English Tea and Biccies

[Alison]

I know...I've lost the plot. But hey, I'm having fun
Believe it or not, these were taken in the dark! My kitchen light isn't working at the moment lol.
Flash bounced.
Your thoughts, as always, are much appreciated.

[Dylan8i]

the first one is ok.

the second one kinda hurts my head, i'm not of a fan of it. i think becuase the background doesn't catch my interest enough to prevent me from looking at the cup.

[Ronnoco]

Well, I am glad that you are having fun, but this shot is out of your league and out of mine too, for that matter.

A bone china teacup filled with tea, signs of tea leaves, steam coming from the cup, highlighted by a dark background along with a lot of texture emphasis on the biscuits using side lighting. The out of focus background should be very english, of course. A lot of work is necessary to create a visually interesting food and drink shot.

Ronnoco

[Alison]

Where's Jurgen when you need him?

[readingr]

Alison,

Nice concept but I think that this is one of those shots that less is more -

If you get rid of the other 2 jars, coffee and sugar and just have the tea jar as in the first shot (bottom) would make this better. You then need to get the focus on the mug spot on and the tea just going out of focus, but not too much.

Another idea would be to have tea leaves sprinkled around the base of the Tea container and leading up to the mug, which should have steam appearing from the mug.

The background should be one colour so a sheet of ? which has the added feature of being easy to clean up after sprinkling the tea.

Does that help?

Roger

[Alison]

Yes Roger, thank you.
I actually had another go this morning with a slightly different composition and using window light and a mirror.
I also tried using black fabric, it wasn't doing anything for me. It wasn't saying what I wanted it to say if you know what I mean. Maybe I just executed wrong.
As for the steam, I have seen advertisers use tricks for this. Where's my daughter with her cigarettes when I need her lol. Cigarette smoke would be ideal but I hate it!
Anyway, here is today's version. I feel it's a little simpler. And, to me, everything ties in this time.
I'd love to hear what anyone else has to say though. (good or bad) TIA.

Info:
50mm 1.8 MKII
Window light only
Mirror used as a reflector
Flash not fired
Manual Mode
ISO 400
F/2.5
SS 1/50

[readingr]

How picky do you want me to be? ( I'm going for the jugular - sorry to be cruel)

Boxes should be reversed and I want to see all the words (Tea and Biscuits)

I still think worktop covered with white or cream linen and tea sprinkled on the top will make this a sell-able photo.

Want to try again.

Roger

[Alison]

ALWAYS willing to try again. I wanna get things right.
I was looking at the word biscuit too lol.
Give me a grade on #3 please I felt that was my best of the 3.

<--- off to have another go lol

[Alison]

Another attempt using your suggestions Roger.

You had me ironing a sheet! Me? Iron? what's that?! LOL
Breaking open tea bags and drinking gallons of tea in my quest for the perfect pic. LOL.
I even stirred the tea!!!
And still I'm not happy. :mad2:
And to top it all, I have eaten all the biscuits. I shall have to have another go, another day.

What do you think of my new attempt?

[readingr]

Another attempt using your suggestions Roger.

You had me ironing a sheet! Me? Iron? what's that?! LOL
Breaking open tea bags and drinking gallons of tea in my quest for the perfect pic. LOL.
I even stirred the tea!!!
And still I'm not happy. :mad2:
And to top it all, I have eaten all the biscuits. I shall have to have another go, another day.

What do you think of my new attempt?

Now you've done it - I'm hungry and we have no biscuits Drat

As fro grading - Hmm! B for #3

for the latest you would have had an A* if you had swapped the biscuits and the tea around :thumbsup: As is I'll give you an A

Roger

[Alison]

Yay!
And the tea leaves were ok? I wasn't sure about the way I had done it and I also thought about having some biscuit crumbs but thought it might be too much.
Maybe I could do another one where there are no tea leaves but have a few biscuit crumbs sprinkled near the biscuits.
The possibilities are endless lol.

I did swap the biscuit box and tea caddy around in another shot but my shutter was 1/15 and it was handheld so the shot was blurry. Like I said I'll have another go another day

Thank you sooooo much for all your help today Roger :thumbsup:

[GB1]

Alison - My God! You actually took a photo w/o your kids in there! Did they go on strike?

I'm not sure that a photo like this is out of your league, or anyone's league, because they're actually pretty easy to do (I'll leave the rest to Jurgen... ). What you have working against you here is the conflicting lines and geometry combined with cold and hot materials. The coffee and biscuits should be a warm thing but the marble top is cooooooooold and the wooden background is also too plain. The last shot you posted is better, but w/ the others the coffee cup top is almost flying out of the frame, and the DOF is too shallow for me. Remember that the coffee is the GOOD stuff! So if you fade it away, what's left? Just my observation.

