Capturing Culinary Artistry: Charcuterie Board Photography at a Sassafraz Wedding
When you photograph weddings in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood, particularly at venues as refined as Sassafraz Restaurant, you learn that every detail tells a story. The charcuterie board I captured during this intimate celebration exemplifies how food photography intersects with wedding storytelling, creating images that speak to both culinary craftsmanship and the couple's sophisticated taste.
The Context Behind the Frame
This image emerged during the cocktail hour of a Sassafraz wedding reception, that magical interlude when guests mingle freely and the energy transitions from ceremony to celebration. I had been observing the catering team meticulously arrange various appetizer displays when this particular charcuterie board caught my attention. The wooden serving platter sat on a rustic table adjacent to the main dining area, illuminated by the warm ambient lighting that Sassafras is renowned for—a combination of natural light filtering through their signature windows and strategically placed candles that create an intimate atmosphere.
Rather than simply documenting the food presentation, I approached this moment as I would any portrait: with intention, timing, and technical precision. The board had just been placed, the arrangement still pristine before guests would begin their culinary exploration. I positioned myself directly above, creating a flat-lay perspective that has become increasingly popular in both wedding and food photography, but executed with the technical rigor that separates professional work from casual documentation.
Technical Execution and Equipment
For this shot, I utilized my Canon EOS R5 paired with the Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens, a combination that offers extraordinary sharpness and light-gathering capability. While many photographers might reach for a macro lens for food details, the RF 50mm f/1.2L provides remarkable versatility—its wide aperture allows for exquisite subject isolation when needed, yet stopped down to f/4 as I did here, it delivers edge-to-edge sharpness that brings every element of the charcuterie board into crystalline focus.
The Canon RF lens lineup represents a significant advancement in optical engineering. The RF 50mm f/1.2L USM, in particular, benefits from the shorter flange distance of the RF mount, allowing optical designers to position elements closer to the sensor and achieve correction levels impossible with previous lens architectures. This translates to images with minimal chromatic aberration, virtually no distortion, and exceptional resolution across the entire frame—qualities immediately apparent when examining the fine textures of cured meats, the glistening surface of marinated vegetables, and the crystalline structure of aged cheeses in this photograph.
The Compositional Strategy
Composition in food photography demands a different visual language than traditional wedding photojournalism. Here, I employed a centralized, symmetrical approach that allows the viewer's eye to travel across the entire board without preference or hierarchy. The horizontal orientation of the wooden platter naturally fills the frame, while the slight angle—with the top edge receding gently—creates subtle perspective that adds dimensionality to what could otherwise appear flat.
Every element occupies its space purposefully. The prosciutto cascades in delicate folds at the left, its translucent quality contrasting with the density of aged cheeses arranged in geometric precision. Grilled vegetables—zucchini ribbons, charred eggplant, and roasted peppers—provide vertical elements that break the horizontal flow, while smaller accompaniments like capers, olives, and cherry tomatoes fill negative spaces without creating visual clutter. The small round dish of dip serves as an anchor point, its circular form echoing the plates visible in soft focus behind the main subject.
Lighting Analysis and Execution
The lighting in this image represents one of its greatest strengths, and paradoxically, required the least intervention. Sassafraz Restaurant's interior architecture naturally provides beautiful, diffused light during afternoon events. For this photograph, I relied entirely on ambient sources—primarily the soft, directional light from nearby windows, supplemented by the warm glow of table candles visible in the background.
Working at ISO 800 with a shutter speed of 1/125th second allowed me to handhold the camera while maintaining absolute sharpness. The colour temperature hovers around 3800K, preserving the warm, inviting atmosphere without veering into the overly orange cast that can plague available-light photography. This warmth serves the subject matter beautifully; food photography thrives in the golden hour spectrum, where yellows, reds, and browns achieve their most appetizing saturation.
The soft quality of light eliminates harsh shadows that would create unflattering contrast on the food surfaces. Instead, gentle gradations reveal texture and form—the glossy sheen on marinated artichokes, the matte surface of aged parmesan, the subtle char marks on grilled vegetables. This even illumination required no additional fill cards or reflectors, a testament to both the venue's natural lighting design and the timing of the capture.
Why This Image Succeeds as Wedding Photography
Great wedding food photography accomplishes multiple objectives simultaneously, and this charcuterie board image exemplifies that multifaceted success. First and foremost, it documents a tangible element of the couple's celebration—their choice to offer guests an elevated, artisanal appetizer experience rather than conventional cocktail hour fare. This decision speaks volumes about their aesthetic sensibilities and their desire to create a memorable culinary experience for their guests.
Secondly, the image functions as pure visual pleasure. The composition draws viewers into the frame, inviting them to imagine the flavours and textures, to mentally sample each element. The technical excellence—perfect focus, balanced exposure, accurate colour rendition—creates confidence in the photographer's ability to capture all aspects of the wedding with similar proficiency. When couples review their wedding gallery, images like this provide textural variety between portraits and candid moments, creating a more complete narrative of their day.
The photograph also demonstrates environmental awareness. The visible elements beyond the main subject—the candle with decorative foliage, the place setting in soft focus, the warm wooden tabletop—establish context without competing for attention. These background elements confirm this is wedding photography rather than commercial food photography, maintaining the documentary authenticity that modern couples value while achieving the polish they expect.
Post-Processing Approach and Techniques
The raw file from the Canon EOS R5 provided an exceptional foundation, but professional post-processing elevated the image to its final form. My workflow began in Adobe Lightroom Classic, where I established the global adjustments that would define the image's character.
