Artichokes

[redbourn]

My latest attempt to get lighting and placing better.

Couldn't make the greens darker without affecting the potatoes.

I could of course if I selected each piece of cilantro in PS

This is a vegetarian/vegan Moroccan recipe by Chillie Başan and I like her recipes.
I will use less liquid next time but it was very good.
She suggests serving with couscous which I didn't do.
I rarely serve two starches.

Comments and feedback please.

Thanks

 

[chuasam]

You're cooking for eating rather than for photos. Use the peas raw or even lightly blanched if you want to preserve the colour. Again, the white bowl is not flattering for the food. The light is still too harsh and not enough shadows.
The current trend is to make it more rustic and almost as if you're interrupting a meal to get the shot. The pink placemat does not flatter the food. A wooden table is better. If you don't have a wooden table, print wood grain on plain paper and use it as your setting.

You're thinking as a cook rather than as a food stylist.

I look forward to seeing what you have next

 

[gsgary]

Looking at the food in the shot there is no way I could eat it looking like it does

 

[Braineack]

you also probably dont want to show a slice of lemon in that bowl of food... at least most folks dont eat lemons like that.

 

[redbourn]

You're cooking for eating rather than for photos. Use the peas raw or even lightly blanched if you want to preserve the colour. Again, the white bowl is not flattering for the food. The light is still too harsh and not enough shadows.
The current trend is to make it more rustic and almost as if you're interrupting a meal to get the shot. The pink placemat does not flatter the food. A wooden table is better. If you don't have a wooden table, print wood grain on plain paper and use it as your setting.

You're thinking as a cook rather than as a food stylist.

I look forward to seeing what you have next

Thanks for the comments. I like the idea of making the meal look as if is partly eaten. I tried some photos on Facebook using with and without cutlery.

What color plate would you have used.

I used this site to help me choose the placemat color.

Color Harmonies: complementary, analogous, triadic color schemes

I like the idea of raw peas but I want to eat the food afterwards ;-) Do you think they should be greener?

 

[redbourn]

you also probably dont want to show a slice of lemon in that bowl of food... at least most folks dont eat lemons like that.

It's a Moroccan dish and they use preserved lemons. Lemons that have been preserved in salt and lemon juice for at least a month.

 

[redbourn]

Looking at the food in the shot there is no way I could eat it looking like it does

It's a Moroccan dish and they use preserved lemons. Lemons that have been preserved in salt and lemon juice for at least a month.

From a cookbook.

Please post a link, and not an image which isn't yours!

 

[Braineack]

the lemon in yours looks fresh off the tree.

that shot above is a pretty good exmaple of what to do right.

 

[redbourn]

Looking at the food in the shot there is no way I could eat it looking like it does

It's a Moroccan dish and they use preserved lemons. Lemons that have been preserved in salt and lemon juice for at least a month.

From a cookbook.

Please post a link, and not an image which isn't yours!

Ok about a link. I understand the issue. I don't know what it exists on the web.

I scanned it from a book.

 

[redbourn]

the lemon in yours looks fresh off the tree.

that shot above is a pretty good exmaple of what to do right.

The lemon in my photo had been in a jar of salted water for over a year.

"What to do right"?

For what?

This is where photography gets interesting.

What is a photograph for?

You like the photograph in her cookbook, but probably can't recognize one piece of food in it.

In my photo you might be able to recognize every bit of food on the plate.

She sold few thousand copies of her book at most.

Jamie Oliver has now earned over three million dollars from his cook books!

$300,000,000 !

I am doing my book for fun and hope it will help beginning cooks or those that think that they can't cook.

But what do the photos in Jamie Oliiver's books look like.

Family-friendly hints and tips for a lighter New Year’s Eve - Jamie Oliver | Features

No knives and no forks etc. Nothing to distract from the food.

He's doing something right. He's selling food.

I have over 1500 Facebook friends and over 100 followers and many want to buy my book.

