Last week I had the pleasure of tagging along with Melissa and Olivia for one of their sessions at photogroup.  Melissa is a food photographer in town who I became friends with through the Austin Food Blogger’s Alliance (an amazing group of food loving folks!).  And Olivia is a food stylist that writes a column at Honest Cooking and works at a favorite restaurant of mine, Elizabeth Street Cafe.  Needless to say, I spent a bit of my afternoon among the most awesome of company.

Their mission for this shoot was to practice unconventional food photos for both of their portfolios.  The feel of the first shoot, the beet shoot, was dramatic in nature.  Bloody red beets, a ruffled  black cloth, and delicate white plate that was both resisting and begging to be covered in red.  Oh and dim, dim dun dun dun lighting.  Perfecting a photo in intentionally dim light takes an extreme amount of talent.  I enjoyed watching the challenge these two charged themselves with.

My favorite part of the shoot was seeing all of Melissa’s equipment and how it was integrated with the studio’s equipment.  I learned about active and passive fill light.  I learned that there are tools that wirelessly connect your camera to your Mac so you can instantly see imperfections and correct them immediately in your next shot.  But most importantly, I re-learned how much fun it is to collaborate with like-minded dreamers.

Thank you Melissa and Olivia for letting me spend some studio time with you!  I enjoyed it oh so much!