# Steak Pie



## redbourn (Nov 22, 2015)

My latest food photo and hopefully they are getting better.

It looks a little too yellow to me and also seems to have a hint of green.

I used a gray card and also have Spyder hardware which I used to calibrate my monitor.

Have tried to incorporate some tips that were given me on previous posts.

Comment and suggestions would be very welcome.

Michael


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## DB_Cro (Nov 22, 2015)

I'd eat it, so, guess the shot is just fine. <3


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## Designer (Nov 22, 2015)

You'd eat anything.

I don't see the yellow that you mentioned.  The whites look white to me.  I think you still need to expand your posing repertoire.  I see only the two dishes, and while they look good, it doesn't make a good photogenic composition.


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## DB_Cro (Nov 22, 2015)

Damn it!


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## redbourn (Nov 22, 2015)

DB_Cro said:


> I'd eat it, so, guess the shot is just fine. <3



Thanks, for a cookbook that's good news.


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## redbourn (Nov 22, 2015)

Designer said:


> You'd eat anything.
> 
> I don't see the yellow that you mentioned.  The whites look white to me.  I think you still need to expand your posing repertoire.  I see only the two dishes, and while they look good, it doesn't make a good photogenic composition.



Thanks, I'm just working on so much right now. Camera softbox and layout etc.

When I start to get photos that I can use for my book I will go back and reshoot a lot or all of them.

Makes recooking every meal again.

I think this photo is pretty good for my book.


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## dennybeall (Nov 22, 2015)

Looking at the shot on this laptop I do see the yellow with tints of green in the low spots of the crust. Everything else looks good though.


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## AceCo55 (Nov 23, 2015)

I like it - looks very appetising!
I actually like the composition - good leading lines and the colour of the vegetables brings a freshness to the pie.


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## Alexr25 (Nov 23, 2015)

Both the pastry and the meat 

 have a slight greenish tinge. In Lightroom I did a white balance by sampling the light shadow areas of dish handle, the resulting correction was temp -1, tint +27 and much nicer colours.
If colour rendition is important to you (as I suspect it is in food photography) you should do a custom white balance for your camera at the start of each session. Also if you shoot RAW you could consider getting an X-rite Colorchecker Passport and making a custom colour profile for your camera under your studio lighting conditions. You should find that the colours come out much truer using a custom camera profile in ACR than they do using the Adobe defaults.


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## OGsPhotography (Nov 23, 2015)

Garnish the pie I would, and get a little lower to include some background separation. 

Looks tasty.


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## FotosbyMike (Nov 23, 2015)

Here are some of my feedback below, also I would have liked to see all the meat in focus (focus stacking would help), I would have removed all the highlights where the meat meets the gravy and on the meat (circular polarizer would fix this), the underexposed area could be fixed with a white bounce card (I use white/black foam board).

I also see the green tint, but your whites are white so I would select the crust and reduce the green saturation. I would add have lowered the angle a little more and added a glass or milk/ice tea and adding a fork might add that little bit of a pop.

What kind of lights are you using CFL? Some of these can cast a green tint also be vigilant about what you are wearing(stay with dark colors) and other colorful things around your shooting area color cast could be causing this too. 

Please don't think this is a bad review it is pretty good just trying to get you to the next step. Also remember keep shooting you can only get better.


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## redbourn (Nov 23, 2015)

OGsPhotography said:


> Garnish the pie I would, and get a little lower to include some background separation.
> 
> Looks tasty.


Thanks for the tips!


FotosbyMike said:


> Here are some of my feedback below, also I would have liked to see all the meat in focus (focus stacking would help), I would have removed all the highlights where the meat meets the gravy and on the meat (circular polarizer would fix this), the underexposed area could be fixed with a white bounce card (I use white/black foam board).
> 
> I also see the green tint, but your whites are white so I would select the crust and reduce the green saturation. I would add have lowered the angle a little more and added a glass or milk/ice tea and adding a fork might add that little bit of a pop.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the comments.

Clone stamp well spotted! Might not have needed to do it as it was some pastry.

I can darken the veg in LR but not much I can do about over exposed now. What could I have done about it when shooting?

Very interesting about the clothes and never thought about that !

I don't know about "focus stacking" but will check it out.

CFL - 5500 just one.


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## redbourn (Nov 23, 2015)

FotosbyMike said:


> Here are some of my feedback below, also I would have liked to see all the meat in focus (focus stacking would help), I would have removed all the highlights where the meat meets the gravy and on the meat (circular polarizer would fix this), the underexposed area could be fixed with a white bounce card (I use white/black foam board).
> 
> I also see the green tint, but your whites are white so I would select the crust and reduce the green saturation. I would add have lowered the angle a little more and added a glass or milk/ice tea and adding a fork might add that little bit of a pop.
> 
> ...




*"Focus stacking* (also known as focal plane merging and z-*stacking* or *focus* blending) is a digital image processing technique which combines multiple images taken at different *focus* distances to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field (DOF) than any of the individual source images".

I have the photo right up to f22 - so will play with it - thanks.


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## redbourn (Nov 23, 2015)

Alexr25 said:


> Both the pastry and the meat View attachment 111822 have a slight greenish tinge. In Lightroom I did a white balance by sampling the light shadow areas of dish handle, the resulting correction was temp -1, tint +27 and much nicer colours.
> If colour rendition is important to you (as I suspect it is in food photography) you should do a custom white balance for your camera at the start of each session. Also if you shoot RAW you could consider getting an X-rite Colorchecker Passport and making a custom colour profile for your camera under your studio lighting conditions. You should find that the colours come out much truer using a custom camera profile in ACR than they do using the Adobe defaults.




