Food Photo Critique Request #2 – Improve This Food Photo
Here’s another photo critique request from one of our readers – Barbara Harris. Tell us what do you think about this photo and what would you do differently to improve this photo?
About This Photograph
Below are some details about this photograph from Barbara.
Goal:
I’m attempting to concentrate on the rule of thirds when composing my photos. This was an attempt which I feel didn’t quite live up to what I wanted. To me the composition seems unbalanced. I’d appreciate advise on how others would attempt it, to give it a balanced look. I used muslin as the background. Maybe a plain or embossed linen would have been better.
Update: Barbara commented with more information about her goal and thought behind this photo here it is.
I was attempting a white on white photograph as I’ve admired several of this style on Flickr. The items were not intended for any particular recipe. I gathered together a series of white shapes from the cupboard. I used the onions as they were a white food. It could be replaced with a scoop of vanilla icecream, the spices with fruit and nuts. I used the lines in my camera view finder to place the items.
Equipment Details:
Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens: Lens used was standard one that came with the camera Nikkor 18 – 70
Technical Details:
Focal length 46.0mm
Exposure 1/250
F Stop F4.5
WB Shade
ISO Auto
My Two Cents
In my opinion, this is a great photo in many ways. I love the different shapes that are in play here. The oil in upper right adds a special element to this photo. On one hand I have to say that this is a great photo and is very creative. If I were to shoot this, I would first think about my subject. In this case, I am not sure if Barbara wanted all the dishes/bowls in this photo and whether some stronger subject could be added to this photo. In general I would play with placement of the bowls a little bit. For example, move the central bowl a little towards right and move it a little up. Another thing I may experiment with is, placing the top most bowl. Yeah! the small one… I would move it a little towards the corner.
Again without knowing what limitations you have with experimenting, I would love to know what was the main subject and what was the thought behind it. Was this photo to show the different bowls? Or the sliced onions? or something else. Did you want to show the color? How about turning it into a black and white photo? How about filtered black and white?
After looking at the filtered black and white, I feel this photo gives a effect of selective coloring because of all the element being white and spices in small bowls being black.
Again, I think overall, this is very interesting concept. Love the arrangement and overall thought behind this photo. As with most things, critiquing a photo is a personal opinion and I think the more information you have about the photo and the thought behind it, the more helpful the critique can be.
Update: Following Barbara’s comments, some of my comments won’t apply… specially those related to color.
Your Turn
So dear readers, it’s your turn now. What do you like about this image and how would you improve it? What would you add to this image? What would you subtract? Tell us in the comments below.What would you change in this image?
Do You Want Feedback on Your Photo?
If you would like a feedback or critique on your photos, leave a comment below and attach your photo to the comment. We’ll contact you with more details. This is a good way to learn and get some feedback for your photo. See how to attach your photos in the comments.
Photo copyright: This Still Photo taken by Barbara Harris and is her copyright property. You should consult her if you wish to use this photo.
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After posting this photo, I realized that the main photo kinda matches with the blog theme… hmm… anyway back to the topic… what would you do differently?
Thanks Neel for publishing my photo. To answer your questions I was attempting a white on white photograph as I’ve admired several of this style on Flickr. The items were not intended for any particular recipe. I gathered together a series of white shapes from the cupboard. I used the onions as they were a white food. It could be replaced with a scoop of vanilla icecream, the spices with fruit and nuts.
I used the lines in my camera view finder to place the items.
Thanks Barbara, for your comments.
I like the tint, but I think it may be a bit too overdone, and a little too greenish; it distracts from the “pop” of the olive oil.
I agree it’s unbalanced; all of the colorful items are up in one corner.
The empty dishes make me wonder — I’d like to see a few peppercorns, at least, in the mortar. I might move the clear bottle (is it vinegar?) up close with the other bottle, and remove the empty bowl. This would allow for a horizontal framing (or you could keep it vertical by shooting from the other side).
I like the texture of the mother-of-pear spoon as a prop, but maybe it could be perched on the bowl with the onions.
I wouldn’t go monochrome here because the peppercorns seem to lose all their definition. I might dodge them a bit, or punch up the clarity/sharpness, to bring out a bit of their texture. They’re a challenging subject in any circumstance, especially up against all that white/cream.
I like the texture of the linen cloth, and I love the pop of color from the oil and the varying shapes of the ingredients (sharp star anise, round onions, etc.). I also like the direct-overhead angle, although I might have been tempted to try it just a touch lower to see if I could get more definition in the bottle shape.
Anita, Great detailed feedback. Thanks for your comments about the greenish tone. I missed that one.
I feel that the whole composition is “crowded”..as in having too many things at one time. I would pick a main object to be photographed and leave the rest as addition to the background. Also, I would shoot at the lowest ISO possible (for a clean image with minimal noise). I would get rid of the creases of the tablecloth (muslin?)and how about not shooting directly from above?
