On Origin Stories

A little behind-the-scenes action for you!

Jan 09, 2024

Welcome to the Tuesday post for all subscribers, the first in a new series of behind-the-scenes looks into my studio practice. I’m so excited to share this kind of content with you! On Friday, paid subscribers will get a recipe for sourdough waffles.

As some of you may know (and many of you may not know), by day, I am a food and beverage photographer. I work with clients ranging from consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to cookbook authors to create beautiful photos that make food the hero of the story. As always, you can learn more about what I do at Page & Plate here.

Sometimes, I forget that being a photographer counts as being an artist, and sometimes, imposter syndrome makes me feel like a self-taught, forever-learner photographer can never call herself an artist. But this is a new year, and I’m feeling excited, energized, and in love with my work, so let’s capitalize on that, shall we?

I’ve had a long-standing dream to invite people into my studio to show them everything that goes into taking a really beautiful photo of cake. Part of this motivation is self-importance: yes, it’s hard! And part of is pride: yes, I do that! Part of it still is a test for myself: can I really explain the creative decisions I made and how that impacted the final photo? Readers, today is the day we find out.

Over the summer, I was on a walk with a friend of mine, popping in and out of vintage stores to cool off from the hot sun. I stumbled upon this painting hanging up on the wall of one of them:

It caught my eye for a few reasons: first, it was peach season. Peaches were on the mind! Second, I am a sucker for still lifes. As you may remember from this photo essay, I became briefly and ardently obsessed with light and how it plays off of fresh produce. I love the way the artist rendered this light across the fuzzy peach skins. Lastly, I actually have a very similar wine bottle that I had purchased at this very store. It felt like fate. I had my assignment!

The Props

I didn’t have to do much sourcing for this photo because I already had everything I needed: a basket of fresh peaches on my counter, a vintage Chianti bottle in my prop closet, and some greenery I had been slowly drying in hopes of saving for a project just like this. All I had to do was pull backdrops and settle on a lighting set-up. Easy peasy!

I ended up pulling a few bonus props in: some twisty, cute vines from my butternut squash plant to add some visual interest and a cool little stone piece we have on our back porch.

The Set-Up

I’m trying to remember to take pictures of all of my lighting set-ups these days, but on this particular day over the summer, alas, I did not. But, luckily, I remember exactly how it worked, so here’s what went on:

The Equipment

Here’s what I was using that day:

My camera (Canon EOS 6d) and a tripod for the camera
My strobe light and trigger (Godox AD400 Pro) and a tripod for the light
My trusty folding table work surface
A faux window from Bessie Bakes (this helped shape the light, as you’ll see in the final photo)
Backdrops and surfaces from my collection
Lots and lots of Photoshop

The Post-Production

There was a lot of post-production that went into this photo. I tether when I shoot, so edits were happening in CaptureOne even as the photos loaded on my computer screen. In that program, I tweak lighting (shadows versus highlights); color-toning (how each color balances the other); and about a million other variables. But for the hard edits, I pull things into Photoshop.

I had recently read Jamie Beck’s An American in Provence, in which she talks a lot about composite photographs, so I leaned on that method heavily for this photo. A composite is when you take several different photos and then layer them together to capture different elements of each shot. I took about 12 frames (aka photos), each one of them featuring a different angle of the leaves or the delicate butternut squash vines. I pulled them all into one final photo to create the effect I was looking for, which you can see in this video below:

Note: if you are reading this in email, you may be redirected to Substack to view the video. Sorry!

Here’s a video that shows the final before and after:

The Final Photo

I haven’t shared this yet on Instagram, but here’s the final shot. It’s one of my favorite photos that I took last year. Of course, it’s not an exact replica of the photo I saw in the store, but using that as a jumping off point was a great exercise to get my brain working in a different way.

And thus wraps up our first deep dive into the behind-the-scenes peek into Page & Plate! Did we love? Hate? Let me know below.

Page & Plate