Food: you eat it but do you shoot it?

[Phil Robinson]

I recently bought three bars of chocolate - dark, milk and white - with the plan: Buy chocolate, photograph chocolate, eat chocolate.

Somehow managed to get it in the wrong order and had to buy more chocolate.

[Normspics]

I managed to resist the urge!!

 

 

[Betty LaRue]

These have all sold. Generally I cook, then say, “Oh, yeah, I’ll take a shot.... the pie shells were taken as I made pumpkin pies for a holiday, either Thanksgiving or Christmas. My family always wants pumpkin pies and Mystery Pecan pie.
 

Edited November 14, 2019 by Betty LaRue

[gvallee]

Remember Edo, you told me this wouldn't sell, it wasn't simple enough? Well.... sorry to disappoint you. 😂

 

A more unusual sale: Bunnings sausage sizzle (I actually asked the woman to hold her lunch for me)

 

Another sale of something I didn't prepare, my Qantas lunch box!

 

Now some food shots I would love to license but haven't:

 

 

 

A trio burger of buffalo, crocodile and barramundi

 

Now obviously, you can see I don't like food or cooking...

 

Gen

[John Mitchell]

This was some of the best homemade apple pie that I've ever eaten. No one has ever taken me up on it, though.

 

 

[MariaJ]

Ooh I do like this topic, thanks Edo!  I like the look and taste of good food, and enjoy taking photographs of it when I can.

 

This is one of my friend's creations for an afternoon tea and it has sold:

 

 

And here's a vegan stuffed squash I made that was my first food sale here:

 

[Webby]

Its something I mean to do on my travels, but somehow I rarely get round to it..... too busy enjoying the food!

 

[Regis]

I don't photograph enough food...

But I eat too much of it...

😉

 

Anyway, here is the last of my food related photograph, that has sold here:

 

And trust me, that one passed the greasy Food Test with flying colours...

[Stokie]

This is making me feel very hungry..........

[spacecadet]

2 hours ago, Webby said:

Its something I mean to do on my travels, but somehow I rarely get round to it..... too busy enjoying the food!

 

 

Same here, mine usually look like this before I remember to take a pic

[Allan Bell]

17 hours ago, Thyrsis said:

We don't have many but this one of mine has sold to Japanese TV for a nice sum.. And tasty it was too!

 

 

 

 

 

Ice cream in a bun?

 

Allan

 

[Thyrsis]

16 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

 

Ice cream in a bun?

 

Allan

 

Yes but brioche con gelato sounds much better!!

(we were in Sicily)

[Thyrsis]

and talking of food related signs....

 

[Normspics]

Is eating any other cuisine allowed on these steps Lol! 

[Betty LaRue]

I should not check into this thread until after I’ve eaten. 11am here and I never eat breakfast.  Think I’ll go eat a cinnamon raisin bagel.

I reshot my beans and cornbread. Should be on sale after update.

Edited November 15, 2019 by Betty LaRue

[JaniMarkus Hasa]

Probably my first food image, still in QC. Take-away chicken pasta from cafe restaurant downstairs. Disposable plate on a white board next to window, natural light.

 

I'm a bit shy to shoot my food in restaurants, especially if it means I have stand up to get the picture from above.

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by JaniMarkus Hasa
Poor English skills.

[Ed Rooney]

Looks good, Jani. I hope I don't have to go all the way to Helsinki to get a nice bowl of pasta. I've not found any good Italian places yet here in Liverpool. 

 

I shoot with the Sony RX100-6 in restaurants. Using the back screen lets me sit at my place at the table and not disturb other customers. 

[Normspics]

Some really great food shots here, inspires me to do more restaurant shots as we travel. 

[hsessions]

 

Want to share a couple of shots, they were planned not restaurant shots that so many seem to do very well on here.  I tried but I dance around the table and look ridiculous, and still end up disappointed with what I end up with either due to lighting or whatever.  This is not really a bowl full of porridge, it is only about a fifth full, most of what's in it is a scrunched up plastic bag, there are only a few table spoons of porridge.  Shot outside one afternoon on a wooden kitchen chair.  Have done well with this one, and better with a cutout version of the same, which I shot indoors, but I like this one better.

 

 

 

Have done very well with this one, also a planned shot.  Did NOT eat it.  Don't know which part of it (maybe the eggs) did not end up on the floor at some point.  Seems so simple, looks like should have been so easy to do but my d.i.y. modifiers (flimsy bits of cardboard) would fall onto the plate and knock things over and I dropped some of it while carrying the plate (a different plate) from the kitchen upstairs to the basement where I then arranged it all on the plate the final shot was taken.

