It’s my pleasure to share with you the details of the Netherlands advanced food photography workshop with Bea Lubas.
This advanced food photography workshop was a stand out for me for a few reasons. Firstly, the space, the photographers and the content were the best I think we’ve taught.
Passionate people coming together to learn advanced skills that will help them improve their food photography, nothing more is sweeter.
Discover the creative process of two professional food photographers.
Food photography is such an in-depth niche of photography. There are so many little details to pay attention to.
As I get more years under my belt as a pro food photographer, the more I realise just how important the creative process is. It’s important to help you create and photograph the best version of your work.
To stay original and stand out from the crowd.
In our most advanced workshop yet, Bea Lubas and I gathered in a room of 11 other photographers to explore our individual creative processes.
To allow our passionate attendees to get into our heads as we craft a food story from the very beginning of concept creation to execution.
We covered:
- The individual creative process of two unique photographers.
- How to find inspiration and build a photo concept.
- Start to finish the creative process.
- How to pivot and troubleshoot the things that don’t work.
- Understand workflow, gear and composition.
Create Beautiful Food Photography – The Photo Assignments.
As this was a two-day advanced workshop, we wanted to really allow the photographers attending to implement what they’d learned from day one with hands-on sessions.
We created two photo-assignments. Attendees were paired into groups and had 90 mins to produce an image that matched the brief they were given.
Attendees came up with their inspiration and concept directions during their homework session. We then regrouped as a unit and discussed what each photographer wanted to replicate in their images.
Creative Photo Assignment – Minimal, Masculine Whiskey.
Prior to the workshop, we surveyed attendees to see what they most wanted to learn from each of us.
With my work, it was how I can make a minimal subject look really powerful. Drinks were something that has come up as difficult to shoot.
So I put together a masculine concept for a whiskey shot. I wanted it to be minimal, so there were guidelines for minimal prop use.
I decided upon a masculine concept, as I know a lot of photographers who rely on ‘pretty’ things such as flowers to make drinks looks nice. Wanting the creatives to get into the bare bones of what makes a food story beautiful, (and powerful).
The directives were:
- Minimal props and subjects.
- An atmosphere that felt masculine.
- To be shot with a narrow focal length for a portrait feel.
- Think about the layers that will make the drink interesting.
- Use shadows and negative space as compositional tools.
Here are some shots from the creatives.
Creative Photo Assignment – Flatlay.
With Bea’s work, a lot of the attendees felt that they loved how she was able to use so many subjects in her images. Yet have them feel calm, interesting and perfect.
The second creative photo assignment was the opposite to the first. Our attendees were now being asked to forget minimal, and use many props and subjects to tell a story.
The directives were:
- Compose a flatlay scene with the angle from above.
- Think about props as being a supportive role.
- How layers will add more depth.
- Placement of subjects to feel calm with organic movement.
- Use a 50mm lens.
Here are some shots from the creatives.
When I first shot together with Bea Lubas, she taught me a lot. Even though I was a professional with many years of experience under my belt, there is always something new to learn.
We knew the power of discovering the creative process of others and being able to uncover their secret techniques and workflow. We wanted to give that to our passionate group.
Advanced Food Photography Workshop Highlights.
I know you’re curious to know what we teach at an advanced food photography workshop. Here is a little snippet of what we went through during the two days.
DAY 1 – Discover the creative process of two professional food photographers.
Get into our heads as we craft a food story from the very beginning of concept creation to execution. Experience the little tricks and techniques we use to create showstopping images for our personal collection and clients. We covered:
- The individual creative process of two unique photographers.
- How to find inspiration and build a photo concept.
- Start to finish creative process.
- How to pivot and troubleshoot the things that don’t work.
- Understand workflow, gear and composition.
- How to explore your scene for variety and mood.
- Question about our creative workflows.
DAY 2 – Hands-on creative and photo assignment.
Implementing the techniques and workflow from Day 1 to create interest and beauty into our images with more intention. We covered:
- Creative breakdown of our best images.
- Hands-on shooting sessions with a photo assignment.
- Guidance and feedback from Bea and Rachel.
- Troubleshooting roadblocks with other photographers.
- How to incorporate our skills while being true to your style.
- Q+A session.
The workshop was hosted in Utrecht, The Netherlands by Ans from Studio Tout-Doux. A big thanks to Ans who was the most wonderful host.
Lucie Beck, a local food photographer from the Netherlands supported our workshop by helping us organise the location, supplying props and the necessary equipment to make the day as successful as possible.
If you haven’t attended a workshop with me yet, I hope to see you at a future one. You can always check out my online training too!
Marcellina
Great post! I love seeing the processs shots!
Rachel
Right! Me too 馃檪 they are something that never gets old. Glad you could come past to see them.
Helen
This is such an amazing workshop! So much learning and great connections being made!
