First Try At Food Photography - Sushi

[The Student]

Hello fellow photographers!

This is my first go at food photography and would love to hear some feedback on my work.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee62/The_Student88/Photography/SushiSmall.jpg

This photo was created with supermarket sushi and the plates and bamboo mat are from Ikea. Lighting was a two light setup with a strobe in a umbrella as the backlight and another strobe with a snoot on it as the key. I believe I was around f2.8 on a 50mm lens. The camera was an Olympus OM-G and the film was Kodak Porta 160VC.

[J.R. Hudson]

I think it looks very nice. Is the focus as crisp as could be ? Appears a bit soft. But still, very solid.

Now I want Sushi

[The Student]

Thanks Hudson!

Umm, looking at the print in my hands it doesn't appear to be soft. But with scanning and resizing it does look like it lost some of that crisp.

Don't get me started on wanting sushi... I was working with those pieces for so long I had to go out and get some of the good stuff :)

[DivotDan]

I'm not sure that it is soft either. Looks like you were close to the subject, with the focal point towards the bottom of the frame, and as you said...shooting 2.8.

The picture looks great though. I love the colors, the natural light, and the contrast of the light reflecting off the dish. Nice job.

[egproductions]

I think its a tad too shallow not necessarily soft and the white balance too blue maybe?

[<pt>]

Looks quite professional imo. You have some blue in the blacks but I think that´s cool.

[hunter richards]

Looks good. Like I want to eat some sushi!

Give this a try next time: Scrape your hard light across the surface of the sushi (to bring out more texture) and use a few white cards for fill, I like the back light.

I love food photography. I find my self looking through Martha Stuart books, just for the excellent food photography. Find what you think is a great food shot and just reverse engineer the lighting. Keep it up and give me some of that sushi!

[The Student]

Thanks guys for the feedback.

I'll close the f stop some more on the next shoot and hunter richards, I will certainly try the scraping for the hard light like you suggested.

This was one of the more fun photo shoots I've done and can't wait to do it again. Expect another photo of food in this thread soon.

Anyone want to give me some food ideas? :)

[Shane H.]

The only thing I notice just glancing at it is that you can see the light in the mug. That drives me crazy. But others may not care.

Nice lighting otherwise though. I really need to go and get some good sushi sometime.

[J.R. Hudson]

I like it; it makes a nice highlight