As I said in my Food Images and Galleries post at the start of the month, I’ve been turning my hand to adding to my collection of food images on Alamy during the lockdown.  Rather than post a Last Week’s Shoot blog for each shoot, I thought I’d just have a summary of some of the things I’ve been up to during the month…

I’ve had a go a some flat lay still life ideas like the one above of a halved lemon and lemon slices with glass and wooden lemon squeezers and a kitchen knife on a wooden chopping board.  They’re actually quite good fun to do though a bit tricky to set up without a tripod boom.  This one was OK on the kitchen table (I had to stand on a stool!) but any larger arrangements would be better laid out on the floor.

I’ve done a few more shots of basic ingredients including apples, oranges, lemons, easy-peelers, wholewheat and white spaghetti and a variety of salad items.

I had a go at making my own oat cream as I can’t get it locally and I can’t get an online delivery slot during the lockdown.  It’s quite easy to do, though I think I need a finer sieve to get all the oaty bits out of it!  It worked pretty well in coffee and tasted the same as the shop bought version (the ingredients are just about identical) save for the bits at the bottom of the cup.

I also made hummus, which was delicious – this is something that’s much better than the shop bought version and there’s no single use plastic to dispose of.  It’s quick to make too (unless you’re photographing the whole process in which case it takes ages) so it’s well worth it.  I only put one of those garlic cloves in, by the way!

I’ve tried a few simple ideas with black peppercorns and coarse sea salt in a teaspoon on my old chopping board – I love my chopping boards as my Dad made them all (he was a joiner) from offcuts of solid teak.

This week I’ve been shooting home-made oat bread and chilled Waldorf (celery) soup, amongst other things, which I’m processing up at the moment so I should have an update on those next week.  Let me know if you’d like the full recipes in the posts!

You can find all my food images (including the delicious hummus, sprinkled with paprika) in my gallery on Alamy.