggest improvement in a food photo comes from the plate, not the camera. Ten minutes of styling saves an hour of editing.
Food almost never wants light from the front. Side or back light gives texture, and texture is what makes food look edible.
Build the set once, shoot the still, then roll video. That is how a small food business gets a week of content from one afternoon.
The sizzle sells the steak. Record it, or find it, and cut to it.
How the afternoon closed
The last item on the program was an invitation. CameraHaus's Photolympics is coming back, and every participant at Plate, Frame, Create heard about it first. Details are on the way on our Instagram and Facebook.
Shoot food that sells
The Plate, Frame, Create kit is simple: a camera you trust, one good light, and a tripod that stays put. Any CameraHaus branch can put it together for your budget.
Nikon cameras Amaran lighting Slik tripods Find a branchFrequently asked questions
What was Plate, Frame, Create?
A free food photography and reel-making workshop by CameraHaus, held on September 19, 2026 at Studio 90 in Pasig City. Content creator Forresty Garcia led the session with food stylist Lizeth Querubin, covering styling, lighting, composition, video, sound design, and editing in one live shoot.
Do I need a professional camera for food photography?
No. The workshop's core lessons were about the plate and the light, which apply to a phone as much as a mirrorless camera. Better gear helps once the fundamentals are in place.
Who were the partners?
Amaran for lighting, Nikon Philippines for cameras, and Slik for tripods.
Will there be another food workshop?
Follow CameraHaus on Instagram and Facebook. Workshops are announced there first, and the Photolympics invitation given at the close of this one is coming soon.
Thank you
To Forresty Garcia for a session that covered stills and reels without shortchanging either. To Lizeth Querubin for showing that the plate is where the photo starts. To Amaran, Nikon Philippines, and Slik for the light, the cameras, and the tripods. To Studio 90 for the room. And to everyone who spent a Saturday afternoon learning to shoot food properly. The photos on your phones are the proof.
See the workshop on Instagram. More CameraHaus events: Events.