The Official Head-Case Photography Thread.

[VPI]

Tonight's walk to the Subway.

[Sherwood]

Since being laid off, I've picked up a lot of work doing small, bespoke website design for folks in an adjacent rural county. I'm cheap, cheerful, and quick, plus I'll take pictures for them.

Problem is, my last client was a restaurant, and she wanted me to do some food photography. I'd never done any before, but I knew that my normal bag of tricks (purposeful distortion, color manipulation, multiple exposures, etc.) wouldn't be welcome.

I tried to use a lot of natural light, and made sure to populate the frame with more than just the item being photographed. Unfortunately, in retrospect, I wasn't terribly imaginative or original, but I hope to get better at it. I heartily welcome comment and critique:

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[Asr]

Mmm, food. Now I'm hungry.

If that were me I'd be shooting from a slightly higher angle but that's just me.

[Salt Peanuts]

Now I want a calzone.

[laxx]

Since being laid off, I've picked up a lot of work doing small, bespoke website design for folks in an adjacent rural county. I'm cheap, cheerful, and quick, plus I'll take pictures for them.

Problem is, my last client was a restaurant, and she wanted me to do some food photography. I'd never done any before, but I knew that my normal bag of tricks (purposeful distortion, color manipulation, multiple exposures, etc.) wouldn't be welcome.

I tried to use a lot of natural light, and made sure to populate the frame with more than just the item being photographed. Unfortunately, in retrospect, I wasn't terribly imaginative or original, but I hope to get better at it. I heartily welcome comment and critique:

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For the cake, more depth of field. At least have the slice on the left in focus and sharper. A bit more contrast would be nice, it looks a bit dull.

I like the second picture, but not a fan of cutting off the left side of the 2 pieces.

I like the third.

Fourth could use a bit more light and contrast as well.

[Salt Peanuts]

[Sherwood]

my only suggestion is to show the entire plate.

That's fair. I had a handful of white paper menus set just out of frame on the left that were reflecting some sunlight from the window back on the food. I had a tough time pulling back far enough to show the whole plate but still keeping the menus out of frame. If I moved them farther away they didn't reflect enough light to be useful. This really plagued me that day, but I know how to fix it. Next shot (if there is a next restaurant site) I'll get some proper reflectors. Thanks.

[Sherwood]

For the cake, more depth of field. At least have the slice on the left in focus and sharper. A bit more contrast would be nice, it looks a bit dull.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. Here's where a larger viewfinder would be nice. I had to switch to manual focus to get the depth I wanted and keep the framing, but once I blew them up later for proofing I saw that I only got tight focus on the very front edge of the cake. I usually try to avoid bokeh in the foreground, as it's distracting, but here I failed.

As to the contrast, I played around with it in post, but boosting contrast made the food look a little less natural. Any suggestions on how to get more in the original picture?

[Sherwood]

Mmm, food. Now I'm hungry.

Now I want a calzone.

The best compliments I could have possibly received. Thanks, gents

[laxx]

Yeah, I see what you're saying. Here's where a larger viewfinder would be nice. I had to switch to manual focus to get the depth I wanted and keep the framing, but once I blew them up later for proofing I saw that I only got tight focus on the very front edge of the cake. I usually try to avoid bokeh in the foreground, as it's distracting, but here I failed.

As to the contrast, I played around with it in post, but boosting contrast made the food look a little less natural. Any suggestions on how to get more in the original picture?

You can boost contrast for certain colors. What are you using to edit with?

[penger]

Sweet pics there, Salt Peanuts. The colors on the flowers really pop.

[Salt Peanuts]

Thanks. I planted those hydrangeas last year and I've been meaning to take some pics when they started blooming.

[VPI]

All of Gehry's buildings are poorly designed and leak badly. We were involved with that disaster at MIT that he is getting sued for now. Architect's as a whole seem to be completely without the most basic levels of common sense, aesthetics rule all.

Lens looks to quite capable. I would have thought that a 24mm on a non-ff would be closer you general vision than a 50mm on a non-ff.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Since being laid off, I've picked up a lot of work doing small, bespoke website design for folks in an adjacent rural county. I'm cheap, cheerful, and quick, plus I'll take pictures for them.

