feedback on food images

Annrive

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hi everyone here is a link to the images that I need feedback on
basically the task was to photograph food being prepared "close-ups" (all I used was my canon t1i)

feedback would be much appreciated
please and thank you



Flickr: riveraeyes' Photostream
 
Looks like you shot everything at ISO 3200 and Auto WB, and no flash? Some are underexposed, and most lack any kind of decent lighting. You have movement blur, poor choices of DOF, and blurry OOF food. Personally I think the $135 for 5.4 hours may be a little much... especially since it doesn't looks like you edited anything. But hey.. take the money and run, right?
 
To be perfectly honest, these are a stronger set than I anticipated. I do see two common issues: There are numerous images with minor to moderate under-exposure, due mainly I assume to lack of lighting gear, and almost all have what I would consider annoying or awkward compositions with cropped body parts and food containers. I would like to see more images with the chef in them; an identifiable person in the images will help to create a stronger connection with the viewer.
 
To be perfectly honest, these are a stronger set than I anticipated. I do see two common issues: There are numerous images with minor to moderate under-exposure, due mainly I assume to lack of lighting gear, and almost all have what I would consider annoying or awkward compositions with cropped body parts and food containers. I would like to see more images with the chef in them; an identifiable person in the images will help to create a stronger connection with the viewer.


good advice tirediron
i didn't edit the majority of them yet so some will look better once I am done Photoshopping it
it was kind of hard to get a good shot because it was not the kind of assignment where i could ask someone to stop and let me change or move a few things its kind of stay out of their way and hope i get a good shot
do you think $135 is also too much to charge?
 
...it was kind of hard to get a good shot because it was not the kind of assignment where i could ask someone to stop and let me change or move a few things its kind of stay out of their way and hope i get a good shot
Okay, I'm going to be blunt: This is an excuse resulting from inexperience. There are two ways to approach a shoot like this (or rather, two ways in which I would approach it). (1) The best way is to explain to the client that each shot is going to be a distinct event; you will watch the chef work, and when you see 'the' shot that illustrates that step, you will stop him/her and then plan the shot (or, alternatively, follow him/her around for a day with a P&S, record the images quick & dirty and then go back and plan and re-create each shot), or (2)You will put up lighting all around the space and then shoot it as a PJ event. Many (most?) first-time commercial customers have no idea how much effort it takes to get really good images of this nature; they honestly think that all you have to do is follow the action with your camera and they'll get great results. It's up to the photographer to explain that in most cases, this will result in, at best, mediocre results, and for true quality work, things have to be planned.

...do you think $135 is also too much to charge?
If you're happy with that fee, then no, it's not too much. I know that I wouldn't cross the street for a $135 commercial job.
 
Many underexposed images, but I think many could be "rescued" with the proper techniques in Lightroom. Loads of these have a gloved hand, and a human arm, shown with food...just...not...compelling. I almost cheered when I saw the man with the cart filled with cookie trays!!! Hooray! A feeling of human contact!!! The disembodied, gloved hand metaphor was tedious after the first dozen shots. The woman using a large measuring spoon to meter out the right amount of agave syrup, the first frame of that, with the dripping liquid...one of the better of the early shots.

When I heard about this shoot, I assumed there would be workers...people...making the food, and helping to add some human values to the images. I'm not sure how close I got to the end. I stopped at the ham slicing and lunchmeat-piling-up's third frame. Compositionally, a lot of the images were shot kind of loose, and with a lot oif background showing...un-lighted kitchen in the background mostly, and I did not like those images. I dunno. If somebody will pay for those, more power to you.
 
I agree that you may not have had the best existing light for taking photographs but it looks like you might need to work on learning more about getting proper exposures. It looks like you need to work on improving your skill level in how to frame shots; besides people being cropped at odd places there are a lot of distractions in the background that need to not be showing in your photos.

I don't know if these photos will meet the needs of the food service dept. for their slideshow display or not but you might have done some editing since these were taken. There seem to be some photos that are colorful and make the food look appealing but many of the photos don't make the food look appetizing (icing dripping, food crumbs on the counter, etc.)

If you're going to want to get assignments and/or jobs in photography you'd probably benefit from resources that can be found on websites of professional photographers organizations like ASMP or PPA so you can learn to determine what to charge, how to enter into contracts, etc. It seems like you'd benefit from bringing up your skill level in general to be able to become a working photographer.
 

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