Lessons

Lesson Info

Student Critique

Okay, it is Kate's. This was based. Oh, I could see you chose that plate again that we like so much. What can I say, I fell in love with it. And it's the vibrancy of your greens. Let me ask you the question, how far did you push that in post-production? Not too much. So it was really that green, it was really pushed, I mean, I guess it's also the difference in screens and everything else. But, they look really vibrant and rich, and I like that, and I think, you kind of, that there's a natural feel to this, and I like the fact that you pulled your greens from off the plate and into the plate. I like the fact that you kinda juxtaposed those things plus, you have a lot of natural color here, and you have a lot of patina, and kinda age, and a little bit of soul with the picture. What. So from the overall compositional standpoint, that's the plus. The thing that I notice, is, it's a little askew; so we have something that's kind of a little turned, I might have backed out just a lit...

tle bit, got my camera straightened out a little bit more and gave me a little bit more of my edge on the bottom. So, we might have more of a left side edge that continued down, because of the beauty of the edge of that plate. I would wanna highlight that a little bit for sure. So, I would just say, from an overall food compositional standpoint, that's very well. So, you're inside composition is very good. And then, as you move to the outside part of your composition, I might wanna pull away a little bit. I might wanna see a little bit more of that edge, and that would kinda really, kinda solidify that image for me, where I'm really in love with that plate. 'Cause that's what really, that's what attracted you about it, right? So, you wanna add as much as that as it can. And, again, I feel like I'm a little bit like this on the angle; and I think I struggle with this as well, because every surface we shoot on, isn't always square to the frame. So, a lot of times, I find I have to turn my camera to get the bottom to line up the way I want it. So that's one of those kind of in camera adjustments you need to make, to make sure when it comes out on screen, it's got the right orientation. So, should I run now? No, no, no. Oh, okay. Okay, who's next? Kristin, okay. We went minimalist here, really nice. So, I see you carefully chose your garnish. Your garnish looks fresh, it doesn't look wilted. You went with kind of a more, the kind of, messier kind of seeds and drips and stuff, which I like. There's something here that's distracting me, that's taking my eyes away from what you want me to look at, and I think you know what it is. The corner of the dish. Well it's that, and it's the symbols on the chopsticks. Oh. I looked at the picture three times, I looked away, I looked back, I looked away, I looked back, and this is what I do sometimes when I'm editing myself. I'll flip off of it and flip it back. So, instead, I can't do that here so I'm just gonna turn my head. And, every single time my eyes are going toward the chopsticks. The other thing I wanna point out, and I'll just walk up, is that, this is the center of your frame. Never leave the middle of your frame empty. You understand what I mean? So, this particular plate, again, your internal composition is good. Flip the chopsticks over, and you don't have any problems there. It's about how you put it in the camera, meaning, I wouldn't have squared up that way. I would've, kind of focused, or plated, one or the other, either focused, or plated more towards the center. Because, I feel like my eye is going either here, or here, and this is where you want your eye, you want it there. So, I think that's really important to note, that when you're composing images, remember not to distract your viewer, and don't leave them an empty slot right down the middle; don't kick a field goal. Okay, fair enough? Mm-hmm. All right. I mean, you did a lot with a little though. Because, I feel like the food was pretty. Yeah, it was a challenge, because it wasn't innately beautiful, you had to make something beautiful, and I think you did that. Thank you. But, again, compositionally, gotta work on that. Wow! Okay, I like it, I like the composition. What I think this needs, is a little mood. Mm-hmm. Right, it needs a little bit of mood, it needs a little bit of shadow. You got the nice, bright highlights over here, but your light is so balanced, and I mean, this may not bother other people, but from an artistic perspective, I think this has more to offer. It has more to offer, because I feel like your lighting, you know, just the nature of. We had access to cards right, black and white. I was using. You were, and it didn't knock it down enough right? Yeah, I mean, that whole shadow in the back is a black card. Yeah. 'Cause it was just straight shine off the. Yeah, I think, I mean, honestly, even in post-production, you could probably get a little bit more outta that. But, your highlights are a little hot, so I would try to knock your highlights down just a little bit, and give a little bit more definition, and then have, maybe, have some, a little bit more. I would wrap all the way around. Like a horseshoe. (mumbles) Yeah, sure, why not, and then just let that kind of. What that does, essentially, creates a frame for you right? So, by kinda creating a frame with light and it's almost like, what do you call it, I'll think of the term. (laughs). But, vignetting, vignetting, right? And you can do that in post-production as well if you wanted to play around with it, it's kind of vignetted a little bit, so then all of a sudden, you're just punching it right down the middle, boom, check out this. And then the light kind of directs your eye right to the middle. But, it's a nice composition, and I think you really had the right