Problem is, my last client was a restaurant, and she wanted me to do some food photography. I'd never done any before, but I knew that my normal bag of tricks (purposeful distortion, color manipulation, multiple exposures, etc.) wouldn't be welcome.

I tried to use a lot of natural light, and made sure to populate the frame with more than just the item being photographed. Unfortunately, in retrospect, I wasn't terribly imaginative or original, but I hope to get better at it. I heartily welcome comment and critique:

I like the first two more than the latter two. Probably because the frame is filled better. I could use a little more DOF on the front slice of cake. The light is a tad harsh in the calzone shot. But I am being quite critical. They are all very tasty looking shots, so I think you accomplished your goal. I would be shocked if the restaurant didn't receive them well.

went home early and found my Sigma 24mm waiting for me. really nice. the autofocus isn't nearly as loud as i was led to believe on forums. once i watch the new Futurama, i think i'm going to go for a photo stroll.

I'm guessing that those AF complaints probably came from owners of the EOS mount version? Because all EOS lenses have to have an AF motor in the lens, and most 3rd party lenses use noisy micro motors. Using the internal screw drive of the D90, it should be any louder than any of your AF-D Nikkors.

the 24 is pretty nice, but i'm not used to a lens that wide. i had some difficulty getting decent compositions, as the 50mm, which i use most of the time, gives me a pretty close to eyeball view, and that's what my brain is used to working with. i'll get used to it.

You're using it on the D90 (DX) right? 36mm full-frame is just starting to become wide-angle, though if you've been stuck at 75mm equiv with your 50 for a long time, I can see how the change could be a bit of a shock to the system.

[Knuckledragger]

I would have thought that a 24mm on a non-ff would be closer you general vision than a 50mm on a non-ff.

Reks has a Nikon APS-C sensor. 24mm x 1.5 = 36mm.

EDIT: Knuckles is slow.

I also have a metric butt-tonne of pictures to edit and post, but won't have time until at least Monday \

[Grahame]

All of Gehry's buildings are poorly designed and leak badly. We were involved with that disaster at MIT that he is getting sued for now. Architect's as a whole seem to be completely without the most basic levels of common sense, aesthetics rule all.

All Good Architecture leaks

FLW's buildings seem to have leaky roofs. When a client complained, he is supposed to have said

"Thats what happens when you leave a work of art out in the rain".

See also

Modern Architecture and Complaints about the Weather, or,

[Voltron]

Perfect response.

[Salt Peanuts]

here is a view of the Frank Gehry building on my campus:

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/8348/dsc0899g.jpg

the building is poorly designed and leaks badly. neat looking, though.

As you've said, at least it looks neat. My alma mater (UMass Amherst) is just ugly.

[VPI]

A couple of architecturals from this morning's walk.

[Salt Peanuts]

One of our pet rabbits (not really) in our backyard this morning. Taken with Canon's first IS lens (EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM).

[VPI]

Backyard critters are fun.

[Salt Peanuts]

Stopped by at a local Hunt's and picked up an OP/TECH neck strap. They had few prime L glasses in stock, including Knuckle's favorite 135mm. To my surprise, they also had a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 in Canon mount - the damn thing is out of stock (in Canon mount) everywhere. It was rather tempting to say the least.

[Knuckledragger]

As you've said, at least it looks neat. My alma mater (UMass Amherst) is just ugly.

THIS. I was driving through UMASS yesterday with my friend Pete and I said half the campus should be loaded with dynamite.

[VPI]

Spent some time at the River hoping to get some shots of the fireworks with the City in the background. Unfortunately they decided to shoot them off on the Hudson in upstate New York so I did not have the right lens. I wanted to use the 35 f1.4L but ended up using the 24-70 f2.8L.

[MexicanDragon]

A couple of fireworks shots from our day at the lake

Fun with bottle rockets

Fun with sparklers

Views from the deck of the lakehouse

View of me flying off the SeaDoo when I let the wife drive

**BRENT**