# Restaurant Photos for C&C - Yum!



## Parker219 (Nov 18, 2014)

I am trying to take your advice and work on lighting and not make the food look flat.

I know some of this food is not gourmet by any means... burgers, wings, ect, but that was the assignment.  I haven't edited all of the Japanese Restaurant photos, but I will put at least 1 in this thread.

Thank You for your feedback!



1.  






2.  Light shined directly through the beer obviously...gave the peanuts a warm color.





3. BACON had to make an appearance! Should I remove the black specs from the cheese? 






4. 






5. Does this work at all?







6. I promised...


----------



## Rick50 (Nov 18, 2014)

Well, I don't know a damn thing about food photography so take this easily. Not only does #5 work, it's the only one I like.
I would try get more depth of field if I did this. The colors are good.


----------



## Parker219 (Nov 18, 2014)

^Interesting.


The magazine likes shallow DOF, so that's what I do for the most part. If you are bored Google food photography and 99% of the photos have shallow DOF.

To test the shallow DOF theory I submitted 2 photos to the magazine of the same image. One was at f3.5 and one at f14 in order to get more DOF. They used the f3.5.


----------



## Designer (Nov 18, 2014)

Say, these are looking pretty good, there bud! 

Everything works for me. 

Little black speck(s?) hardly noticeable, but if somebody sprinkled black pepper on the sandwich before the photograph, then do not let them do that again.

Flame works.

DOF is fine in all except #6.  Should try to include the other food item in better focus.


----------



## qleak (Nov 18, 2014)

Parker219 said:


> ^Interesting.
> 
> 
> The magazine likes shallow DOF, so that's what I do for the most part. If you are bored Google food photography and 99% of the photos have shallow DOF.
> ...



I like the lighting on all except #5, The perspective and composition is also quite good in all except  #5 and maybe #2. I found your depth of field too shallow in #4, #6. I wouldn't turn the aperture dial all the way to f14, but I feel like each of the foodstuffs or glasses should be at least partially in focus.


----------



## vintagesnaps (Nov 18, 2014)

I'd think about the framing. Why is there so much food showing in the backgrounds? That might be why they preferred the photo shot at a larger aperture instead of f14, quite a difference and that probably made the background more noticeable.

I might have thought about doing #1 as a side view of the drumsticks instead of from one end, although a white plate on a white cloth that maybe needed to be smoothed out flatter wouldn't be exactly colorful on its own. I'd think about backgrounds, do they have any attractive bowls? bottles of wine? something to give some out of focus color instead of other plates of food. 

In #2 the beer and the bucket are cut off and that seems to be what's being featured. To me in #3 the cheese draped over the bacon looks less than appealing, maybe a different angle would have looked better (and/or the food needed to be 'arranged'), and the plate's cut off to the right; objects in the background to me usually make for distractions because of trying to make out what those objects are.

I think #5 doesn't work from that vantage point, there's an outlet to the left and I don't know what's to the right - ribs? I'd either get them in the frame or out of the picture. And I don't know what #6 is (what's orange with an eyeball?) so I would have tried maybe a different depth of field and/or different vantage point. I wonder if some of these might have been better not looking so much from the side, maybe from a little more overhead.


----------



## Rick50 (Nov 18, 2014)

Parker219 said:


> ^Interesting.
> 
> 
> The magazine likes shallow DOF, so that's what I do for the most part. If you are bored Google food photography and 99% of the photos have shallow DOF.
> ...


See, I told you I know nothing!


----------



## Parker219 (Nov 18, 2014)

Good Points everyone.

 "What's orange with an eyeball?   An orange Turtle of course!. 

As for distractions, there is a fine line, because these are not supposed to just be PRODUCT shots, photographed in a studio with a white backdrop, they are supposed to show atmosphere and so if the eye wonders a little, that's okay.

Here is your carrot turtle...


----------



## JoeW (Nov 18, 2014)

Parker219 said:


> I am trying to take your advice and work on lighting and not make the food look flat.
> 
> I know some of this food is not gourmet by any means... burgers, wings, ect, but that was the assignment.  I haven't edited all of the Japanese Restaurant photos, but I will put at least 1 in this thread.
> 
> ...



Okay, multiple comments on each photo.  But let me start by saying that generally this is pretty good and you're doing a lot right here IMHO.  General food tips I can offer:
--try to tell a story with the food.  Doesn't just make it "food porn" (i.e.: a nice dish).  Is it part of a bigger dinner?  Someone was taking a bite and got interrupted?  A cozy evening with a fire in the background?  Out with friends?  This where a bite out of the food or some crumbs from a cookie that's been eaten can be great story-telling devices.
--Use DoF to keep the focus on the main dish and keep the foreground in focus.  Unlike a human portrait where we'll often blur the foreground, this can be irritating with food photography.  
--Use other dishes or props (napkins, utensils, drinks, fire, window, lamp) to help add balance, color, and details but don't be afraid to blur them, cut them off and it usually works better to make it look "natural" as opposed to carefully set and symmetrical.

1.  Looks good (but not great).  DoF is fine.  But it looks too "posed."  Perfectly centered plate of food, two symmetrical plates of food in the background.  Fine for a picture in a menu (along with 50 other pictures) that shows the food attractively.  But not the kind of photo you'd want in a book on recipes or a story of the restaurant or maybe on the website page for the menu.

2.  It's got possibilities.  The glass of beer (partially cut off but glowing) is great and adds to the story.  The problem is the dish holding the peanuts.  My eyes are drawn to the pewter cup, not the peanuts.  I'll tell you what this shot screams out for....a lower, wider bowl with the peanuts and then some peanut shells carefully arranged around the bowl and then maybe one other small prop to the side (like two tickets to a football game...suggesting this is the meal before you head off to the game).

3.  Pretty damn good.  It's really, really, really hard to shoot a great burger shot.  I've read chapters in books on the art of picking the perfect bun (the "hero bun").  Really difficult to get it perfect  You didn't get it perfect.  But what you did produce is good...the kind of good that 99% of the restaurants out there would be happy to have that in their menu or website or display IMO.  Yes, cover up the pepper/dark spots.  Maybe remove some of the hotspots/reflection off of the tomatoes.  But the placement, arrangement, DoF, color...it all works.  BTW, it has nothing to do with how I like my burgers but I think this shot would work better without the slice of bacon.

4.  Love it.  Remove the white dot in the upper left and the yellow dot in the upper right.  Great example of good DoF, of what appears to be a casual arrangement and yet good color contrast.  Might have worked to get some condensation on the blue drink glass.

5.  Doesn't work for me, don't care for the lighting in it (but that often happens with flame--it's a tough concept to pull off).  Too much empty space on the grill--I'd crop it on the left and foreground.  I'd also see about altering the color of the steak somewhat so it wasn't so orange (which is how it naturally appears but it isn't going to be appetizing to most viewers based solely on the appearance).

6. The sashimi on the upper right just looks like an orange blob--this is where a tight DoF doesn't work.  I think you need to either reshoot and expand the DoF or crop it tighter and just focus on the sushi pieces to the left.

Nice work.  Thanks for sharing.


----------

