Chat - FOOD we/comp 7th Jan - 9th Jan

[HinFrance]

Congrats Drew on a clear win. One cannot fail to be impressed by the sheer amount of work that went into your picture. If the brief had been simply the best picture involving food you would have received my vote too. As it was there were several excellent mouthwatering shots, and my thoughts seem to have been very similar to jinky's, I went for the same picture in the end, Guy's chocolate stacks.

Above: kentlass – Dive In.This certainly looks very delicious indeed – I like the fork hovering over the feast to come. In my top three this weekend along with Amy's cooking and Guy's chocolate. Unfortunately I can't see a larger version of this (something to do with the site, the egg timer just goes on continuously in the entries thread, they must have stuck some video advert in the sidebar that my slow connection can't cope with).

Below: karenoliver – Market Stall. A suitably varied collection of fresh produce. I'm afraid that this one didn't grab me for two main reasons, both because of my personal tastes. I'm not keen on the canvas overlay and I'm afraid that the whole is just too saturated for me.

My tuppence worth, pinch of salt to be liberally applied.

My shot got exactly the nul points it deserved in this company. It was all a bit rushed, but proves that Pentaxes will work in the cold and dark

[Amy Davies]

Hi all,

Sorry for my tardy response - been a bit busy this week...

It was great to see so many food photographs, and glad to see that some people say they enjoyed the challenge and got into it. The reason I got into it was because I was asked to shoot some food for a project I was working on a couple of years ago and I caught the bug. It also goes hand in hand with my love of picking up bargains/junk from antiques shops and the like as I search for props.

Thanks for the critique from the people that gave it. I can't remember exactly what was said now, but one criticism was that of the background being too dominant - and I agree, when I post this recipe up on my blog I'm going to use a different picture which I think is better -- at least in the sense of highlighting the food more, it's here.

I think someone also said something about the child's handprint looking like it was part of the background. On reflection, I agree with that too - in the second picture there's a few more of them so it's bit less obvious. The cake stand was a gift from my sister for Christmas so I wanted to put into use asap.

Someone also said something about the cream not being the highlight, which I think again is a bit more prominent in the second picture. The problem with lighting is my house, I only have windows on one side of my flat so don't always have that much to walk with - although I've invested in some reflectors that I need to put to better use.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with in the next theme, I'm not sure I'll be entering but it'll be in the back of my mind as I shoot this weekend so we'll see.

Ooh, almost forgot to do the above and below.

Above: Reinardina fruit salad.

I like the colours in this shot, and the reflection of the water really does make it appear more mouth watering. My only criticism here would be the tight crop, I'm not sure it works in this instance as well as if the fruit was a lot more tightly compacted itself and could produce some sort of pattern, and I'd perhaps like to see a bit more context, but I appreciate it's difficult to get that right sometimes (I struggle with it a lot, especially with a cluttered house!)

Below: Mouthwatering fruit by Cutter.
I said in the chat thread that I preferred your other shot Cutter, of the kiwi patterns, for me that had a bit more impact. That said, I like the lighting and again the moistness of the fruit and the colours are great. I think the fruit could have been a bit more simple in it's composition layout, for a more interesting study of the shapes, but again that's just me.

Amy

[kentlass]

Originally Posted by jinky

Kentlas - if you go to the poll page and click on one of the underlined totals you will see excatly who voted for who in the comp. When drew sets the poll one of the important things to tick is the box that makes voting visible. This was brought in a while back and was welcomed by most keen to see a transparent voting system because of one or two perceived problems in the past.

Thank you Jinky

[oggalily]

Well done Drew, absolutely stunning shot. Your preparation and effort has really paid off. If had had the time, vegetables, and creativity, I would have tried something similar! I went for Guy's chocolate stacks as I thought it was a the best shot that matched the "mouthwatering" bit of the brief. Yes, I know I'm a hypocrite, but I only realised mine didn't meet the brief after the poll had started.

Thanks to those who provided reviews and comments. The "sun" was a grapefruit and the biggest challenge was trying to make it look like it was casting light. In the end I used two light sources - an off-camera speedlight held off to the left and a powerful LED bicycle light between the melon and the grapefruit. No significant post-processing apart from levels, curves, sharpening and a bit of a warming filter.

Above and below:

wavemachine's roast: I really like the tight crop. I sometimes think people are afraid to crop too much, but as you can see this works well. You relay all the necessary information with no wasted space. I might have focused on the meat rather than the veg as my eyes are drawn to it and it's not quite sharp. The lighting is nice and brings out the textures.

DigDiva: Cream of the crop: Looks really fresh and tasty. Well executed with background completely dark and no flash on the glass. Shooting glass can be tricky and you've done a great job. That said, I find the compsoition a little static. If you look at, say, a Jamie Oliver cookbook or Olive magazine, the shots will typically be at a quirky angle with really wide aperture, maybe looking down into the glass. You've got the shallow depth of field but I don't think it quite works without the jaunty angle.

Now off to break something for next weekend's comp...

[Eyeayen]

Sorry really behind with everything at the moment and only just got time to write this.

Thanks for the crits guys, I was never happy with my shot but it was the best out of the 3 I decided could be put forward. When we moved we were only meant to be at this place for a little while, consequently most of my stuff is in a storage unit, I literally don't have any lights at all, not even a desk lamp and I really struggled with this, our house is so dark.

The blue cast that both Andy and Paul picked up was unfortunately from a LED Duracell Torch, it was all I had that I could use, withit things looked very plain, I didn't realise it was going to do so much to the image with it's colour cast, I wish I'd corrected it in photoshop. Never mind.

Thanks to those that voted for me.

I was going to try and right something about everyones but it's already late and this is also an old thread now so I'll just do the above and below.

Above - Jinky's Perfect Sunday - I liked this and it completely fitted the brief and looked so well prepared, definitely the Chef among us ! Great presentation and the sort of shots you'd find gracing a menu or sunday magazine but although very well shot I felt they were slightly over exposed, too much white, it needed a different colour back ground or different colour plates on the white. The backs of the plates and cup just blend into the background, maybe that's what you were going for though ? Also I think with the 3 shots you diluted what you had if you'd only focused on one of them. All 3 of them individually are still fantastic portfolio pieces.

Below - Guy's Chocolate stacks - This is proper poster advertising style for some posh sweet shop or something like that. This almost got my vote, the focus throws me though, I can see the chocolate disc at the front clear but the rest of it almost seems too out of focus ? I can't put my finger on it, I don't know if you should have moved the stacks further apart or used a different DoF but it's just not quite there for me. That said I reckon you could approach one of the above mentioned shops and get some work from them. Great effort !

My vote went to Kentlass with her cakes, it was probably the one that most made me want to sit down and eat it, simple, nothing complicated, well done !

So good to see the amount of stunning entries this week too !

[wavemachine]

Oggalily thanks for the crritique on my sunday roast and I am glad you liked it, I went for the tight crop as to me it was all about the food, I lit it using two cheap light tent lamps either side. I think you are right about the focus on the meat this was a misjudgement on my part I guess it was partly due to having little time to photograph it let alone before it got cold (after all I had to eat it afterwards). I would of probably taken a better shot on a full stomach