Helen

[JaniMarkus Hasa]

Thanks for the kind words. However, now that I get to compare my image with others on this topic, it's easy to see that the natural light coming through window is way too cold. 

 

This is one thing I struggle with LR every time; when the image looks much better than the "as shot"-version, I tend to believe I've done enough already. Sometimes I haven't. I've changed the background of LR from black to white in order to help me judge whether the images are too dark or not, but obviously that has not solved all issues. Well, you live and hopefully learn something on the way. 

 

I think I'll just delete this one, try to add some warmer tones and upload again, if succeed.

[spacecadet]

50 minutes ago, JaniMarkus Hasa said:

Thanks for the kind words. However, now that I get to compare my image with others on this topic, it's easy to see that the natural light coming through window is way too cold. 

 

This is one thing I struggle with LR every time; when the image looks much better than the "as shot"-version, I tend to believe I've done enough already. Sometimes I haven't. I've changed the background of LR from black to white in order to help me judge whether the images are too dark or not, but obviously that has not solved all issues. Well, you live and hopefully learn something on the way. 

 

I think I'll just delete this one, try to add some warmer tones and upload again, if succeed.

Looks OK here, but sometimes LR is a little clinical-  you could always warm it up a bit, maybe 200K. I sometimes do that if it looks a bit cold.

Edit - I've tried it on yours- I just put the eyedropper on the background. You may prefer it backed off a bit from that. Of course that was on a jpeg copy so you may do better on the RAW.

Edited November 19, 2019 by spacecadet

[Betty LaRue]

15 hours ago, hsessions said:

 

Want to share a couple of shots, they were planned not restaurant shots that so many seem to do very well on here.  I tried but I dance around the table and look ridiculous, and still end up disappointed with what I end up with either due to lighting or whatever.  This is not really a bowl full of porridge, it is only about a fifth full, most of what's in it is a scrunched up plastic bag, there are only a few table spoons of porridge.  Shot outside one afternoon on a wooden kitchen chair.  Have done well with this one, and better with a cutout version of the same, which I shot indoors, but I like this one better.

 

 

 

Have done very well with this one, also a planned shot.  Did NOT eat it.  Don't know which part of it (maybe the eggs) did not end up on the floor at some point.  Seems so simple, looks like should have been so easy to do but my d.i.y. modifiers (flimsy bits of cardboard) would fall onto the plate and knock things over and I dropped some of it while carrying the plate (a different plate) from the kitchen upstairs to the basement where I then arranged it all on the plate the final shot was taken.

Helen

This plate of food is making me ravenous, Helen. I could do some serious damage to that.

[hsessions]

6 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

This plate of food is making me ravenous, Helen. I could do some serious damage to that.

 

Betty, Photoshop is amazing and deserves most of the credit.  You would not be ravenous if you knew all I had put it through.  Setting up the English Breakfast took a while and by the time I was ready to shoot, it looked a bit tired and flat, I had to liven it up a bit so brushed/basted it with cooking oil, won't say anymore in case you get put off completely.  Glad you like it.

Helen

Edited November 20, 2019 by hsessions

[Betty LaRue]

1 hour ago, hsessions said:

 

Betty, Photoshop is amazing and deserves most of the credit.  You would not be ravenous if you knew all I had put it through.  Setting up the English Breakfast took a while and by the time I was ready to shoot, it looked a bit tired and flat, I had to liven it up a bit so brushed/basted it with cooking oil, won't say anymore in case you get put off completely.  Glad you like it.

Helen

I do realize how quickly food quits looking good, no matter how quickly you try to shoot it. I’ve never managed to catch the steam yet!  And the pat of butter melted too quickly into the cornbread!  That’s why shortening is used (or used to be) for ice cream.

[Ed Rooney]

On 14/11/2019 at 14:20, Normspics said:

I have been using my Sony RX100V for restaurant shots recently, the Pad Thai I posted above was shot on this camera, however I have noticed if it is not “Lay Flat” types of shots, then the depth of field gets narrow quickly and I hesitate to upload those shots. It happened recently with a veggie burger and fries I didn’t want to gamble that the area in focus was enough to pass QC. It’s surprising that the Sony RX100V can produce shallow depth of field from a small sensor.

 

I've just began using selective DoF control of my tabletop food snaps (in another thread). No QC problems yet. If you want total sharpness, use the 24mm setting on your RX100 camera and leave room for a crop. That's what I often do. I have no problems with a smaller file, cropping, or distortion, or noise. All those things are correctable in LR or PH. I frame overhead, dinner's view, or I crop in some. I don't do cutouts as Micheal V suggested . . . because I don't like them. I'll leave that for others.