Michael Redbourn | Facebook

I bought lots of props and nice cutlery and showed photos with and without them and people always liked the photos without them.

They thought the props and cutlery pointing towards the food etc. just distracted from the food.

So I want photos for my book that foodies will buy.

My real interest in coming to to this site is to get comments on lighting and colors etc.

I appreciate your comments and it's an interesting area.

What is a photo for?

 

[tirediron]

What is a photo for?

In your case, to sell books. Plain and simple. The images are the 'hook' - no one is going to buy a cookery book which is page after page of text. You have to make the images appealing to people; an earlier responder hit the nail on the head. You're photographing food cooked to eat. NOT food made to photograph.

Watch this video.

 

[redbourn]

What is a photo for?

In your case, to sell books. Plain and simple. The images are the 'hook' - no one is going to buy a cookery book which is page after page of text. You have to make the images appealing to people; an earlier responder hit the nail on the head. You're photographing food cooked to eat. NOT food made to photograph.

Watch this video.

Thanks.

I watched and she definitely likes white crockery ;-)

It's obviously a little problematic for me that I want to eat the food after photographing it, but I will try to find a work around.

If I didn't know how important photos were in a cookbook were then I wouldn't have bought a Nikon, lenses and lighting equipment.

Or be here ;-)

Jamie Oliver can obviously hire the best photographers in the world and either they tell him what he should do or he tells them what he wants.

I don't know which way round it works, but it works.

Recipes | Jamie Oliver

Look at how simple these photos are.

And he's sold three hundred million dollars of cookbooks.

Stew Recipes | Jamie Oliver

So many food photographers love to add background objects which so many of the public just find distracting, and his photos rarely have them.

Like I said earlier, every time I posted the same food with and without props, people said, "Get rid of them!".

So what's to be learned here?

 

[beachrat]

What is a photo for?

In your case, to sell books. Plain and simple. The images are the 'hook' - no one is going to buy a cookery book which is page after page of text. You have to make the images appealing to people; an earlier responder hit the nail on the head. You're photographing food cooked to eat. NOT food made to photograph.

Watch this video.

So what's to be learned here?

I think what's to be learned here is what a few posters have already mentioned.
Don't try to photograph food cooked to eat.
When I was in construction in NYC I was on a job renovating a photo studio that specialized in product/food photography.
Most of what they shot as "food" wasn't even real,it just looked that way. I even saw a "roast turkey"," cooked" with a bernzomatic propane torch and spray paint.

 

[redbourn]

What is a photo for?

In your case, to sell books. Plain and simple. The images are the 'hook' - no one is going to buy a cookery book which is page after page of text. You have to make the images appealing to people; an earlier responder hit the nail on the head. You're photographing food cooked to eat. NOT food made to photograph.

Watch this video.

So what's to be learned here?

I think what's to be learned here is what a few posters have already mentioned.
Don't try to photograph food cooked to eat.
When I was in construction in NYC I was on a job renovating a photo studio that specialized in product/food photography.
Most of what they shot as "food" wasn't even real,it just looked that way. I even saw a "roast turkey"," cooked" with a bernzomatic propane torch and spray paint.

I take your point and thank you.

I cook the same food for two days because I live alone and it pains me to throw one meal away.

What do you think of Jamie Oliver's photos?

They look simple but they probably aren't.

My youngest son always wants me to add more punch but I like water colors.

Just played with this for him. Very quickly in PS

My selection of the peas and leaves was done very quickly and I also added more contrast and lowered the whites a little.

Not talking about using it for the book or whether you'd eat it.

But do you prefer it to the first one.

 

[beachrat]

I would never advocate throwing food away!
Anyway,the photos in Jamie Olivers book are very nice,and professionally done.
But,there were a few suggestions to you a few posts back about using a wooden table.
Did you notice that in several of the photos in Jamies book?
I also feel it's a start in the right direction.
To me,it translates to warmth.
I do like your 2nd edit better.