The primary colour correction involved fine-tuning the white balance to preserve the warm ambiance while ensuring accurate colour representation of the food items. I employed split-toning techniques, adding subtle warmth to the highlights (specifically targeting the lighter cheeses and the background elements) while keeping the shadows neutral to prevent muddiness in the darker cured meats and olives.
Selective adjustments played a crucial role in the final result. Using Lightroom's luminance and saturation controls, I enhanced the natural colours of key elements—deepening the reds in the cherry tomatoes and roasted peppers, enriching the greens in the olives and grilled vegetables, and bringing forward the golden tones in the aged cheeses. These adjustments remained within natural parameters; the goal was optimization rather than artificial enhancement.
Localized dodging and burning added subtle dimensionality. I gently brightened the central elements of the charcuterie board to draw the eye inward, while allowing the background to recede slightly through minimal darkening. This creates visual depth despite the flat-lay perspective, guiding viewers' attention through the frame in a controlled manner.
Sharpening required a nuanced approach given the variety of textures present. Rather than applying aggressive global sharpening, I used Lightroom's masking tools to selectively enhance edge definition in specific areas—the folded prosciutto, the cheese selections, and the grilled vegetable ribbons—while leaving smoother surfaces like the wooden board and background elements with gentler treatment. This selective sharpening prevents the over-processed appearance that can plague food photography when every pixel receives equal enhancement.
Advanced Colour Grading Techniques
The colour palette in this image required careful consideration during post-processing. Working within Adobe's Camera Raw engine, I utilized the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) panel extensively to achieve colour harmony across disparate elements. The challenge with charcuterie board photography lies in balancing multiple competing hues—reds, greens, yellows, browns—without allowing any single colour to dominate or appear artificially saturated.
I reduced the luminance of the red channel slightly, preventing the cherry tomatoes and roasted peppers from becoming too prominent and drawing attention away from the overall composition. Conversely, I increased the luminance of the yellow and orange channels, bringing forward the warmth in the cheeses and the golden tones of the wooden board. These micro-adjustments create visual cohesion, making the image feel intentional rather than simply recorded.
The calibration panel allowed fine-tuning of the primary colours at their source. Shifting the red primary slightly toward orange prevented the tomatoes from appearing too cool or purple, while adjusting the green primary toward yellow ensured the olives and grilled vegetables maintained their appetizing quality rather than trending toward cyan.
The Broader Context of Detail Photography
Within the complete wedding story, detail images like this charcuterie board photograph serve essential narrative functions. They provide pacing and rhythm to the visual story, offering moments of contemplation between the emotional intensity of ceremony and the kinetic energy of reception dancing. These images also validate the couple's planning efforts—the countless hours spent selecting vendors, tasting menu options, and refining aesthetic details all culminate in tangible, photographable elements that appear in their final gallery.
For the couple whose elegant hors d'oeuvres included this artisanal charcuterie selection, this image represents their commitment to quality and their appreciation for culinary artistry. It documents not just what their wedding looked like, but what it felt like—sophisticated, intentional, and genuinely welcoming. Years after the celebration concludes, photographs like this trigger sensory memories beyond the purely visual, transporting viewers back to the flavours, aromas, and conversations that made the day meaningful.
Professional Critique and Evaluation
Evaluating this image through a professional lens reveals both its considerable strengths and the intentional decisions that contribute to its success. The technical execution is beyond reproach—the exposure accurately captures the full dynamic range from the brightest cheese surfaces to the deepest shadows in the cured meats, the focus achieves perfect sharpness across the critical plane, and the colour accuracy ensures appetizing reproduction of every element.
The compositional balance demonstrates sophisticated visual literacy. The slight asymmetry in the arrangement prevents sterility while maintaining overall harmony. The decision to include environmental context in soft focus—the candle, the place setting, the table surface—grounds the image in its wedding context without creating distraction. This environmental awareness separates documentary wedding photography from decontextualized commercial work.
The timing of capture proves impeccable. The board remains pristine, its arrangement intact, allowing appreciation of the caterer's artistry. Waiting even five minutes might have resulted in disturbed arrangements or missing elements as guests began sampling. This anticipation and readiness characterize professional wedding photography—recognizing fleeting opportunities and executing technically sound images under time pressure.
If forced to identify areas for potential alternative approaches, one might consider an even tighter crop to eliminate more background context, focusing exclusively on the charcuterie board itself. However, this would sacrifice the environmental storytelling that gives the image its wedding-specific character. Alternatively, capturing at f/1.2 would have created more dramatic background separation, but at the cost of potentially losing sharpness across the entire board. The chosen aperture of f/4 represents the optimal balance for this particular subject and intention.
Conclusion: The Intersection of Craft and Storytelling
This photograph of a charcuterie board at a Sassafraz wedding exemplifies how technical mastery and artistic vision combine to create wedding images that transcend simple documentation. Through considered equipment selection, precise exposure and composition, and refined post-processing, the image achieves multiple objectives: it documents the couple's aesthetic choices, it provides visual pleasure through technical excellence, and it contributes meaningfully to the complete wedding narrative.
For photographers aspiring to elevate their detail photography, this image offers lessons in observation, patience, and execution. The ability to recognize photographic opportunity in unexpected moments, to execute technically sound images under available light conditions, and to enhance those captures through sophisticated post-processing represents the complete skill set required for contemporary wedding photography. These details matter because they reflect the care and intention that couples invest in their celebrations, and they deserve to be captured with equivalent care and skill.