instinct to add shadow to it, it's just about perfecting it. Yeah. (laughs) For sure. Leigh, that's really nice. That's really nice! That caught me right away, I got right down the middle, I see this right here, here's your focal point. That where you put your focal point? Mm-Hmm. That's great. That's really, nicely done. Because I feel like I immediately looked right down the center of it and I saw that really sharp, hot focus right down the middle, and I like the falloff. The falloff to the forks and the use of the double fork technique of just kind of giving something interesting to look at, I'm glad you grabbed onto that, because I didn't talk about it at all, so that was instinctual, so you did a really nice job with that. Thank you. I think your colors are vibrant, you chose really, really nice compositional, kind of compliments, where you have green, and orange, and then basically, I don't care that I don't know that it's chicken anymore. It doesn't matter to me. So, I think, your light, also is the difference between, I can tell exactly where your lights coming from. I love this, where you have the dark, and your light, and you got this kinda going across. The pattern on the plate, where, when I saw that plate, I wasn't happy with it, I looked at it, and I was like, I don't think I can shoot that plate, and you did a pretty good job with it. Thank you. So, I like this a lot, I think you did a really nice job, and I'm glad to say you were my partner. (students laughs) It's a nice shot. Thank you. You should be proud of that shot. Thank you. Ooh. Pam. You know what I like, right? I mean, look at this. I mean, this is exactly the kind of photography that I'm drawn immediately into. The moodiness of it, this beautiful swath of black. I mean, you accomplished that really well, and by creating this here. This is beautiful, and that little shadow underneath it, I also, I really like that a lot. I like what you did with the napkin; you created architecture, and you created kind of shape, right? You're an architect so you kinda cheated with that. (students laughs) But the way you plated it too, it's really elegant, it's an elegant plating. You used what was there for you, and you used it in such a nice way, and you built, you constructed, and the natural look of the, kind of, the scallion, that you kinda just tossed there, but everything else was kinda carefully placed. Your garnish looks fresh. This is a terrific image, and it's something, again, you should be really proud of, that's really nicely done. Okay, you know we had some nice props here. Paola did a, this is beautiful as well. I think that you did this kinda geometric thing, where everything is kinda sunbursting out, and it's a really nice vision. I think it's really nice. I. Even though, I think maybe, the one thing that I'm kinda reacting to a little bit is kinda like the one, two, three thing. Where we're creating, kind of, like these perfect little piles, and maybe a little messier, because I think. Yeah, I wanted to sprinkle some, when I looked at it afterwards, I wanted something sprinkled more on the other side. Yeah, but I mean, the colors are vibrant and rich. I think that the choice of propping is fantastic. I mean, I think that the overall composition of this is really pretty. And the glisten that you're getting off your grilled pineapple is really nice. It's a shame that the pineapples weren't whole, you know? Yeah. You probably could have done even more more with it with that particular thing. But, I mean, I've just looked at how many pictures of the same, essentially, the same five foods, and they all looked dramatically different, because you're all bringing your own vision to it, which is really cool. I really love the props that you chose, and I think there's an innate, kind of, sense of artistic flair with these kind of things. So, like I said, overall composition, terrific; lighting, terrific, I might just change a little bit of the food styling and get it a little bit more natural looking. Wow, that's really nice! That's a complete departure from what I expected to see here. (laughs) It really is, because I think that you're taking the idea of macrophotography, and doing something completely artistic with it. Now, this is art, this is fine art photography when you do food like this, it's really, it's an interesting take on what you were presented with. And I think that your lighting is a little bit hot, it's just, it needs probably a little diffusion; but I think your overall concept of where you were going with this, and what your thought process was in putting this together, is really interesting. I might have not cut the bottom off. I don't know how this is perched, so maybe you have something there that was perching it, right? But I don't know that, I would have kinda given the whole item and let the background kind of wrap around and have the object kind of staying there on it's own. But, did you cut that for a reason, is there something there? Yeah. Okay, fair enough, I mean, that's obvious, and when you're working in a really, not a controlled environment, where you're not controlling all the variables, that's a pretty good solution. And the fun packet was just not very fun at that moment in time. (laughs) All right, what I didn't notice that. Is that a rind that you personally cut up? No, they were on the fruit tray. They were on the fruit tray like that? Yeah, yep. That's good recognition, you've made a lot out of a little, which I think, that's really, that's a unique perspective on that particular thing; and I like the macro, your focus point is really sharp, and that's a dynamite shot, that's a really nice shot, you should be proud of that. Thank you. It wasn't very filling though. What? It wasn't very filling. (everyone laughs) Is that all you ate for lunch? Pretty much.