Yummy enough?

[Alis]

My first serious attemp at Cullinary photography... Please comment.

Is the focal plane at the right place? Deep enough focus?

I just can't get the professional look on this; is it the lighting?

My wife doesn't think there is anything wrong with the cake itself

[Davey]

My guess would be the lighting, but I could be wrong. Going on a love of food more than photography and in particular observation of the way food media (and well composed menus etc) present things. The focal distance seems perfect, more or less exact where most high end food photos are.

However it seems a little dark, nearly all the good looking food photos are ultra bright. The backgrounds are always blitzed beyond recognition and tend to be either similar colour or in the well composed there is often a contrast difference, and it is usually well done so as to shift focus to the food rather than away from it (ie white plate, brown background but completely fubar). Lastly the colours are always increased sat/vibrance, but not too much so as they look too unreal but just "enhanced" natural looking rather than fake. Brightly lit and fill in flash to make sure would be my guess but I'll leave that advice to the photographers.

[atvinnys]

Sedali,

here is a quick PP of your pic..hope you don't mind...
I wanted to illustrate what sat/vibrancy will do, added to a constrat curve..


Vincent

P.S: did that on my laptop, so might show oversaturated on normal screens...

[ajith.rajeswari]

Hi Sedali,
These are my versions
Both with different color curve adjustments.
Any comments?





~Ajith

[Geoff F]

Those examples prove that there isn't a lot wrong with the original photo. It just needs a little boost.

But I would definitely forget the dish. I find my eyes wandering from the cake towards the dish sides.

[Colin Southern]

My first serious attemp at Cullinary photography... Please comment.

At the risk of sounding like Simon Cowell on American Idol ...

I think you need to go back and re-evaluate the basics ...

- Background is distracting

- The image has severe DoF / focus issues (shooting from a distance with a long lens and/or cropping helps)

- Levels issues

- Sharpening issues

- Colour temperature issues (try using a gray card?)

For this kind of thing I'd seriously suggest people purchase a copy of "Light: Science & Magic" - it's the industry-standard reference text on lighting fundamentals.

Hope this helps! (Sorry to be so brutal!)

[Alis]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I like both Vincent's and Ajith's version better than mine. I guess I agree that mine was not bright enough and the curve adjustment brings out more color and contrast...

Also, agree with "brutal" comments Colin had You have no idea what we go through during training, this is nothing...

This was just on the go but will try again with all of these in mind... Just need a cake.

One question though, do the professional guys use a macro lens for this or, as I get from Colin's comments, a regular zoom lens is OK?

[Colin Southern]

One question though, do the professional guys use a macro lens for this or, as I get from Colin's comments, a regular zoom lens is OK?

The strengths of a macro lens (ie the reduced minimum focusing distance) will hurt you, not help you - remember that depth-of-field DECREASES the closer you get to your subject with a lens of a given focal length; that's why you need to get further away and zoom in - not closer, and use a small aperture (although it's OK to tell your wife that we recommend that you don't change more than 1 thing at once, so multiple tests may be required!).