Sambal egg with rice

[poullain]

Hi I'm a newbie here and want to try my hands on food photography. My first try is a picture of a sambal egg with rice, and I think it can be better enhanced with nicer props.

I would like to get feedback on photography techniques and lighting position.
I took this picture using Fujifilm F50fd, auto and macro mode.
I've also post processed the picture by adjusting the contrast and brightness.

Hope to hear some suggestions!

[Hedonistic]

Hey there,

Good try on your first attempt. Though IMHO, since the title is 'sambal egg and rice', i think that the focus should have been on the egg instead of the rice grains. If selective focus can't be selected on ur PNS, well, ...

Wonderful focus. Didn't like the shine on the side of the egg.

Just my 2cts

[PyeeL]

Hm, it's on the plain side, and I feel it's too tight there. Background should be changed. And it seems there are some noise-lookalike stuff there on the orange background too.

[foxtwo]

First thing to ask yourself, does it look appealing? Would I choose to eat this based on the picture?

I think it looks pretty bad. Like a manga-ish bump-on-the-head+fake blood kinda way. Food photography is about styling, mood, atmosphere... Sambal egg and rice is Indonesian food so prop accordingly. The talent is still the food but cockery, table cloth etc can be brought in to spice it up! As for the sambal, egg and rice itself you have to work harder on arranging. Food photography requires a lot of micromanagement: texture, colour, proportions; on top of composition, lighting, perspective, everything a basic photograph requires etc. If the egg/sauce wouldn't sit right, you gotta fiddle with it till it does even if it kills you. That's the kind of control and patience it takes. Because that is how you entice the food to sell.

Your image, it feels too tight. Shooting in macro has limited your creativity.
-Need a deeper DOF, it looks like u decided the sambal to be the focus point, but it left the egg as a huge OOF blob which is not good at all.
-Texture is lacking, the smooth egg has been camoed by the sauce. Appeal to our senses and memory, what is an egg, let us recognise the egg rather than covering it up with sambal.
-The grains on the far side are overexposed, need to control the light. Don't let the main light be overhead. Put it to the side. Fill light is overhead. Fill light with boucecard where required.
-Can't figure out the pattern on the table cloth/backdrop, choose a design that doesn't distract and complements the subject (colour-wise) at the same time.
-As for the styling, if you sliced the egg and controlled sambal placement, it'll look much more tasteful.
-Be faithful to the original colours. Don't cause unwanted colour shifts due to contrast & brightness edits.

Food photography isn't easy, expect to go through many many plates before getting a result to be truly proud of.

[PrimePhotog]

Quite OOF.the egg should be in focus since it is the main highlight.

[Zeddy]

Looks delicious. Makes me feel like eating it.

I think it's nicely taken.

[JC1808]

Sorry for a newbie like me to give a comment here.....

But just wanted to say, when I first look at this pic it doesnt give me a good appetite.....

I had the same feel with foxtwo.

[PhotoProZero]

Although its Sambal Egg with Rice, it's a little too plain for my liking. It doesnt appeal to be delicious, photo is also alittle too red / orange.

On top of what FoxTwo has mentioned, i think it will be nice to add alittle more garnish to the dish, still focusing on the Sambal Egg!

[OzOn3]

I'm just going to echo some thoughts that were posted before..

The picture does seem OOF
The plate could have been a piece of banana leaf for effect/setting?
One good thing i feel was that the background was in a "agreeing" (for lack of a better word) color with your subject.

[rickygck]

I don't care, am still going to eat it!

[seankyh]

Make me hungry! Good shot! Maybe you should cut the egg across to show the yummy yolk. Throw in a few prawns too and some corriander leaves as garnish.

[bigbird17]

not bad..mayeb spread the rice with the egg in the middle. dont be afraid to try new things.. and yeah i think should focus on the egg instead and zoom out abit be nice u make me hungry!!!!

[poullain]

Thank you everyone for your constructive comments! I will try and improve on my future pictures

[dw8888]

Make me feel hungry.

[kritikosN1]

Close up food look disgusting instead of tasty. Color of the food looks unatural.

Quote: I think it can be better enhanced with nicer props.

You do not have anymore room for props.

2/10, 1 for the interesting background, another 1 for you being using a point and shoot.