Pastry Class

Mirror Glaze Dessert Photographer for Premium Online Courses: PastryClass Case Study

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- about this project

The Project:

Photographing the PastryClass Book as luxury product and instructional tool

We photographed PastryClass—the brand built around Ksenia Penkina, known globally as the "Glazing Queen"—to create e-commerce, creative, and team images for their new book, website, and social media. PastryClass specializes in premium pastry education, offering classes taught by world-renowned instructors and a 520-page hardcover book featuring step-by-step photography and augmented reality tutorials. The brand's identity centers on mirror glaze mastery, intense color precision, and a luxury aesthetic that positions haute pâtisserie as both technical craft and visual art. Working from Vancouver as a cookbook photographer, I approached this project knowing the images needed to reflect that high standard across multiple marketing channels while maintaining strict visual consistency.

The Execution:

Three image types serving distinct marketing functions

The photography centered on three distinct but connected image types. I captured product photos of the PastryClass Book itself—clean shots of the cover, spine reveals, and angled stacks that emphasized the book's physical weight and eco-friendly hardcover construction. I photographed step-by-step spreads from inside the book, showing the detailed pastry process images and vibrant recipe layouts that demonstrate the instructional depth. I also created lifestyle images of people interacting with the book, including hands-in-frame shots that added a human element and showcased the augmented reality features in use. Each image type served a specific marketing function: product shots for e-commerce listings, spread photography for editorial and promotional materials, and lifestyle content for social media and campaign launches.

Controlled lighting to manage gloss and preserve color accuracy

My lighting strategy prioritized control and clarity. I used soft, even lighting setups to eliminate glare on the matte black cover while preserving the crisp white typography and glossy accent details. This approach kept the AR screen overlays readable in demonstration shots and prevented blown-out highlights that would obscure the book's embossing and texture. For the interior spread photography, I maintained consistent color temperature and exposure across all frames so the saturated pastry colors—reds, purples, blacks—remained accurate and vibrant without banding or shifts. Reflective glazes and high-gloss finishes can be challenging in this kind of work, so I positioned diffused panels to control specular highlights and avoid muddy tones or streaking that can cheapen the look of mirror glaze work.

Minimalist composition emphasizing precision and clarity

Composition choices reinforced the brand's minimalist, precision-focused aesthetic. I shot the book against neutral backgrounds—clean whites and subtle grays—that allowed the pastry images and bold black cover to command attention without visual noise. I alternated between tightly cropped product angles for e-commerce clarity and wider framed scenes that included props and negative space for campaign flexibility. For the step-by-step recipe photography inside the book, I captured each spread straight-on to preserve legibility and instructional value while emphasizing the density of content and the quality of the page layout. Hands-in-frame lifestyle shots were staged with deliberate restraint: no clutter, no distracting backgrounds, just the book and the interaction with the AR feature or the act of turning pages.

The Result:

A unified photo collection supporting commerce, editorial, and social needs

I delivered a complete photo collection designed for multi-channel use. The product images work for the online store, providing clean angles and detail shots that communicate the book's luxury construction and substantial page count. The spread photography supports editorial use, press materials, and social content that highlights the instructional depth and visual richness of the recipes. The lifestyle images add warmth and context, showing the book in use and demonstrating the augmented reality integration. The team portraits I created maintain the same lighting and color consistency, supporting PR needs and reinforcing the professional, world-class positioning of the PastryClass brand. All images were color-graded to a unified standard, so the collection functions as a cohesive visual system rather than a disjointed set of individual frames.

Technical precision meets luxury brand positioning

This project demonstrates how cookbook photography can bridge the gap between instructional clarity and luxury branding. The PastryClass Book images needed to communicate both the technical rigor of the content—step-by-step processes, detailed recipes, advanced glazing techniques—and the aspirational, high-end positioning that justifies premium pricing. By controlling lighting to manage gloss and reflection, maintaining strict color discipline across the series, and composing each frame with both commerce needs and editorial polish in mind, I created photography that serves the immediate marketing requirements while supporting the long-term brand identity. As a Vancouver product photographer, I work with brands launching cookbooks, product lines, and food education projects that need photography handling technical challenges while maintaining a consistent luxury aesthetic. If that sounds like your project, reach out to discuss it.

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