Final Photoshoot

I was very excited to take my final magazine photos and found the process enjoyable and extremely creative. The dish I choose to shoot was gnocchi and I documented the entire process. This is because I plan on including a gnocchi recipe in my magazine with a corresponding image to each recipe.

Obstacle:

An obstacle I encountered when doing this photo shoot was that I didn't have a plain background to utilize for my images. To solve this issue, I placed a white cardboard panel in the background and edited the entire background out afterwords using Photoshop. I decided to insert a stark white-to-light-gray gradient as the background color. I realized that it doesn't look as natural as I would like it to, so I altered my layout plan for my recipe to accommodate the new look of my images. Below is the process and revised recipe layout plan.

Raw Image:

Color edited image:

Image without the background:

Final Image with new background:

New Recipe Layout Plan:

I plan on having a border surrounding each image so that they are differentiated. Plus, a bold border takes away some realism from the image which would make my new background not look very "out of place".

Final Photos:

I repeated the same process detailed above of editing the lighting and coloring, removing the background, and inserting a new one for most of my final images.

This is the first image I took and it features the four ingredients of gnocchi: flour, potatoes, an egg, and salt. I plan on using this image in the recipe section of the double-page spread.

This next image represents the end of the second step which is mashing the boiled potatoes. This will also be used in the recipe portion of my magazine.

I really like this third image. The colors seen are all different shades of yellow and brown which complement each other. The pouring of the egg is shown which is not only informative but visually interesting.

This fourth image shows the finished dough divided into four pieces. I enjoy how they're placed in a diamond formation as opposed to a. standard rectangular arrangement.

As for the fifth image, I tried to showcase not just the intended result of this step, but how to do it. Therefore, I took a self-timed picture of myself cutting the dough into small squared. The log of dough to the right of the image also depicts another part of the recipe.

This is the sixth image and it was taken the same way as the previous picture. Once again, I wanted to show the reader how I made subtle ridges/indents in the gnocchi pieces.

This image is my favorite one of the entire photoshoot. I believe this is because we're able to see the details of the gnocchi. Also, the shallow focus draws our attention straight to the first few pieces of gnocchi. I plan to use this image for my table of contents.

This eighth image is very similar to the seventh one, but the purpose of this shot was for it to be included in the recipe section of the double-page spread. This is so that the reader can see more of what the gnocchi should look like rather than a close-up of a few.

This last image is what I plan on using for my cover. It shows the gnocchi in marinara sauce with a couple of basil leaves and the bowl is surrounded by randomly placed flour. I added this flour because, without it, the image felt very plain. Plus, it relates to the recipe where a considerable amount of flour was used. I used a black poster board to get the background because I wanted the image to be more sophisticated, have the gnocchi stand out, and create a slightly more dramatic mood.

Organization:

I continuously referenced my shot list throughout this photoshoot and I'm very glad I did so. It helped me to stay organized and ensured that I wouldn't forget an important shot. While I didn't follow what I sketched to the T, it was very similar. I ended up taking all the pictures I sketched out, but some did not turn out the way I expected them to so I opted to leave them out of my final images.

Conclusion:

Overall, this photo shoot was a complete success. I had such a fun time planning, shooting, and editing these pictures, and learned a lot along the way. Although I encountered some unforeseen setbacks, I was able to come up with a feasible solution that quickly fixed the issue using my knowledge of Photoshop. The whole process took much longer than I anticipated, but I believe that this only added to the quality of my images. My images were successful because they depict what the steps are so that readers are easily able to follow along with the recipe. I'm very proud of my final nine images and can't wait to start making my magazine with them!