Using colour, light, and space, photographer Pablo Gil transforms the spectacular food of internationally renowned chefs into eye-catching art. “The dish is the protagonist,” says Pablo of his project, which he shot with his Sony Alpha 7R V. “This type of food photography has a very minimalist and Mediterranean style. Sometimes, we may include the Chef in the image, finishing the presentation, but we always let the chef’s succulent preparations speak for themselves.”

With the hard work in the kitchen finished and the chef’s creation perfectly presented, it is down to Pablo to take the images that will show the chef's work to the world. “Negative space and the use of light and dark have been very important in my personal style for many years,” he says. “I’m deeply inspired by the late Renaissance and early Baroque art. I am fascinated by the dramatic absence of light, and how the light hits where we want it. Let's say it is a mix between baroque light and minimalist composition. Strange, perhaps, but powerful.”

The shots come to life through the colour and detail that Pablo can capture with his Sony Alpha 7R V and its best-in-class 61 megapixel back-illuminated sensor. “The dynamic range and colour fidelity of the Alpha 7R V are very high. Its sensor performance, coupled with Sony lenses, really makes a big difference compared to other cameras. Sharpness and detail are so important in food photography. The ability to find every last detail in food makes a big difference and sometimes you find landscapes within a texture when you get close with the camera.”

One of the hardest parts about shooting food photography is getting the correct colour and lighting. The food needs to look appetizing, with colour and texture, but it should also look natural and realistic, which means finding a balance.

“Colour has an impressive power; it can enhance the viewer's appetite or, on the contrary, it can ruin the desire to devour a dish,” says Pablo. “If the colours are inappropriate, people will reject the food. It is important to know the psychology of colour and how the human brain, with more than 10,000 years of gastronomic evolution, prefers natural and vivid colours to more artificial and dull ones.”

Once again, the sensor of the Alpha 7R V allows Pablo to create images where he can recover as much detail as possible in the shadow areas. “Sometimes, there are areas of a dish that are impossible to light properly, and the correct colour cannot be achieved without adjustments in post-production. That is where the dynamic range obtained, and the post-production capacity of the photograph plays a very important role.”

Lighting each item on the menu is as much of a science as creating them is, with each dish needing individual attention and its own lighting requirements. “I analyse each culinary preparation in detail. Before photographing it, I try to understand what the dish on the table conveys. For this reason, I usually work with a two or three-point scheme, with which I can quickly make lighting variations, even changing the modifiers from soft to hard light.”

Focusing that light on the sensor are the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS and FE 100mm f/2.8 STF GM OSS Lenses. Each of these lenses pairs beautifully with Pablo’s Alpha 7R V camera, allowing him to get incredible sharpness and detail, with the macro capabilities of the lenses allowing him to get close when needed.

“The 90mm is very useful when taking very close shots and doing a 1:1 macro. If I need to take more open or general shots, I will also use the FE 50mm f/1.2 G Master lens. But if there is one lens that I really love, it is the 100mm. Its apodized optics (STF - Smooth Transition Focus) create organic blurs on another level, which you cannot get with any other optics on the market. It blurs the bokeh even more, and it is wonderful to see backgrounds like this in food photography.”

Overall, the images are the work of two greats in food and photography. While the chefs have their tools in the kitchen, Pablo relies on his Alpha 7R V and lenses, which he knows he can trust:

“It works and always works. That’s why the Alpha 7R V is like an extension of me. It just does what it needs to do when I need it to.”