# Phat Foods — Visual Style Guide (Locked R7)

## Direction: Liquid Gold Minimalism (Direction 1)

## The Phat Look
Warm golden editorial food photography. Bright, yellow-gold, celebratory. The fat is the hero.

## Style Rules
- **Lighting:** Bright warm golden light, no dark shadows, lifted highlights. Yellow-gold warmth throughout like golden hour sunshine.
- **Palette:** Cream, warm yellow, gold, pale amber. NO blacks, NO dark browns, NO moody shadows (except in the food itself where natural).
- **Texture:** Sharp, detailed, tactile. Thick, rough, real — not smooth or airbrushed.
- **Styling:** Soft materials — linen napkins, vintage spoons, copper/ceramic vessels. NO herbs, NO garnishes, NO decoration. Just the fat, the vessel, the light.
- **Subjects:** Raw dairy-identical fat (paler than butter, between lard and butter), cream, butter, foam, application shots (croissants, spreading, ice cream).
- **Wrapping:** Unbranded shiny butter parchment/wax paper — NOT kitchen foil.
- **Angles:** Varied — overhead, 45°, 3/4, low/eye-level. Mix it up.
- **Mood:** Precious, warm, premium. Luxury ingredient, not commodity. Aesop meets artisan butter.

## Prompt Framework (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image)
```
Warm golden editorial food photography. Bright warm yellow-gold lighting, no dark shadows, lifted highlights. Overall warm yellow tone like golden hour sunshine. Light cream and warm yellow palette — NO dark areas, NO brown shadows, NO moody lighting. Bright, warm, celebratory, butter-golden throughout. Sharp texture detail. [SUBJECT]. [ANGLE]. No decoration, no garnish.
```

## Reference Benchmarks
- R6 3/8 (unwrapping close-up) — style locked
- R4 5/10 (brown butter copper) — lighting/materials reference
- Holiland "Butter Christmas" by Dong_11 — warmth/brightness reference
- 80% food outcomes, 20% process (from strategy board)

## Use Cases (from deck)
- Raw ingredient: fat blocks in butter wrapper
- Croissant lamination / pastry
- Ice cream / gelato
- Butter spreading / applications
- Cream / foam textures