1. in what area is critique to be sought?
is the feeling fully expressed?
2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
Make Viewer hungry after seeing the picture.
3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Emotion : wanting to had a hearty meal after taking the pics.(Very hungry)
Physcial Condition : low lighting @ Swensen@CWP
4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
quite nice?but got light reflection from the lighting?
HI ilubit,
This is the comment I posted on another member's thread... Most of the stuffs I commented is the same so thus I will paste the same comments. For critique, I would rate a bad due to the inappropriate composition. A successful / good food photo consist of
careful composition,
appropriate DOF,
good lighting as well as
food styling with is upmost important.
Composition, can be done before, during or after the shoot. Compositon involve the positioning of props and main dishes, and the position of the main dish, to make the main dish its attention.
Simple
food styling, can be done if you are careful with the positioning of the food and condiments as well as props. To do a food styling, is to make the foods as tasty as possible. Using Photoshop, you can patch up food surfaces and defects, so as the food looks flawless.
DOF is to isolate background from your subject, thus with a point of focus, it can attract viewers to the main features of the dishes.
With
good lighting, you can bring out the rich colours of food and the texture, thus making it as tasty as possible.
However, I dont see such elements on the Swenson food. Food is always good to photograph it at 60 degrees or 45 degrees according to your design vision. The 2nd picture, although there is enough lights, the textures are there, the main dish still looks not tasty. What you can do is to shoot close up to create an impact to appeal to viewer's taste bud. It takes careful composition and not just simply point & shoot. Since you are shooting in a low light condition, use a tripod or pump up ISO. Dark and flat pictures often wont appeal much to the viewers. There is a stray carrot on the side of the salad container. There is another dirt or dark stain on the cheese. Oil;y stains are everywhere... Overall, there is no mood and texture.
With time and practice you can achieve more. Try to look at more food books and research on photographer like Micheal Ray & Lou Manna. Or there is a food photography thread in our every CS forum, you can try follow their example first.
Cheers
