Hola!

I crafted a Lightroom preset specifically for my recent natural light shoot for The Pasta People. The visual style of the images they wanted to go with their brand was modern but earthy and laid-back, "like in Jamie Oliver's cookbooks". More or less a modern filmic look. 

Sitting down to edit the images I decided that I needed faded highlights and blacks, as well as crushed details in the shadows (creating 'blockier' shadows, if that makes sense); some selective desaturation of greens and acqua tones, a shift from true red tones to tangerine to give tomatoes and chillies a bit of pop; increased in luminosity in reds orange and yellow tones to create clean looking highlights. And I called it 'Foodie' !  

I tried these edits on some other images and realised that they worked quite well for night time restaurant lit images too- but with reduced contrast and a toned down version of the preset I used for the Pasta People shoot. So as per usual, I've created the preset 'Foodie' in a regular version, a PLUS version (more dramatic), and a MINUS version (more subtle for images that are already high contrast, and night time artificially lit images). 

Downloadable at my Etsy store! 

It was my absolute pleasure to do a photoshoot for Pasta People, who are expanding the online presence and ecommerce for their pasta store (currently at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra). Very soon now their popular flavoured dried pasta and preservative free vacuum sealed sauces will be available to be purchased online. Hurrah! Gluten intolerant pasta lovers should be pretty excited about their gluten free pasta offerings too.  

It was a really fun shoot, with Lily and I working on the food styling; her husband working as the lighting assistant (reflector holder); Phil working as errand boy; and food photography by me. Eating the cooked dishes at the end was a team effort. 

On our last day in Queenstown we managed to get a table at Amisfield Winery Bistro for their famous Trust The Chef menu. This is 4 courses using dishes selected by the chef based on fresh produce available on the day, with matched wines. I managed to get photos of 3 of the courses and the amuse bouche but got distracted by my hungry belly and forgot to photograph the cured salmon course. We left very very full and a little drunk. Good times!