Wow thanks. There is so much to learn. 

How deep is the rabbit hole?

Only being doing photography for a few months.

Am writing a cookbook so need the images.

What I did was to photograph the food and a gray card, load the photos into LR - loaded the gray card and created a preset and then used the preset on the photo. Is that a way to go?

I have a Nikon D3300 and am shooting raw. Have a light box and large reflector, which seems to be too large.

I don't know what an X-rite Colorchecker is but will check it out. My camera and lens profile are loaded into LR 5


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## redbourn (Nov 23, 2015)

I am super encouraged that posters are giving me so much detailed feedback.

I am such a newbie.

Thank y0u.


 

 


I tried to combine all of the feedback into the attached before and after.

The meat looks so much better !

I couldn't tone down some of the white very much without showing 'corruption' for want over a different word.

It seemed almost impossible to lose much green without effecting the yellows, but I lost some.

Tried focus stacking for the first time but it only showed the attached which didn't seem helpful. Maybe because of my lack of knowledge on how to use it.


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## Dave442 (Nov 23, 2015)

redbourn said:


> Tried focus stacking for the first time but it only showed the attached which didn't seem helpful. Maybe because of my lack of knowledge on how to use it.



To focus stack you will need to take shots with different focus points. Options are to either keep the camera in one place and change the focus point with the lens or to keep the lens at one focus point and move the camera. With this I usually use the best f/stop for the lens and unless you have a focus rail then it is easier to first try out this with some careful manual focus. Some cameras can be tethered to a laptop and have software step the lens through different focus points or control a focus rail with a stepper motor. Note that you will usually lose some of the image after processing so usually need to include slightly more area in the initial image. You need to use a tripod. I use Zerene Stacker to combine the images. Depending on depth-of-field and subject it could be just a few images to over a dozen.  
I like to use a custom white balance and manual exposure so those things are not changed by the camera from shot to shot.  
I think your image as it is now is pretty good, but it could be worthwhile to try out some focus stacking just in case you really need it sometime.


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## Jasii (Nov 23, 2015)

Others have pitched in with the technical stuff, being a foodie myself all I can say is:
This looks scrummy! Well done mate.
Cheers!


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

Jasii said:


> Others have pitched in with the technical stuff, being a foodie myself all I can say is:
> This looks scrummy! Well done mate.
> Cheers!


Thanks!


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

Dave442 said:


> redbourn said:
> 
> 
> > Tried focus stacking for the first time but it only showed the attached which didn't seem helpful. Maybe because of my lack of knowledge on how to use it.
> ...



Thanks for the help and encouragement. I thought it would be great fun to write a cookbook. Now I cook for two days, eat the meal warm the first day and reheated the second day.

I used a tripod and a timer and a whole range of f stops. I will try manual focus with the software you mentioned.

Maybe I didn't use the PS focus stacker correctly. What I got didn't seem helpful.


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

dennybeall said:


> Looking at the shot on this laptop I do see the yellow with tints of green in the low spots of the crust. Everything else looks good though.


Thanks


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

OGsPhotography said:


> Garnish the pie I would, and get a little lower to include some background separation.
> 
> Looks tasty.



Thanks. Never thought about garnishing a pie.


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

AceCo55 said:


> I like it - looks very appetising!
> I actually like the composition - good leading lines and the colour of the vegetables brings a freshness to the pie.



Thank you.


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## FotosbyMike (Nov 24, 2015)

redbourn said:


> I can darken the veg in LR but not much I can do about over exposed now. What could I have done about it when shooting?



There are a few things you can do easiest is to flag or block as much of the light hitting the vegs with a black card, and the second option I know it as feathering the light this is done by rotating the softbox away from the product so it is not 90 degrees to the product. Last option is taking multiple exposures one for the vegs and one for the pie then compositing them in PS. Believe it or not a lot of food and product photography is not done all in camera it is 2-10+ images composited together.

This cheesecake image I took is focus stacked about 5 shots(should have been more, too late), then each Oreo has a shot so this image is about 9 photos. Then composited together in PS.


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

FotosbyMike said:


> redbourn said:
> 
> 
> > I can darken the veg in LR but not much I can do about over exposed now. What could I have done about it when shooting?
> ...



Great shot and I see the difference !

And I will try some of the tips.

Was it you that mentioned using software that makes a ring around the object when using manual focus?

I wanted to check out the software but can't find the post, so I don't know the name of the software.


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## FotosbyMike (Nov 24, 2015)

Dave442 said:


> I use Zerene Stacker to combine the images. Depending on depth-of-field and subject it could be just a few images to over a dozen.



Said he used Zerene Stacker, PS also has the option and Helicon Focus is also a good one.


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

FotosbyMike said:


> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> > I use Zerene Stacker to combine the images. Depending on depth-of-field and subject it could be just a few images to over a dozen.
> ...


Thanks !


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## redbourn (Nov 24, 2015)

PS provides a mask, does Zerene Stacker?

I only want to sharpen parts of an image.


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## FotosbyMike (Nov 24, 2015)

Correct PS does do layer masking to revel only sharp images. Check out this awesome video from Phlearn


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## gsgary (Nov 24, 2015)

Gravy looks a bit oily


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## jcdeboever (Nov 24, 2015)

Some of Ron's bread, limr's wine, heaping pile of that steak pie, and photomikes desert and I'm good to go! SWEET!!!!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## chuasam (Dec 7, 2015)

Getting better. Use an xrite colour checker and not a grey card.


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