Pizza

jmborkowski · Feb 12, 2009

Just a single pizza photo for a web client of mine, it was delicious.

Shot in a foamcore softbox, one flash overhead, another on the right.

astrostu · Feb 13, 2009

To be honest, I thought it was fungus until I read the thread title (I open lots of threads at once and then go to them without remembering what I clicked on). Perhaps a higher shot and one that shows more of it as well as more depth of field may help.

jmborkowski · Feb 16, 2009

Forgot about this thread...

Fungus? Heh, didn't see that coming. This is a pretty standard way of shooting food and the client is happy, which is all that matters.

I appreciate the response, in any case.

Phelan · Feb 16, 2009

Doesn't look like fungus to me, but that shot doesn't do anything to make me want to eat it.

godmode21 · Feb 18, 2009

I find that doing food photography is done best when the food isnt the only thing in the shot, try setting up a shot with the pizza on a platter with the cheese and pepper shakers on the table. depending on the mood you are going for with the shot maybe even a candle holder and a table cloth. another recommendation i have is don't have such shallow DOF, it should be about the food as a whole, just my opinion.

Sw1tchFX · Feb 18, 2009

godmode21 said:
I find that doing food photography is done best when the food isnt the only thing in the shot, try setting up a shot with the pizza on a platter with the cheese and pepper shakers on the table. depending on the mood you are going for with the shot maybe even a candle holder and a table cloth. another recommendation i have is don't have such shallow DOF, it should be about the food as a whole, just my opinion.

Agreed. If you're shooting something like apparel, it's fine to knock out the background, as long as you have everything ni focus, then you can take it and put it wherever you want, drop shadows wherever, and make some fake bokeh to make it look half-out of focus.

But food photography doesn't quite work like that.

Try lighting from behind, a large softbox pointed at the camera behind the food. It emphasizes texture, puts highlights on it to make it look more edible, and if there's steam coming off, it emphasizes it. Also, you must make sure the food you're shooting is fresh. If pizza goes flat when it's not hot, the grease solidifies. People can recognize what old food looks like, even if they haven't eaten it before.

IMO, this needs a more organic setting for it to look nice and less even light.

Something sort of like this, you can see the direction of the light is coming at us, and the image has more context, i'm not a huge fan of the white and green thing in the background though:

james94 · Feb 18, 2009

now that last one looks appetising, i think with the first image is that the subject isnt clear in its entirity, which may have been the effect you were looking for, but i personally agree with the others that the pizza does look better when put in a context

astrostu · Feb 18, 2009

jmborkowski said:
Forgot about this thread...

Fungus? Heh, didn't see that coming. This is a pretty standard way of shooting food and the client is happy, which is all that matters.

I appreciate the response, in any case.

The approach you took actually isn't standard due to not showing the entire product plus with your incredibly shallow dof. Also, it's not "all that matters" that the client is happy, at least not if you're looking to use it in a portfolio or to get other business from.

m2v · Feb 19, 2009

I would like to see steaming hot food photo from a consumer's point of view. To make it even more mouth watering, emphasize juicy tomato sauce, sticky mozzella cheese stretched by pulling out one slice...

Great to have so many experts sharing their experience up there. And sometimes the laymen are the ones who can give you the best response in what attract them most in a photo. Isn't that what commercial photography is all about?

LynnM · Feb 19, 2009

Aside from everything else, im new here, registered etc... where in the world is the image you guys are even talking about. There's no image of pizza anywhere! except on one of the responses.

Alleh Lindquist · Feb 19, 2009

I see the image.

Sorry but I don't think it works. Same reasons already stated. Mr. Meeker here provided you with a perfect example of a great shot of pizza.

jmborkowski · Feb 23, 2009

Thanks for the feedback, all.

I don't disagree with what everyone's saying and I do have a few shots that are more in context. Once the site design is done I'll post it up as well.