# another new member w/photos for your consideration



## adamking (Apr 8, 2011)

I am new and playing around with new gear.  Coming from a film background, I've never used flashes before and it's harder than I thought.  Also I feel like I'm causing more problems than solving them with lightroom.  Gotta keep working on that, too.
Please give me some constructive criticism if you have the time.  Camera setup was something like a window directly to camera left, flash thru umbrella directly camera right.

















Thanks in advance. Please note that I am not a food stylist.


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## BigNegs (Apr 8, 2011)

Composition can be improved by using some color theory to enhance the visual impact. The easiest change would be to use a background of the complementary color of the main subject instead of neutral white. For the bird eggs, try using a pale blue background (as brown is considered a dark orange - the complement of blue). Also, have the shadows fall towards the 'open' 2/3's of the image. For the peppers, try a background in the light greens. To see the effect in Photoshop, add a color fill layer and paint in a layer mask to reveal the subjects.


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## adamking (Apr 8, 2011)

Those are good suggestions, thanks.  I will pick up some different colored mat board.  One technical issue I'm running into is the size of the room I'm shooting in.  I want to get the flash more at the 2 o'clock position but can't quite make it work, cause I have to have the table almost all the way against the wall.  
I know I need a lens hood also.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Apr 8, 2011)

If you are into product photography, I *highly* recommend "Science, Light and Magic", it's available as a digital download too.


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## skwty (Apr 8, 2011)

I like number 3 - looks tasty.  But I agree with the others about the background colors...good work.


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## vitor (Apr 9, 2011)

A lot of times when dealing with food photography you want to convey the message of "fresh".  Specially with the first one you could've used a warm color background to increase the temperature of the colors in the photo. That would add to the "freshly baked muffins" feel and work together with the baking rack they're sitting on.


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## adamking (Apr 9, 2011)

Ok thanks for the good suggestions, everyone.  I did go ahead and pick up a copy of Light Science Magic.  I'll work through that soon, I hope.  I also picked up some different matboard including this warm yellowish white one which I like more than the green and blue ones I got as well - seems more flexible. 
Anyway, here's the latest experiment.  The sun has gone down so I was using only the one flash, bounced instead of shot through the umbrella, at about 2 o'clock.  Foamcore reflector at about 8 o'clock.
Some tweaking with lightroom to warm it up and hype up the kiwi color.  I know I need to learn to shoot RAW but my camera's memory card is pretty small so I am doing jpeg for now.
Thanks again for your suggestions.


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## JimCoventry (Apr 10, 2011)

LEARN TO USE PHOTOSHOP AND LIGHTROOM. This was done all in photoshop - quickly and very easy.

Of course you could just pay me to edit your images....

Before and AFTER


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## ziplock122949 (Apr 11, 2011)

Nice shots, they have a lot to work with. A few minor edits can really pop the images more. The muffins need to be straightened, they are leaning left. The color balance should be adjusted and the image brightened. I would drop the eggs lower in the framing. I would have a larger DOF on the peppers, seems like the image is "off".


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