Rachel
There for sure was! One of the best things about workshops is that I have made friends and colleagues for life. That is just such a gift that I am grateful for.
Cristina
Thank you for sharing!
Seeing the set up shots with the desserts on fabric on the floor with the squatting Manfrotto tripod and the orange tethering cable was so neat. As a newbie, it is fun to see some equipment I own getting used by professionals.
Rachel
Ah, I love that Cristina! Sometimes the best light is on the floor right! haha.
Maria
Thank you Rachel for letting us behind the scene! What a wonderful experience!
Rachel
Thanks for stopping by Maria! It was a great workshop and I hope you got a sense of what the creatives learned over that weekend. I am still just so excited by the shots they took.
Therese Bourne
I would soooo love to attend one of yours and Bea’s workshops Rachel! Come to Australia next and I’ll hock everything to be there!
Rachel
I know! I can’t believe Bea will be there this year and I won’t. I’d even run a workshop with you 馃檪
Kaare Sova
Thank you Rachel for this post! It鈥檚 so exciting to see all the pics that were created at the workshop.
The location, studio, hosting, your and Beas preparation and teaching, support team (Ans, Lucie, Matt) – all together created perfect combination for successful and memorable workshop! The atmosphere was amazing!
Meeting you and other photographers was such a wonderful experience. Every food photographer should at least once attend such a workshop!
Rachel
Thank you so much for being there Kaare! It was one of my most favourite workshops ever. There was such a great atmosphere as you said, and it was SO great to meet everyone in person. I’m still so proud of the shots you took. You aced the photo assignments.
Marsha Thomas
Hello Rachel,
I would totally love to attend your workshop. Please please please bring your next workshop to The Bay Area in California, San Francisco, Berkeley or Burlingame, just so I can attend. ?
Rachel
Good to know Marsha! That’s so close to me 馃槈
Maria
I LOVE this!! I’m trying to learn through this post. Thank you for sharing! I hope I can reach that amazing level =)
Rachel
You will! Remember we all start from the same place and with time, persistence and practice, we can be anything we want to be.
Paula
Ohh what an interesting post! Loved seeing all the BTS shots. When are you having a beginners workshop in Australia? 馃檪 (I’ll keep asking… Maybe one day, it’ll happen haha).
Rachel
Glad you enjoyed it, Paula! I did a couple in Melbourne and one on the Gold Coast when I lived there. Of course, I am sure I will get back to do one someday 馃檪
Elana Iaciofano
Rachel, this is a fabulous post! I especially loved seeing the BTS shots next to the final images. It gave me such inspiration! I may recreate these projects for myself. Thank you so much for sharing such an in-depth post.
Rachel
You’re so welcome Elana! I love sharing the BTS, they always inspire me. I know not everyone could attend the workshop so this was a nice way of making people feel included 馃檪
Roberta Dall'Alba
LOVE LOVE LOOOVE the whiskey shots by Kaare Sova and Andrea 鉂わ笍
Rachel
Isn’t it amazing! I am still just so inspired by it.
Carrie
Absolutely beautiful, Rachel! Thank you so much for sharing behind the scenes. I would love to attend a future workshop.
Cheers!
Rachel
You’re so welcome Carrie! Thanks for stopping to read the post. I would love to meet you in person one day.
Harriet
I鈥檓 new to food photography, and I enjoyed looking at the behind the scene photos. Thank you.
Tarequl
You did a great research about the product and really loved reading it. I must say I鈥檝e no idea about agora pulse before and not even heard that word. While i鈥檓 writing this i am using buffer and hoot suite to monitor my social media鈥檚. Both are good by the way I鈥檝e to admit. I鈥檓 thinking to try agora and i will share my feedback after trying it.
.
Adrie van der Luijt
I’m new to food photography. If you shoot a glass and a bottle, would you use a full bottle (as in your example) or pour the drink and use the opened bottle?
Rachel Korinek
Hey Adrie, that’s a great question. I think it can be either, and it really comes down to your story. For example, some client work will ask you to have a full unopened bottle in the shot. Other times, if it’s more lifestyle then you will have an open bottle. If you can, try to shoot both so you have options!
Tanya
Hi there! When is your next food photography workshop? Would love to attend!! I am a pastry chef and budding food photographer who needs more experience with DSLR camera. I want to take my food photography to the next level!
Rachel Korinek
Hey Tanya! Thanks for dropping by. The pandemic really put a stop to my in-person workshops I’m afraid. I do have online courses. Are you just looking to figure out how to use your DSLR in terms of camera settings etc? Let me know and I can point you towards some resources I have 馃檪
Ernie Didot
When are your next, in-person workshops?
Merrill
Hi Rachel, any plans for you & Bea to host a workshop together again? 馃檪 please!
Ashley Madden
Same question 馃檪