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Archive 2014 · Food & Drink Critique

  
 
Matt Hoffart
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Food & Drink Critique


Hello,

Today I have some food & drink for a local restaurant website. (This was my first attempt at shooting food & drink).

Food & drink was a secondary request from the client with less than an hour window to photograph it. Needless to say although I'm not a professional food photographer my approach to these shots would have been a lot different on a more demanding food job.

C&C HIGHLY WELCOME!

Thanks in advance!

















Edited on Sep 07, 2014 at 08:08 PM · View previous versions



Sep 07, 2014 at 07:10 PM
Matt Hoffart
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Food & Drink Critique


Since upload the following corrections have been made:

Pizza:
The huge red spot on the woodgrain.
Minor cleanup around the edges, and on spatula.

Burger:
The "ring" that is appearing in front of the ketchup.





Sep 07, 2014 at 07:39 PM
Eyeball
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Food & Drink Critique


Food photography is tough. Hat's off to you for even making the attempt.

My non-professional feedback:
- First, I think you made it over the first hurdle of not making the food look unappetizing.
- On the other hand, I don't think you have gotten to the place yet where you are making the food look really great.
- The white background was maybe dictated by the layout requirements or for some other reason but I think that, combined with very even lighting, makes the food and drink come off somewhat sterile. It's kind of like you are documenting the food but not selling it.
- The white and even lighting also hides a lot of "deliciousness indicators" like steam rising from the food and frost/water on the glass.
- The white and the very neutral white balance gives a cool/cold look, which doesn't work that bad for the drinks but makes the food look like it's been setting out for a while.

Whether they are good enough for your client I think depends a bit on the type and level of restaurant. For a more fast-food/bar kind of place they might be alright. For a more up-scale place, they might fall a bit short. If the web site has a white/light background they are probably going to work a little better than if it is black/dark.





Sep 07, 2014 at 07:48 PM
Matt Hoffart
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Food & Drink Critique


Thanks for the comment.

This is more of a "bar" site. All the food is also being cut out of the white backgrounds.

This certainly was not a "HIGH- CLASS" shoot for food. I was hired to shoot interiors and the night before I get a call if I can shoot food / drinks as well. On shot notice "and not being a professional food photog" I went to wal-mart. Picked up a few pieces of white foam-core, and taped them together as a "white box" to shoot the food on. All the food was shot with two umbrellas.

I would certainly agree that more dramatic lighting / custom white balance points are a must in a "higher demanding food shoot."

Scheduling with this client was a nightmare. He pretty much refused to come in more than 2 hours early before the restaurant / bar opened. I was given an hour window to shoot interiors / set up lights & build the white lightbox for the very fast food & drink shots.

Long story shorter, my approach to a more demanding food job would have been MUCH MUCH different.



Sep 07, 2014 at 08:07 PM
Almass
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Food & Drink Critique


Food photography is 50% lighting and 50% processing.....






































Sep 08, 2014 at 01:05 PM
beavens
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Food & Drink Critique


I definitely like Almass's edits - before some of the food/containers were having a hard time standing out against the white background.

Almass - care to share your workflow here?

Cheers,

Jeff



Sep 08, 2014 at 01:12 PM
Almass
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Food & Drink Critique


beavens wrote:
I definitely like Almass's edits - before some of the food/containers were having a hard time standing out against the white background.

Almass - care to share your workflow here?

Cheers,

Jeff


Sure, PS CC. here goes:

Adjustment layer Curves Darken>Luminosity>selective mask
Adjustment layer Curves Lighten>Luminosity>selective mask
Adjustment layer Hue Saturation>selective mask
High Pass layer>Overlay>mask>lower%
Adjustment layer Curves>global mask

I cannot tell you about the masking as I use a pressure sensitive Wacom stylus/tablet and the opacity of the masks are based intuitively on the brush drawing



Sep 08, 2014 at 02:03 PM
beavens
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Food & Drink Critique


Thanks! Man, I need to start some PS tutorials.

I love LR - LOVE IT. But it seems that you can get much more granular in PS (if you know how).



Sep 08, 2014 at 02:11 PM
folp
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Food & Drink Critique


hey matt -

nice work! if you're going to do food and drinks again one thing i would suggest is to bring some black foam core as well. you can cut the black in strips as needed and use it hold your edges. depending on your setup, you can either lie the strips down, or hold them vertical with a-clamps, next to the glassware. the black cards will reflect into the glass to create an edge and thereby pop off the white background.

cheers,

mike



Sep 09, 2014 at 12:55 PM
Oregon Gal
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Food & Drink Critique


Very nice work and Almass' edits really make the food pop. The martini glass with the blue is a little soft, not sure why as the other images are sharp.


Sep 09, 2014 at 04:57 PM
Almass
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Food & Drink Critique


Oregon Gal wrote:
Very nice work and Almass' edits really make the food pop. The martini glass with the blue is a little soft, not sure why as the other images are sharp.


LoL. Because I forgot to sharpen this one.




Sep 10, 2014 at 10:53 AM





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