PHOTOS, Day 2 - Food shots for my new client's restaurant, with less parsley

[Amerigo Vespucci]

The caveats:

1). Today was busier and crazier than yesterday. Plus, I had a senior citizen sitting about 6 inches away from me doing his crossword puzzle through most of the shoot, and he kept pushing his napkins and utensils and stuff in range of my camera.

2). Waitresses were in even more of a hurry today to grab the plates back from me, which gave me even less time to compose the shots

3). Close-cropped photos of food (versus showing the full edges of the plate) were the result of bringing me many items on different-size plates with no time to re-compose the shot. I had about 30 seconds to get each photo, PERIOD. I would have liked to have pulled back on things like the guacamole burger, but there was no time.

I shared the feedback about the parsley. You'll note that today it is missing from the pancakes, waffles, etc.

I'm not making excuses for the photos...I did the best I can under the conditions...so I will pull the best of what I got today and combine them with the best of yesterday's pics, and those will be used for the Website.

:toast:

Banana Nut Pancakes:



Chef's Salad:



Chicken Apple Sausage & Eggs:



Chocolate Chip Waffle:



Club Sandwich With Onion Rings:



Eggs Benedict:



French Toast:



Fried Egg Sandwich:



Greek Omelet With Breakfast Potatoes:



Greek Scramble:



Guacamole Burger:



Herb Chicken Cobb Salad:



Herb Chicken Cobb Salad:



Hot Pastrami Sandwich:



Huevos Con Tortillas Scramble (tortillas not pictured):



Monterey Omelet:

[david13]

1. Very good looking. The chocolate chip waffle is all wrong tho',

that should be strawberries.
But excellent photography, composition, theme, etc. I think if we were to be invited over eat some of this stuff, then we could offer the best criticism.
dc

[surrealAmerican]

2. They're good, clear photos with nice lighting, but ...

... what kind of maniac puts white goop on a pastrami sandwich? And there is probably nothing you can do that will make that "Greek Scramble" look good. It might taste great, but it is an ugly-looking dish.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. The white goop was actually Dijon mustard...

...just looks white with the overhead lighting, I guess...

And yeah, the Greek scramble...as tasty as it is...probably won't make the final cut, because there is no way to make it look like anything other than a tasty scrambled mess.

:toast:

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

4. Well you know what they say;

Looks good enough to eat! I'm series! :)

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Eh, most of the shots make the food look scrumptious in spite of the limitations you had today.

The Greek scramble and the Guac burger, not so good, but most of the other stuff I'd order based on the pictures.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Again, given the conditions, you did splendidly!

I still highly suggest that the kitchen staff be trained on how to make food that looks worth eating.


A club sandwich served on its side? What the hell is that?

I have serious issues with that restaurant, judging by its food. It's like the chef gave up on life a few decades ago. "Piling" is not a sufficient presentation methodology.

I'd be happy to hire you as a photographer for something, though!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. Thanks...I was thinking about a comment you made yesterday:

Of course, the trick of the professional (that's you) is to convince the clients that doing something in which Priority Number One is to "do it as bone-dirt cheaply as possible" is rarely a wise option.

You're right, of course...client education is a big part of what I do. Some are open to it, others are not. The challenge is bringing a concept that is proven, that has worked with one of my other clients, to a new client, and convince them that the facts don't lie.

I have had restaurant owners tell me that customers came in, saying "I saw the Website and I had to come in for a meal." It's not wishful thinking on my part. And the clients who work with me are the ones who get my best results. The ones who don't still get the best I have to offer under the circumstances, but they remind me of that line in Lou Reed's song "The Blue Mask"...

"They tied his arms behind his back to teach him how to swim."

:toast:

[proteus_lives]

7. Hot Pastrami Sandwich for me!

And a side of onion rings!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Very well done, considering how fast you had to work,

and also considering that the restaurant tends to sort of put their food in untidy piles. I'm glad they saw the light about taking the parsley off the pancakes. The cobb salad pics are quite good; I'd order that. The egg dishes could be a little neater, and they really should arrange the sandwiches so the innards aren't leaking out. Could you persuade them to make up some plates especially for the photo shoot so the food could be arranged a little more artfully and you could spend more time taking the photos? That way the shadows could be softened a little.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. I shared pretty much all of the DU feedback I got in yesterday's thread...

...starting with the parsley, and how it didn't make sense to the majority of people who saw the photos to have parsley on a sweet...rather than savory...breakfast item like pancakes or waffles.

I had one egg dish I didn't include in this post because even though it was good food, it looked less appealing than the Greek Scramble. I don't even know what it was...it was some kind of other egg scramble. When it came from the kitchen there were to places where the eggs look "spilled" rather than "arranged," so I asked the waitress to re-arrange and clean up the plate for me.

The "little more time" thing is the biggest challenge. The "artistic eye" cannot, and will not, be rushed. Sometimes a dish will come from the kitchen and I'll immediately lock in on the perfect shot. Other times I'll rotate the plate and take a half dozen shots in search of the right one.

That's why, out of the 90-plus photos I took in the last two days, I'll use 20 or so for the first version of the Website.

:toast:

[kiva]

9. Nicely done,

There are, however, some food that shouldn't be photographed *Greek omelet, cough*. I was part of a group who created a cookbook, and the publishers insisted on having a photo of every dish - not a good idea. No one, repeat no one, can make Coq au Vin look good. :P

[noamnety]

12. looking good.

nitpicking here: are you going to go back and photoshop out some of the dripsplat marks on the plates and adjust the color balance?