Molly Newman

Molly bills herself as a writer, a professional nerd (she teaches online seminars on photo-editing techniques) and an avid home cook. To which we say, after visiting her blog, “Delicious!”

One read of her blog gives you a sense of her culinary curiosities, but in-between the lines is the most appetizing photography of whatever dish she may be cooking up. From mascarpone-amaretto stuffed apricots to Thai pork with papaya, the images of Molly’s dishes are every bit as compelling as they must taste.

“Food can look so disappointing in a photograph,” says Molly, “compared to how it looks in person.” The trick, she says, is to give the composition a little photo-editing attention.

“In food photography, I like creating an extra-shallow depth of field effect using the Gaussian blur filter and a layer mask,” Molly explains. “I work with adjustment layers and layer masks extensively, and then soften the background to get the blurred effect. I get excellent control over how and where those effects are applied by using the tablet.”

“Using the brush tool is a pleasure rather than a chore with the level of natural control the tablet provides,” Molly adds. In fact, now that she has taken up with her Bamboo pen tablet, Molly has evolved her technique in Photoshop too, going from using selection tools like Quick Select, Magnetic Lasso, and Magic Wand to relying much more extensively on the brush tool for making selections.

For a little added spice, Molly likes to combine some of her favorite recipes in digital scrapbooks. Nothing like a homespun cookbook for the holidays!