138. Photo Synthesis

In my third attempt at my newest hobby, I photographed my yummy vegan-y lunch today.  Vegetable relish and hummus on a pita.  Looking at the last pictures, I realized I had way too much stuff in the frame.  So this time I went for just the food.  I tried to pick up a pretty plate from Target, but they actually didn't have any (how is that possible?).  I think a pretty square plate would've looked nicer, but I worked with what I had.

To get some good light, I took the picture on the patio table in the backyard.  I used my dad's cutting board as a "background."  I may use some fabric or scrapbook paper to get some nice color in future pics.  I took 9 or 10 shots and settled on one to edit.  Here it is:

This composition isn't bad.  The picture is a little dark, and the veggies aren't that well balanced... there are too many cucumbers on the right side... But overall, a decent shot.  I wasn't sure what to do with the top piece of bread so I just kinda offset it.  I would've liked to get the hummus more prominently displayed in the shot, too.  You don't know it's there unless I tell you.

Anyway, I edited the shot to get my "official" attempt.  I cropped the picture to get a more flattering composition, with the food filling more of the frame.  And I upped the brightness just a teensy bit so it doesn't look like the food was in a shadow when I took the picture.  I think it came out well:

When it comes to food with multiple pieces plating is really important.  The folks on Top Chef are really good at it.  That's actually one of my favorite parts of the show.  Figuring out what size and shape your plate should be, what color the bowl should be, whether to put something in the center or off to the side, where to put utensils... all of that is up to the plater/photographer.  So I'm playing around with it.

I also found this pretty cool food photography portfolio by a guy named Michael Ray.  He gets in really close on some of his shots and composes things in ways that I probably wouldn't.  But he's a professional and I have no idea what I'm doing, so...  He has a nice picture of a basket of strawberries.  Maybe I'll throw some fruit in a bowl and see what I can come up with.

Of course it would help if I had the right equipment.  There's a macro (close-up) lens out there calling my name.  As soon as I figure out how to pull $400 out of thin air...