Does my food look bad?

[garlicjosh]

oh yes..I was going to say something about the clam dish... for sure way to much clam and also I noticed it was very light on the sauce...to me it didnt really look like a enough to coat the pasta..if that is the case you might want to think about an oil drizzle on it. A dish like that, you could get away with about half the amount of clams or even less, arranged really well, that dish would look really great. But for sure keep up the work and deferentially take a look at some food photography or generally photography to get a better idea of shooting that stuff..its helped my pictures shine and really let people into what I am doing.

 

[GB]

I would just like to point out that food photography is filled with tricks that would not work at home when you are cooking for real. For instance, that professional photo of a roast turkey for thanksgiving is a raw turkey that has been shellacked. That picture of a cup of coffee has soap in it to create more bubbles so it has more depth and does not look as flat. Because of tricks like these (as well as proper lighting and technique) it is hard to get food photos that look as good as they do in mags.

 

[Hyperion]

1. I never use a flash head on. It will flatten your photo! Generally, a flash is used for fill lighting outdoors (ONLY). (Portrait photography is another issue, but food modeling seldom, if ever uses flash.) Adjust all of your lighting beforehand with directional lamps of the proper color temperature, and use your camera settings (aperture/time) to establish your depth of field and to get the desired brightness.

2. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use a tripod.

3. Get the photo correct when you shoot it. NEVER depend on post picture software adjustments. Learn to be a photographer, NOT depend on a computer to do the work you should have done at the time you took the photo. Post production software is for MINOR adjustments, or special effects... NOT a crutch for bad decisions.

4. Never stop learning. No one knows it all.

These are good comments but I just feel like they are screaming for expensive equipment lol

 

[GB]

Are you striving to ake your food look good in photos or good in person. If you are just looking to make it look good in person then forget all the photography comments. They are different animals all together.

 

[Hyperion]

Are you striving to ake your food look good in photos or good in person. If you are just looking to make it look good in person then forget all the photography comments. They are different animals all together.

well my goal is to one day own my restaurant, so looking good in person will be a priority

 

[powerplantop]

Ok what I see is that your shooting with bad light and bad angle of light. I know this is hard but shoot with indirect natural light. I know when you cook dinner the sun has already gone down. But if you shoot in natural light your photos will look a lot better.

Now I know that it is not possible to always shoot in natural light. But most of the lighting in homes will give odd coulors to your photos.
Lowel E1-92 Ego Two Light Sethttp://www.amazon.com/Lowell-E1-92-...UTF8&coliid=I396J1PMBFENR&colid=1QGXOSTGZQIDI is a good set up Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen uses one of these setups.

At home I have this set up
CowboyStudio Photography Lighting | Studio Equipment | Studio Accessories

To really take you photos from there you will need editing software. You can do most of what you need with cheap software. Adobe Premiere Elements is a good starter one. I used it for about a year until I upgraded to Lightroom.

If you follow the link in my signature line you can see some of my food shots. You welcome to ask me questions.

 

[DaveSoMD]

These are good comments but I just feel like they are screaming for expensive equipment lol

Not really. The camera will be the most expensive, depending on what features you want.

A tripod can be purchased at WalMart for around $20 (last one I bought)

Lighting - that all depend.. You don't need to have lighting equipment. If you have a directional desk lamp point it at your white ceiling and create bounce light.

 

[Hyperion]

Not really. The camera will be the most expensive, depending on what features you want.

A tripod can be purchased at WalMart for around $20 (last one I bought)

Lighting - that all depend.. You don't need to have lighting equipment. If you have a directional desk lamp point it at your white ceiling and create bounce light.

Actually I do have some pretty bright kitchen ceiling lights that make the kitchen look like a surgery room. Do you think a PowerShot SX1IS will be sufficient for food grade photos?

 

[CharlieD]

There have a lot of good sugestions here. And so hereis my 2 cents. Soup would look much better if it was a clear soup, keep broth crystal clear. You can experiment with lowering temps of cooking, making sure the water doesn't over boil. Things like that that would help. And GB is corect no pepper. Food photografy is very hard.

And the clam plate, first thing that came to mind is rearange. Noodles in the middle, clams aranged around the plate, facing same diertions. It would look like a flour or is it flower Help with speling please?)
Otherwise it's all good.

 

[bakechef]

I agree that you don't need an expensive camera. Look for one with manual controls, so you have that option when you need them.

I have two places where I take food photos, one is near a window with natural light and one is under the chandelier in the dining room.

I never use a flash for food photography, I rarely use a flash at all. I think that pictures look so much more natural with natural light. You can always tweak them a bit on your computer when you post them.

As far as your food, I think it looks good for the most part. I will not get into personal preference because that is so subjective, but I would suggest working on lighting and angle.

I am not a great photographer, but I have learned how to make the food look as good as I can in the pictures.

These were all done with natural light and a steady hand. I will admit that I may be better at taking the picture than food styling though!

I will say that I like the look of that pizza, The crust is my favorite part!

 

[Hyperion]

bakechef, how did you manage to get natural light? did you cook in the morning or wait until morning to take the photo?

 

[Sprout]

For the soup, putting it in a black bowl might help remove a bit of the "blah" look to it. If you can't add ingredients to provide contrast, try different colored dishes. I agree about leaving the pepper out. Add it just before eating, after you've taken the photo.

 

[Hyperion]

For the soup, putting it in a black bowl might help remove a bit of the "blah" look to it. If you can't add ingredients to provide contrast, try different colored dishes. I agree about leaving the pepper out. Add it just before eating, after you've taken the photo.

lol this was exactly what I was thinking. miso soup also has this blah color and they often serve it in a black wooden bowl

 

[Andy M.]

Just Foolin' Around...

Just foolin' around with these photos.

 

[bakechef]

bakechef, how did you manage to get natural light? did you cook in the morning or wait until morning to take the photo?

I have a big west facing kitchen window, so I get lots of afternoon light. I also have a chandelier (not exactly natural light) that throws off just enough light for photos. It's all about finding that place in your house that has the best light.

 

[bakechef]

Just foolin' around with these photos.

I like your lighting adjustments, but maybe a little to much sharpness for me.

 

[garlicjosh]

no fancy high priced stuff is being demanded.. here is a small sample of what i've shot only recently

^ice cream had started to melt once I finally got the shot I wanted
no fancy camera stuff or lighting..basic kitchen lighting, adjusted ISO and white balance, shot and fixed in Adobe lightroom. some, I darkened the background or blurred the background more to give you more of a focal point. I have a ton more on my computer I just grabbed some at random.
All of this shot with like a $30 camera..no my pictures never shine as hard as they could but they shine enough to bring detail and ideas of what I am doing...

 

[DaveSoMD]

Here are a few I took with just overhead lighting, a table lamp that happened to be on in the room and the flash. I did use Photoshop to zoom in and then crop the images.

 

[Andy M.]

Nice shots, Dave.

 

[buckytom]

this thread has turned into food porn.

very nice pics, everyone.