On Sunday I submitted my photographs for the third assignment of my Food Photography class. One requirement was to shoot a translucent subject with backlighting. I chose seaweed sale.
Critique: Nice job with the back lighting! Beautiful subject too. This one really needs to be a vertical though since the main subject is so tall and you have so much room at the sides that is not used. Remember to always shoot both orientations while learning so you can compare them side by side afterwards and see why one works better than the other.
I shot this photo of a steak dinner because I still need to work on making meat look appetizing. Critique: Great job with the meat on this one! It looks very fresh and appetizing with great color and sheen. I would use a smaller piece of bread only since it kind of dwarfs everything else on the plate and I would also move the knife and fork so they don’t block the main subject. Remember to keep it about the main subject, in this case the meat, and then use the props in a supporting not competing.
My final submission was this photograph of chocolate chip cookies. Critique: Great subject and now I want a chocolate chip cookie! Since the cookies appear to be the main subject here, try making them stand out rather than have so much other stuff jammed in around them. If you were to make this a vertical composition, you would have a lot of room behind the cookies for the coffee and cream while having the cookies up front and nice and sharp. I would also get the light farther behind them, in fact, 180 degrees from its current position(upper right corner instead of lower left) would be great.
Every week I have failed to shoot vertically in the proper circumstances. My goal for the next, and final assignment, is to do two out of three photos oriented vertically. This week should be fun. We are kind of turned loose on our own. One challenge is to find a photo we like and try to duplicate it. I have been pouring over food sites to find something that speaks to me. I’ll be back on Sunday with my submissions.