SLW photo remake # 2

Remake from Gourmet traveller

Today I decided it was finally time to do the second remake of the SLW: photo remakes Flickr group. The first one was a remake of Lara’s own photos and was not so complicated as this particular one.

I love doing these things as it gives me the chance to really think about how a scene was lighted and how I can recreate that same feeling. I am looking forward to doing many more!

For this particular shot I had to first analyze where the light originally was coming from and how they placed all the various elements in the photo as styling is crucial here. Ofcourse I didn’t have the same items, but I chose the ones closest to the original. In the Flickr group it is allowed to make changes to the original version, but I always find it a bigger challenge to try and make it look exactly the same. That is the only way that I feel I’ve given myself the greatest challenge for this particular photo.

Original vs the remake

Above you can see the original next to my version… The shadows on the original are a little more pronounced and the pasta looks more appetizing but overall I am quite pleased with the final result. I didn’t make actual pasta (that is why it looks so bland) as I wanted to really only focus on the photography and not on making the dish. I wanted to use tomato sauce or ketchup or something similar to get the pasta to look a bit reddish but I took the shots in the studio, so I forgot to bring the tomato stuff… Instead I colored it slightly with balsamic and chili sauce… Good thing I didn’t have to eat it!!

I lit the scene with one Bowens Gemini 500 with softbox from behind the subject and above. I initially used a second light from the left but I didn’t like the brighly lit scene I got from that. It wasn’t a huge difference but

With additional light

I thought the heavier shadows made the shot look more rustic.

I am not even sure you can really see the difference in the small photo on the left, but it is most obvious on the left plate. Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing around with the lighting and the composition. Having different sized items can make it a bit harder to achieve the same result, but I think the plates where close enough. The only oval plate I have is tiny and that wouldn’t have worked here.

Can’t wait to see what will be next!