My First Restaurant / Food Photo shoot! C&C please

Parker219 · Aug 29, 2014

Hello everyone!

So, there is a local company that sells spots in their magazines to restaurants to help promote them. Well technically I am not hired on with this company yet, because after interviewing me, they want me to go on a "trial run" to see if they like my work. If they do, I will get paid for my shoots by the company, as well as have the opportunity to sell the restaurants the photos for an additional fee.

Example: - 5 photos make the magazine, but I still have 120 more photos that made the editing process cut, so I can put those on a disc and give them to the client for X amount. ( I was thinking $400 ) It took me 4 hours, and I think $100 an hour is fair. That was an hour driving, 2 hours at the restaurant, and 2 hours editing.

Anyway, I have 120 photos at this point, and I need to narrow it down to 40 to send to the company, and they choose the 5 that are used.

I have NOT chosen my 40 yet and I have NOT sent them any photos of the shoot yet, so if I need to edit these, I can. That's why I am asking for help.

Any advise you can give would be helpful, photos or business wise.

The company told me to resize the photos before sending them in, and they should be "no more than 8 by 11". I was thinking to send them in 1800 pixels on the long side. Sound about right?

For the ones I put on a disc for the client, should I have those bigger?

I don't expect anyone to give C&C on every photo, but any general thoughts, or photos that you would definitely NOT submit, or ones you think stand out, or need to be edited differently. Anything helps.

Thank you!

1.

JT-Final0075 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

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JT-Final0072 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

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JT-Final0066 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

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JT-Final0026 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

5.

JT-Final0023 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

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JT-Final0009 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

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JT-Final0004 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

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JT-Final0143 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

Designer · Aug 29, 2014

IMO, you could use some help with styling. The first three shots have huge flowers that do not appear to be food, so why are they positioned so close to the food?

Shot #5 of several dishes seems poorly composed. The bottle, the glass, and the furniture in the background are simply distracting. And besides; this group seems like quite a lot of food for one serving, which is what one might expect to see at one time. And then one plate is on the junction of two tables. It's as if you are afraid of wasting film so you put as much in the shot as will fit.

Numbers 6, 7, & 8 exhibit a shallow DOF which is not good, and the composition is off on all three as well.

Your lighting seems good in all.

Parker219 · Aug 29, 2014

Designer said:
IMO, you could use some help with styling. The first three shots have huge flowers that do not appear to be food, so why are they positioned so close to the food?

Shot #5 of several dishes seems poorly composed. The bottle, the glass, and the furniture in the background are simply distracting. And besides; this group seems like quite a lot of food for one serving, which is what one might expect to see at one time. And then one plate is on the junction of two tables. It's as if you are afraid of wasting film so you put as much in the shot as will fit.

Numbers 6, 7, & 8 exhibit a shallow DOF which is not good, and the composition is off on all three as well.

Your lighting seems good in all.

Thanks for the feedback!

Its funny, because the restaurant owners came out to put those huge flowers on the plate, I was not sure how I felt about it, took some photos with them, then took them off and took some more...

JT-Final0111 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

I hear ya on the background being distracting, I was torn between showing the background, so you know its in a restaurant and darkening the shadows, so its pretty much black. I will maybe submit 1 edit of each, so they can decide?

They didn't have 1 long table, so yes, I had to combine tables, so there are junctions...should I have put a white table cloth down or something?

Rudipides · Aug 29, 2014

Agree with previous posts. The thing that got me is on #6, I want to see what that big orange item is that is not in focus. Im curious!!

thanks

Braineack · Aug 29, 2014

very nice and a very timley post.

I was actually looking up a restaurant this morning that I'm going to be patronizing next weekend and it's a perfect example of how poor food photos can be: Hooked Restaurant | 80th Street Ocean City Maryland

there is no comparing your "trial" pictures to these published ones--night and day.

I prefer 1-5 over 6-8. The last three imho are just a bit too close up, too low angle, too shallow dof, and they are getting a little blue.

The lighting is very lovely on these and I really think you have it pretty much nailed. Is this just a large softbox above and to the side of the subject? I don't think it would hurt to bring in a little fill to the left of frame.

And the first five shots show a real effort in thinking about composition. I think if you get to do more in the future that you should put more effort into arrangements/backgrounds to really bring them to the next level. I'm not a food photographer by any stretch, but I know it's tough trying to figure out how to frame/crop and still end up with a good shot of food.

KmH · Aug 29, 2014

Parker219 said:
so I can put those on a disc and give them to the client for X amount. ( I was thinking $400 )

How much were you going to charge for the use licensing?
Your charge should be more like $400 per photo.

How about $20,000 for 13 photos.
Case Study: Producing A Successful Estimate | DigitalPhotoPro.com

Parker219 · Aug 29, 2014

^ Thanks for the comments and that link. I liked the first photos of that website, but then the next ones look dark and like they were taken by a completely different photographer.

I went back and did a batch edit, turning down the blue saturation to -30. It looks like the plates now look whiter and cleaner.

The light is this one - Lowel Ego Digital Imaging Fluorescent Light (120VAC) E1-10 B&H

Then just a white reflector on the other side, but yes, I need to get another one of those lights.

Here are 2 with the blue taken out...

9.

JT-Final0093 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

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JT-Final0130 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

Parker219 · Aug 29, 2014

KmH said:
Parker219 said:

so I can put those on a disc and give them to the client for X amount. ( I was thinking $400 )

Click to expand...

How much were you going to charge for the use licensing?
Your charge should be more like $400 per photo.

How about $20,000 for 13 photos.
Case Study: Producing A Successful Estimate | DigitalPhotoPro.com

I was thinking $400 for the use of the licensing for ALL of the photos.

I could try and charge $400 for 1 photo and sell zero. Or I could sell them all for $400 and make $400.

This is a 1 restaurant mom and pop type place. However yes, with a bigger company with deeper pockets, I can see getting a lot more.

Parker219 · Aug 29, 2014

Rudipides said:
Agree with previous posts. The thing that got me is on #6, I want to see what that big orange item is that is not in focus. Im curious!!

thanks

Haha...thanks!

Just for you...I think its a carrot flower!

JT-Final0082 by linktheworld219, on Flickr

tirediron · Aug 29, 2014

If this is your first foray into food photograhy, I predict very good things in your future. Some excellent points already raised; keep at it!

waday · Aug 29, 2014

Parker219 said:
Example: - 5 photos make the magazine, but I still have 120 more photos that made the editing process cut, so I can put those on a disc and give them to the client for X amount. ( I was thinking $400 ) It took me 4 hours, and I think $100 an hour is fair. That was an hour driving, 2 hours at the restaurant, and 2 hours editing.

1 hour driving + 2 hours at restaurant + 2 hours editing = 5 hours? So, $100/hr = $500?

I really like photos 9 and 10!

Parker219 · Aug 29, 2014

waday said:
Parker219 said:

Example: - 5 photos make the magazine, but I still have 120 more photos that made the editing process cut, so I can put those on a disc and give them to the client for X amount. ( I was thinking $400 ) It took me 4 hours, and I think $100 an hour is fair. That was an hour driving, 2 hours at the restaurant, and 2 hours editing.

Click to expand...

1 hour driving + 2 hours at restaurant + 2 hours editing = 5 hours? So, $100/hr = $500?

I really like photos 9 and 10!