One of the best aspects of my job is that I get to teach creatives, photographers and bloggers how to take incredible photos of food! In our Food photography workshop in Italy, we delved deep into different techniques and styles.
Food Photography Workshop in Italy Overview
In July 2024, I co-hosted a 6-night Food Photography Workshop in Italy with the Tastemaker Conference. Over the course of a week, we had:
- Daily photography lessons focusing on light, composition and editing.
- Pasta-making and charcuterie classes.
- Day trips, sightseeing and wine tasting.
- Creative conversations and hanging out with like-minded people (with a glass of spritz in hand!).
At the end of the retreat, we’d had a transformative experience both with creativity, meeting new people and filling our bellies with the finest food, made by our personal Italian chef.
Creative Photo Essays From Participants
Each participant was tasked with creating a photo essay at the end of the trip. In this recap post, we will explore and celebrate some of their final submissions from the Food Photography Workshop in Italy.
Across the week, participants were challenged with capturing a wide range of images based on the skills we were learning each day. Integrating and layering each new skill as the week progressed.
Our first lesson was on light. Harnessing natural light and capturing a range of types of light. From soft to hard. In this photo essay, Laura is showcasing both soft and hard light. Giving a bold feeling to Tuscan food in the summer.
Hard light is something a lot of food photographers find challenging. Part of my teaching was to get creatives to explore and utilise hard light. A beautiful form of light that is often overlooked.
Randi captured this unusual angle of a lemon in hard light, which I was fascinated by. Watching her lie on the floor to get this incredible shot.
Next up was composition and there is no Italian food photography experience quite like the notion of colour! A large part of our composition studies was about colour theory and really focusing on being diligent with our colour compositions.
Eva has captured a beautiful soft earthy colour palette. Giving homage to Italy’s slow pace, while focusing on the array of textures we saw each day.
Similarly, Nicky was captivated by the bold terracotta oranges both in food and the landscape of Tuscany. Can you blame her?
We also explored the idea of desaturated colours and mixing contrasts, like black and white photos. Just like Erika has done in this triptych.
I also explore my own series focusing on bold oranges of a pizza oven and terracotta, contrasted with black and white images of our pizza-making night.
The beauty of shooting together, there were 24 of us in total, is that we all see differently. While we were surrounded by lots of bold earthy tones, there were cool colours to be found. Molly focused on a cooler colour palette. It reminds me of the cool nights in the Tuscan mountains after a hot day.
No photo assignment would be complete without the challenge of adding a human element and movement. Especially with food. We participated in a pasta-making class during the food photography workshop in Italy.
A fun challenge to photograph and make our own pasta! Susy and Pauline focused on capturing movement and hands to create their photo essays.
Pauline was up for the challenge, being new to her camera settings in the challenging environment of capturing movement in low light.
One of our last lessons was on editing. With sessions both in Lightroom and Capture One, we explored the three core edits we need to make photography shine: Exposure, Contrast + Colour.
Focusing on making each colour feel delicious and natural, Lyn did a great job on editing to bring this series to life. All of the different produce options we had the pleasure of eating. Just look at the colour of those plums!
Annie got out of her comfort zone by capturing photos in different moods and lighting situations, which she confessed she wouldn’t have done if she was shooting at her normal location at home.
In her photo series, we can see a mixture of lighting situations, (hard light, soft light and dappled light), with beautiful soft colours and edits.
The last challenge was to bring all of the images together!
Creating a photo series from hundreds of photos, culling them down to have a mix of subjects, angles, depths of field and more. Kathryn and Priya have done just that with their photo series from the Food photography workshop in Italy.
Taking some photos from our early morning photo walks and combining them with the food we were shooting throughout the week.
The beautiful Tuscan Villa we stayed in, Lucca Boccella, had a little shop on the right side of the property. Tucked away amongst the veggie garden and vineyard. It sold jars of preserves from produce grown on the property, olives and olive oil, plus handmade gifts.
I couldn’t resist trying out the olives. Taking props from the kitchen and using the new hors d’oeuvres pick I got in our prop swap and shooting it on the gorgeous marble surfaces.
Combining the photo with a sunrise shot of the Tuscan countryside, and the jar of olives in the hard afternoon sun.
I love my job!
Thanks for reading through the recap of the Food Photography Workshop in Italy and savouring all of the beautiful photo essays. If you’re keen to attend a workshop with me, please shoot me an email or sign up for my email list. Any of the freebies on this page will get you on the list.
My email list is always the first to know!
Fran Flynn
Love this Rachel! The diversity of work is amazing considering you all had the ‘same’ experience…
ivy michael
The food photography workshop in Italy was incredibly inspiring. The hands-on sessions and beautiful settings helped me refine my skills panorama photo stitching services and explore creative techniques. The photo essays we worked on captured not only the beauty of the dishes but also the essence of Italian cuisine, making it an unforgettable experience.