Belgian Chocolate – Neuhaus

Photographing in a place like this Neuhaus boutique is always an exercise in restraint. The scene is a sensory overload: gold, red, pastel blues, mirrored surfaces, and the intricate geometry of countless chocolate boxes. It’s easy for the camera to drown in the details, and the trick is to find an anchor point—the human presence that gives context and focus.

Here, that anchor is the shop assistant, absorbed in her task, the bend of her head drawing the viewer into the very centre of the composition. The overhead golden arc with the reversed “1970” is not accidental—it creates a frame within the frame, hinting at the brand’s heritage while subtly separating her from the riot of confections around her.

Technically, the biggest challenge was the mixed lighting. Warm interior tungsten bounced off reflective packaging, while cooler daylight filtered through unseen windows. The result is a colour temperature tug-of-war, which I chose not to fully neutralise in post; instead, I let the warm tones dominate, preserving the mood of the shop. Depth of field is moderate—just enough to keep the assistant sharp while letting the foreground gift box and background shelves fall into softness, preventing the eye from being pulled in too many directions at once.

There’s a slight grain from shooting at a higher ISO, inevitable in such low light without resorting to flash (which would have been both intrusive and aesthetically ruinous in this environment). The mirrors in the background risk visual clutter, but they also double the sense of abundance, a fitting visual echo for a chocolatier known for indulgence.

This is not a grand portrait or a decisive-moment street shot—it’s a quiet observation of craft and commerce. The real challenge was not in making the chocolates look tempting (they do that themselves), but in giving equal weight to the human hand that arranges them with such care.