Keep plugin' away on these. But think about the colors and materials and geometry when setting up the scenes. Adding the kids in too, all drinking warm drink, might be an interesting twist...

GB

[Alison]

I'm not sure that a photo like this is out of your league, or anyone's league, because they're actually pretty easy to do (I'll leave the rest to Jurgen...

GB

LOL well, I haven't found it easy to do! Give me a portrait any day of the week!

[yogestee]

Well, I am glad that you are having fun, but this shot is out of your league and out of mine too, for that matter.

A bone china teacup filled with tea, signs of tea leaves, steam coming from the cup, highlighted by a dark background along with a lot of texture emphasis on the biscuits using side lighting. The out of focus background should be very english, of course. A lot of work is necessary to create a visually interesting food and drink shot.

Ronnoco

Getting a bit heavy here Ronny my old mate!!Why is this image out of Alison's league??We all know she shoots fine portraiture,,why not experiment with other subjects???

These forums are designed to promote photography,encourage shooters to post their works and gain CONSTRUCTIVE critiques irrespective of their experience or skills..Comments like yours and there have been many only discourage shooters from posting their images and have a negative effect..

Jurgen

[yogestee]

Alison,,,a difficult subject matter to make look interesting...What I think lets it down is the marble bench top,,,IMHO it is out of context with the rest of the image...
I like the texture in the biscuits (are they upside down by design??) and your exposure of the cup is good,,,the cup is white on my monitor without being blown out..

I think what you have done is try to over complicate this image by adding the boxes in the background...What I would have tried is to keep this shot real simple by having only the biccies and the mug in the shot...Neutral background would have helped here...Lose the marble bench top too...

Ali,,if you are looking for an exercise try using fine china cup and saucer on a silver tray with the biccies on a china plate...This will give the shot some class and make it oh so English..The trick here is to retain the texture in the biscuits and exhibit the metallic tray without any hotspots on the metal..Its difficult but can be done with carefull lighting...

Hope this helps..

Jurgen

[Alison]

Well, I'm not sure I can continue with this one.

We don't have cups, saucers or silver trays. However, if I were a princess maybe I would have one around the palace lol. The only silver stuff in my house is my tin foil that I bake with lol.

Yes, the biscuits are upside down because I didn't want the company name showing.

This one was really brain draining for me. I find portraiture so much easier.
However I am enjoying taking pics of apples lol.

Thanks for your help Jurgen :thumbsup:

[yogestee]

Well, I'm not sure I can continue with this one.

We don't have cups, saucers or silver trays. However, if I were a princess maybe I would have one around the palace lol. The only silver stuff in my house is my tin foil that I bake with lol.

Yes, the biscuits are upside down because I didn't want the company name showing.

This one was really brain draining for me. I find portraiture so much easier.
However I am enjoying taking pics of apples lol.

Thanks for your help Jurgen :thumbsup:

Nearly fell off my chair laughing Alison!!! Apples are a wonderful subject,,remember to get a signed Model Release..

Jurgen

[Ronnoco]

Getting a bit heavy here Ronny my old mate!!Why is this image out of Alison's league??We all know she shoots fine portraiture,,why not experiment with other subjects???

These forums are designed to promote photography,encourage shooters to post their works and gain CONSTRUCTIVE critiques irrespective of their experience or skills..Comments like yours and there have been many only discourage shooters from posting their images and have a negative effect..

Jurgen

Well, yogestee, as well as my own work, I also own the rights to a million or so other photos and the quality of the food photography blows me away, and I can be very picky about composition, colour, technique, lighting, texture, and detail. The quality in some photo food/drink magazines and books is even beyond what most photographers could even put together without hiring a crew of food and drink and special effects artists. The reason is simple. Some photographers are working with television level production budgets. With an expense account of even $50,000 to $100,000 and the knowledge to know how to use that budget effectively, any good photographer will jump to a completely different league in the quality of work, he/she can produce.

So, to be CONSTRUCTIVE, unless you are perhaps a brilliant gourmet cook, an expert in food presentation and/or visual effects, someone with access to a substantial budget, locations, props, people and a complete set-up of studio equipment etc. then the unfortunate reality is that the quality of your food photography will be like comparing kindergarten self-expression to the Mona Lisa.

So, sure, play and experiment but gain a realistic perspective by FIRST looking at the quality of work out there in the real world of food and drink photography. If you have the interest, knowledge, experience and equipment to even attempt to duplicate the technique, composition, lighting, colour, look etc. then go ahead, BUT do your homework first. You will be happier with your results, and much less frustrated, if you study the area first.

Ronnoco