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I've been taking pictures of every dinner I cook for about 5 months now, starting with a really ancient and terrible Sony Cybershot. I don't think that thing counts as a camera. The first weeks pictures were horrible because there was no natural light and my dinner lamps are orange, so I tossed all of those away. With the sunlight I actually had some decent results and good enough for just posting on Facebook like I intended. Recently I bought my first DSLR camera (Canon 1100D) and much to my surprise the first pictures were the worst ever. I didn't know how to control aperture, blurring half my own dish, highlights because of glazed ceramics in the sun became more obvious and even though I try to make things look attractive the missing colors came out stronger than ever. I know this is all because of my own inexperience, but the latest batch came out okay and I'm getting more confident. Still a long way to go, but my Plate to Pixel book was delivered today so hopefully that is another step in the right direction. This is a picture from last week I was fairly satisfied with. I took it in my new lightbox, but the background was not installed yet and I used it for the first time so please excuse the ugly black/white fields and the shadows. Didn't have any nice bowls handy either, so it looks a bit sterile. I use two monitors and on one it is a grayish plate with bland colors, while on the other one it is warm and really shines. I like to think the warm one is correctly calibrated, but I haven't checked yet.  Any advice about improving these kind of very basic shots or this one in particular would be very welcome.
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Aug 5, 2011 13:37
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 00:31 |
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Thanks for the advice, both of you. I couldn't center the plate right because my tripod only came in yesterday and I gave up on trying it by hand. I also got the backgrounds yesterday, so that should be an improvement as well. These are my regular plates, but I've been picking up interesting ones at flea markets to use for shots like this, thought I have not actually used them yet. Regarding the styling, I actually did that on purpose. My intention was to show both the meat and the vegetables and every time I tried to mix them together the bright veggie colors just got lost in the (boring) brown meat. I couldn't get them to jump out. If I make this again I'll use a more shallow bowl. That blog looks very helpful. I also started reading Plate to Pixel yesterday, so this will most surely help me out, thanks again!
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Aug 6, 2011 10:38
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Still taking a picture every day and I like to think I am improving. Since I also do the cooking and this is to eat right away I usually have less than 5 minutes. Sunlight is disappearing and I am still not happy with my lightbox, so hopefully I can fix that soon. I know the layout of the plate with the prawn skewer is horrible and I messed up the focus of the first picture, mostly the top right, but any advice is more than welcome.      
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Oct 18, 2011 19:38
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I understand those are severe limitations to this approach if I want to reach professionel results, but with this I am not shooting for a portfolio or anything like that. The project is to take a picture every day I cook, to show what I prepared. It is more of thing I share with friends on Facebook and use as an occassional menu so my family can select what they want to eat by going through the pictures instead of thinking about it. If you ask people night after night what they want to eat they mostly draw a blank, but when you give them a bunch of pictures and ask them to select a few it becomes much easier. With this subject I am a cook first, photographer second. However, just because it is not the top priority doesn't mean I don't want to improve the quality of the pictures. While I will keep hoping for pictures like I see in this thread, I know they can only be achieved by investing time that I do not have. Being very new to photography in general I was looking for advice that would fit within my approach, since I cannot change this at the moment. The idea of inviting people to come over and eat while doing this on a day long shoot is a really good one. It would certainly give me a good chance to develop during the weekends. Thanks!
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Oct 19, 2011 08:48
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Soto
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Apr 2, 2012 20:23
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Risotto
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Apr 5, 2012 21:35
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Keep going, I really love your pictures.
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Apr 21, 2012 02:19
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Magic Hate Ball posted:This is nice and I love the shrimp texture but the celery pieces look like maggots. If you like the shrimps but hate the celery, I think you might enjoy this one. 
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Apr 22, 2012 19:28
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LAchristus posted:Almost there dude! The composition is a bit to centered for me and the spoons point the same way. And for me, a touch more of contrast. Thanks, I really appreciate that kind of advice since I'm still very new to this. Check out the latest batch I'm satisfied with; Italian Meat Loaf. Came out a bit too bright for my liking, but darker makes the meat look really off. First time I tried to embed eggs so I didn't push it as hard as I should have, so that is why it looks like it was added after.  Pasta. Should have cut the greens a bit less coarse. I think this is an improvement in the composition you mentioned in regards to the prawn udon soup or not?  Balsamico Chicken Skewers with Lemon-Chives-Red Chili Mayonaise. I'm not really sure about the same topping on both the mayonnaise and the chicken, but the chives are already in the mayonnaise and when I didn't sprinkle it over the chicken everything just looked like a brown blur. It gives the meat real contrast, but also kind of lessens the overall effect since it is everywhere. It should have been all about the mayonnaise since I never made that before, but I prefer it getting a little bit lost over being surrounded by just browns. 
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Apr 30, 2012 21:22
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mediaphage posted:I'm not sure what you're looking to do, but it definitely has a sanitized, institutional feel (which could be cool, considering). The white coffee mug really blends too much into the wall. I like the white/yellow theme, though. Pretty much this, but for me it is the eggs. If you want to make them stand out more without breaking the theme you could make the edges be a bit more crispy and brown. You can already see some outlining a bit because of it, but more would make it easier. An alternative would be to sprinkle ground pepper on it. Black will still fit in and people can see the shape a bit better.
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May 1, 2012 13:27
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Not sure if I'm up to the task, but someone has to try and put an end to Reichstag's reign of terror.  Part of me wishes I kept the background white as well.
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May 30, 2012 18:31
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Chicken Noodles Very happy with this shot.
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Aug 1, 2012 08:13
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Been cooking some Italian to get in the mood for my upcoming 4 week trip to Italy. Red Pesto Plate Pie  Cannelloni 
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Aug 11, 2012 12:37
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Pretty happy with my last few shots, then again, maybe it was just cause it all tasted so great. Steak with Red Onion & Beer Gravy  Torta, best sandwich I ever had  Glazed Pork Fillet in BBQ sauce 
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May 7, 2013 19:25
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 00:31 |
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LAchristus posted:I myself am a commercial food photographer, and mostly I enjoy this thread. But I sometimes get annoyed with the amount of snapshots people post... What is so great about those pictures? Not trying to be an rear end, but I really don't see it.    I do really love the surgery ones.
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Jun 3, 2013 17:20
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