Steamed Salmon

[F. Javier Gil]

Working on some food pictures now for a local Chef. Haven't done much food photography before so any tips on how to improve will be appreciated!

[GB1]

Hmm,

This is a good start F. The salmon itself looks acceptably lit. I like the creative tilt. But there seems to be a very slight bluish tint, at least on my monitor.

Is the food appetizing as photographed? I don't know because I don't know the style of cooking. Unusual bubbly sauce though for sure! My issue with that is that it's covering up the view of the 'good stuff'; the salmon and greens.

It's hard to comment on the sharpness because it doesn't appear that you resharpened after you resized. Best if you sharpen and present it as your best work, so we can comment as to whether it's technically acceptable as a delivered product.

My gut feeling is that if you zoom in and eliminate the table that it will be stronger. Leave a little of the lid though, which has a creative tilt

I have some notes at home on lighting food from the Photoshop conference last Sept. I will see if I can find them and comment more ..

G

[Anbesol]

The placement of the asparagus is strange, the tilt of the composition is awkward, background element too monotonous with b/g. Good lighting quality, though still a bit of a shadow in the bowl with coarse edge transfer. I'm curious how one might go about eating this, how does one cut the asperagus with the salmon? The arrangement is illogical to the manner it will be consumed, the lid there makes no sense either - making it sort of contrived. The white balance, exposure, and focus depth (minus rear bg object) all look great.

[Ctn]

This picture is quite nice, but there are a few things bothering me im afraid.
The instant i see this photo i start tilting my head to get a good view at it. I think it works better straight.

I agree with Anbesol aswel that the glasses and the two placemats coming together distracts.

WB, exposure and focus indeed look spot on.

[F. Javier Gil]

Thank you for your comments guys, I'll keep them in mind next time I'm shooting some food. Yesterday was pretty much a quick test because he needed them asap.

GB, if you find those notes and have anything else to comment on go for it please.

[husk]

Nice picture!! the food looks delicious!!

[GB1]

F -

Can't locate those notes I thought I wrote them on the sides of the pages in the seminar handout, but I bet I wrote those particular notes in a notebook, because not all the lectures were in the handout. Hopefully, that notebook magically appears one day.

Anyway, check out this PhotoCamel food photography post on Hard and Soft lighting:

Hard & soft light?

If you have an acct (which is free), you will see the images along with the text. Otherwise, you have to click on the images to see them.

Hope this helps --

G

[draymorton]

Very nice shot. Food photography is not nearly as easy as it looks. That said:

I'd like to see a closer crop, zeroing in on the dish (salmon, etc) itself.

I'd like to see less dof, once again in the interest of drawing the viewer's eye directly to the cuisine. Food photography often features very wide apertures, which I think would benefit this image.

I actually like whatever's going on in the upper left, though.

[merlot105]

I like the idea just not the execution so much - not so much about the photography but more about the way the food is set up. I think the asparagus messes with the unity of the dish and the salmon is mostly covered up when I'd like to see more of that. Again, it's a good "idea" though I wish it would have been done a little differently.