Mei, Thank you for the feedback. In my opinion, I think Barbara was trying to place all the things in the frame. I agree with your comment on being a little crowded and I would remove some elements if that is what I was trying to do. Great feedback.
I think if the object was white-on-white, one or two well-placed items might have accomplished a better image. Also, perhaps, without so many items, you wouldn’t have to go so far to capture them all. Another idea would be pile up the bowls and dishes and take the photo from a more direct angle.
I think a white on white photo needs to be much more high key with pure white lighting.
Textures would be good too – maybe on a white wooden surface with white linens. Varying textures might help you pick a focal point of the photo to emphasize – right now the eye is drawn to the top of the photo only which I think leads to the unbalanced aspect. The empty dishes do leave one wondering, and I think if the ingredients were fit for a specific recipe it would make more sense to the viewer who is left to ponder what anise, peppercorns, onions, and olive oil are going to become – it might be nice also to scatter some of the raw ingredients on the table to help lead the eye around – You picked a tough assignment for yourself, mise en place shots are always super tricky to pull off composition wise, and so are top down shots where I think table styling becomes just as critical as the food styling!
I think this is a great example by Helen of Tartelette for the type of thing you were going for – http://www.flickr.com/photos/40995944@N00/3733793144/
Notice in this pic the white ingredients are all varying textures, and the color is quite selectively placed around the photo – This picture actually has more items in it than yours, and yet doesn’t look crowded, because of how the color is used to lead the eye around
You put forth a valiant effort though! I think this is one of the hardest types of food pics to shoot!
For a white photo it probably isn’t white enough. Though might have a technically good exposure the overall image is a little flat and too dark for a “white” image.
I agree with Jenn that you could have gone more to a high key kind of look.
There’s also a colorcast in the picture. White isnt really white.
In the composition I would have placed the bowl with unions a little more up to the right, so the distances between the unions and the other cups will be the same.
I would have used an overhead light so the peppers wouldn’t have less of a shadow cast from the side and together with the light on the side it would be easier to creat a high key image.
In photoshop i would add a reversed vignette to bring more real white into the image with a dreamy kind of feel to it.
I’ve added a photoshopped version of you image too show how I think it should/could be…
Jenn is right: white should be white (i.e. bright white like teeth in a toothpaste commercial
). The only way to do this is 2/3 overexposure and a fully flat underground, a cloth like in this case should be ioned so the folds diappear.
Secondly I would lower the point of view so you can play with the depth of field.
Shadows are fine so general light setting looks ok. Setting of the objects is nice so the idea is really creative!
Maybe
I wasn’t finsihed but accidentally pressed “submit”….
Maybe you could try to expirate more of the dish these ingredients would make
Submit
You guys are just awesome. I scanned each and every comment and this is just amazingly helpful. I hope Barbara finds this helpful as well.
also wanted to make sure that if any of you would like a critique done on your photos, all you have to do is email/tweet/ping me… or leave a comment here.
Thanks.
For me, there are perhaps too many elements in play. The objects are all competing with each other and there seems to be no focal point or main subject. I personally prefer subjects that are either photographed from a much lower angle or directly overhead, rather than at a slight angle as on this shot. I think a lower angle gives depth of field and visual interest, while an overhead view can look almost abstract or more fine art. I also find the creases or folds in the cloth a little distracting and the relatively even spacing between objects looks a little contrived. It depends on what you are trying to achieve with the photograph, and one ‘rule’ I’ve read and heard from professional photographers and artists alike is ‘less is more’. This essentially means that ‘simplicity and clarity lead to good design’, and I think it’s a ggod general rule to follow. On a more positive note, your limited use of colour is great for me, and to some extent adheres to the ‘less is more’ principle. As a professional graphic designer and keen photographer myself I appreciate what you’re trying to achieve and would suggest trying more different compositions before taking the shot. Planning and preparation are all important. Good luck from one who’s learnt more from his mistakes than his few successes.
I agree with many commenters here, that the image is overcrowded. I do not see the connection between the objects on the image. I think there is too many of them. Also, from-the-top shooting angle is putting them all on the same level of importance, which is additionally confusing. If I were to include all of them in my image, I would shoot more from the front, and arrange them from front to back. But it would require to find the angle so you can see the content of the bowls, which might not be an easy task. At the same time, the bottle with yellow liquid viewed from up front would be far more interesting, in my opinion. Even if placed in a back row
.
Thanks everyone for your advise. It has been very helpful. It is obvious to me I have so much to learn. Once I get the composition right, I need to move on to understanding photoshop more. I love What Rob has done with the original to produce a whiter look.
What absolutely great advice… loads I can use. I like the idea of selective photo-shopping. NICE!
Really valuable advice!
Rob, can you describe what you did in photoshop? Your version looks great – so much whiter!