Food photoshoot assignment completed. Pretty pleased!!!

[berettafan]

Owners are very happy and I am, to be honest, thrilled at the results. There is certainly room for improvement but given time and equipment constraints I am very happy.

Food is definitely difficult to shoot and lighting is a BIG deal. I'd like to shoot some more and if I get the chance I will spring for some add'l lighting equipment.

Thanks again to everyone who offered assistance and advice!!!

[berettafan]

Please feel free to criticize!!! I have a long list and would be interested in how much of it others pick up on.

The goal here is to make you hungry. Hopefully i have achieved that.

[Hugh R]

Interesting depth of focus, in a good way.

[DCinVA]

Yup, I am now hungry. That surf and turf looks awsome !!

[Bobboloo]

This should be in Off Topic.

Could have used a different f stop for more depth of field for my tastes and centered the focus more toward the center of the plate rather than the leading edge.

I like the lighting.

[livi]

Oh man! Why did I click on this thread. Those pics are delicious. Sitting here on call with a crowded waiting room full of cranky babies and even crankier mothers - and I missed lunch before I signed in. I´ll be the crankiest of them all now! Good photos!

[berettafan]

oops, Mods could you please move this thread to OT?

Sorry!

[berettafan]

Good point on the leading edge of the plate. Focusing was very tough. Probably will try manual focus next time to push focus just a little further back.

[dan79brooklyn]

Looks pretty good, food is certainly tasty looking!
Lighting and focus are good.
I would have varied the background using tablecloth/napkins or different fabric to contrast the plates. I don't think the silverware IN the food is a good idea, maybe should be next to the plate.
I think most clients (beside Martha Stewart/Food Magazines) would be pleased.

[RWebb]

can I have some of the oysters?


and, where is the Beretta?

[William930t]

Ok, thinking OT, which piece of bread resembles a 911?

[onlycafe]

cherrywood smoked sausages and meatballs, and to be really snobby, the wood is scrap from the stickley factory.

[Flank]

Hey Beretta,
That may of been your main problem was the 'auto focus'. The depth of field is too narrow, but not by much. Try manual everything. Place the silverware to the side and dress up that baked potato, it's naked. Those are good shots and you have every right to be happy, just do a little more tweaks.
Later, Flank

[oregonmon]

Who is doing the food? What are these pics for? I always like to look at food.
Not to sound to snobby, but I'm always taking pics of the food I make. It's not as easy as it seems. Basically a recipe log and to show clients.
At Your Table
Private Chef and Catering

[onboost]

I knew this was a Maryland deal as soon as I layed eyes on and the shrimp and scalop platter with liberal use of Old Bay... and of course those crab cakes.

Ok, so now I'm hungry!

[sketchers356]

Agreed, open up the f-stop and try setting the focal point closer to the center of the shot.

Some good looking food though!

[dhoward]

Umm...
That would be stop down....
Nice pics.

[berettafan]

keep the comments coming!

i think the best compliment i could have gotten is serious critical viewing by you guys. thank you.

the pics will be used on the website of this restaurant. it would be nice if i could pick up a few gigs from this. i am anxious now to go manual focus and aperture priority and see how much i can improve!

[911Rob]

Yeah!!! A good news thread.
I'd say you did a great job considering how low your budget was; very good.
Give yourself a pat on the back, collect the cheque, put it in the bank and get onto the next one.
Cheers, Hope we were all of some help?

[Steve Carlton]

Curious what sort of gear you used. Also, I think the photo image quality is probably being damaged by Pelican's image resizing/compression. Try hosting very high quality images on photobucket.com or onfinite.com and linking them here.

Agree you need to fiddle with your aperture for different DOF and manual focus. Take multiple versions of each shot and you'll see what works best. Some out-of-focus is good; it emphasizes the part that's in focus. Lighting looks very good and I tend to like the compositions. Perhaps shoot more area around the dishes so you have room to crop, if you're not already. Agree backgrounds could use some placemats/napkins/silverware/salt/pepper/butter type things so they're not so plain.

#1- I don't see any good focus here. Perhaps higher-res image is better. Maybe some sauce in there.

#2- I'd like to see sharp focus on the dip as well as the bread in front. Bread out of focus in the rear seems like a good idea. I'd lose one utensil. Dark shadow at top of image and dark spot in upper left corner should go. I'd strategically place the garnish on the bread a little more and lose it and the crumbs from the edge of the dish.

#3- Shift focal point rearward 2" rearward, same with garnish as #2. I like the cropping and the ketchup out of focus in the background.

#4- Increase DOF, sharp focus in the middle. Add some sauce to the broccoli and/or sour cream/chives to the potato. Some A-1 in the background?

#5- More DOF. Feels dry.

#6- My favorite shot. I like the shine on some of the food. I'd move the parsley away from the front some; it's a little distracting. I'd pull in a bit more shrimp; they seem a little too cropped out.

#7- Another good shot. Big parsley at right and along edge of dish distracts.

#8- Perhaps salad at rear should focused sharply in front with salad in foreground less so, as it's heavily cropped.

#9- DOF too narrow. Edge of plate cleaner. Some dip on/near the celery?