CRU Food & Wine Bar – Austin, Texas

My perennial favorite for rich color on 2nd Street is CRU Food & Wine Bar. Located three blocks east of yesterday’s Torchy’s, CRU’s been around since 2007. It’s one of the early businesses in the 2nd Street Shopping District. I’ve captured it often during my walks through downtown.

With nearly 2800 blog posts, it’s challenging to find old content. The search doesn’t always pick up what I want. That said, I’ve found two previous posts of CRU. I have this one from July 2018 when I often shot with the compact Canon G7X Mark II. That image didn’t adequately represent the rich colors. An even older post from 2014 did a better job. Combining the ultra-small Pentax Q7 and HDR produced warm and pleasant results.

The Fujifilm GFX 50S II did the best with the rich colors and outstanding dynamic range — no tripod or HDR was required. I merely underexposed and lifted the shadows in post. Even the indoor patrons are clearly visible.

Increasingly, I frame my subject straight on instead of in an angled perspective. While straightforward in concept, it’s harder to execute with precision. Ideally, one needs to keep the camera plane exactly parallel to the subject. Something I still find trying at times. Luckily, Capture One has the tools to correct perspective.

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