C&C for a beginners Foodtography!

[rambler]

The egg on top has a lot of light on it whereas the bottom layer has less. You need to equal out the lighting intensity. I would try to eliminate the glare of reflecting light on the top.

Focusing is key, too. Notice that the meat on the right is not too bad, but on the left it is blurred. Blurring is fine if it intentional, but unless all this food was in focus, I would not save this image.

Close-up images have a shallow depth of field by definition, but try to get as much in focus as possible by using narrow apertures. Images that are not parallel to the lens when the subject is close are hard to get in sharp focus. For example, butterflies in profile make good close-up subjects because their wings are flat, but leaves behind them would be hard to get sharp, so shallow DOF work well to blur out the background.

So, experiment with the food focusing by trying different apertures. In manual focus mode, turn the lens until the focus just becomes blurred then turn it slightly back the other way to get it sharp.

 

[philsphoto]

Looks delicious, but the focus is soft.

 

[rawny1016]

Thanks everyone... looks like focusing is what i gotta work on and lighting. Its hard to get the whites exposed correctly, and as someone mentioned before, its pretty tough with Rice as well. I'm vietnamese, so i eat a ton of rice and alot of my dishes has rice or some kind of rice product (noodles, wrapping, etc) so I gotta learn to get those right as well so they wont look too over exposed or grey. I think I'm going to experiment with table lights as setting umbrellas and stands and such in my kitchen wouldn't do. I have other lenses i would like to try out as well for food (i.e. Sigma 17-50mm 2.8 and Canon 85mm 1.8). I appreciate the feedback! keep'em coming!

Tirediron: Thanks for the link! I'll definitely try it

 

[rawny1016]

I also found this:

http://www.dofmaster.com/iphone.html

For all you iPhone Users... lol

 

[Ron Evers]

I use a point & shoot for plated food, it gives greater DOF.

 

[Ron Evers]

I like to use a point & shoot for plated food as I get a greater DOF. Here is an example of supper tonight using a Canon A570 & on-board flash of beef stroganoff.

 

[rawny1016]

MmMMmm Beef Stroganoff.... i have a P&S that I used before I got my DSLR... it served me well.

Im going to try and adjust my DOF better and get better focus and lighting next time. Anything else I can improve on?