First time doing food photography C&C please

[shortpballer]

Hey got asked to do some food photography for a local restaurant. Let me know what you think. Critiques are very welcome
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[ignite-me]

those food just look delicious for me! now you can go advertise for the restaurant

 

[IgsEMT]

thanks!
Now I'm hungry

 

[RancerDS]

They are all excellent shots, some of which should be pictured in their menu. Will also add that I could eat #1 through #3 and still be hungry after finishing. :/

 

[shortpballer]

No one wants to drink all of number 5? LOL well they are supposed to pay me for the pictures. Just need to negotiate price. Just not sure exactly how much I should ask. We had previously talked something around 300-500. What do you guys think. I did about 5 or 6 more dishes as well.

Eric

 

[SomeBoy]

The 3th photo was done very cool, that food also looks delicious.
All your photos look good.

 

[Goontz]

Decent shots, but why post in 2 different places? :er:

 

[Nikkor]

I liked all the food but the drink shot was a little too bland for me. It just seemed like it needed a little more color than the lemons and limes. But WHOA BUDDY that food looked amazing! What's your light source?

 

[mJs]

I think they're great shots... with the 2 salad photos especially though, a little bit more saturation and sharpening might just make them 'pop' a bit more... may add to the freshness. Just to help the greens and reds stand out a bit more.

 

[Pugs]

The compositions (except #2) are all interesting and the exposures look good. Add to that the tack sharp focus, and you've done very well! In number one, a deeper depth of field might've been beneficial.

I agree with WeddingPhotographer that #5 is a little... drab. Maybe saturating the lemons and limes a bit would help.

As for #2, it's purely a personal thing for me. The whole tilted framing thing just drives me up the wall... There has to be a couple photos in that style that I've liked, but I can't for the life of me think of a single one. So... it's a personal bias and not necessarily a commentary on your photography (which I think is very good here!).

 

[PhotoVerve]

Personally, I think with food photography it is very important to photography a scene, if that makes any sense. Set up your backgrounds with a nicely set table, flowers, whatever. Paint a picture of the atmosphere surrounding the food, too, as opposed to just the food. Black is just way too drab, in my opinion.

This blog has amazing food photography: Evan's Kitchen Ramblings

 

[bigtwinky]

I think 1,3 and 4 are well executed. Showing only partial serving dish is good technique for food photos, as you dont want this being the focus on your picture

I find the slant in 2 is a bit too much. I quickly got the impression that the dessert was falling off the plate. The idea to slant is fine, its just a bit too much IMO.

I dont like 5. Its a decent shot, but I find there is a lack of light and maybe contrast in the image. I also find there is too much in the image... the glasses, the vodka, the water, the fruit... I'm also not sure what the shot will be used for. If its for the cover of their drink menu, then it definatly needs to be punched to have it pop out more. There is too much dead space on top (unless you left that for text?) and the symetry is also off some as the glass with the red liquid is not nicely centered behind the fruit ring. If you could get more light in back of the products, that might help, as would a better composition.

 

[Village Idiot]

Personally, I think with food photography it is very important to photography a scene, if that makes any sense. Set up your backgrounds with a nicely set table, flowers, whatever. Paint a picture of the atmosphere surrounding the food, too, as opposed to just the food. Black is just way too drab, in my opinion.

This blog has amazing food photography: Evan's Kitchen Ramblings

Plus you can tell it's been shooped. There's some harsh pixelated lines dividing photo from black.

 

[shortpballer]

The 5th picture was supposed to be for their bottle service. And for the black background on everything, they wanted it to be like that. It is a high end, more modern looking restaurant. Or else I would have included more in the background, but they wanted the pictures to just be food and black space. I would have preferred to throw in a nice looking pepper grinder in the background or something of that nature.
And the pictures not being sharp or saturated enough- This website always does that because I forget the sizing that the pictures are supposed to be, so it automatically resizes my pictures, messing with the sharpness and the colors.

 

[NeelLFP]

I think these some great photographs! Thank you for sharing this with us. I personally feel 2nd photograph- that is at an angle doesn't work for me. I think the angle is a bit too much. It is at almost 60 degrees of an angle. I think anything below 30 degrees makes much more appealing picture. My opinion only

Black background is interesting. There are very few food photos that I have seen with black backgrounds.

Thank you sharing.