Valadilene's Commerical work

[Valadilene]

I'm trying to get into food photography, there are so many tricks that its hard to remember them all! here's my first try with food photography. I didn't get paid for this, its just me messin around

[purplerose]

Looks good.

[carolupus]

I like it a lot. very clean and yummy

[Gentile]

*drool* omg let me eat it!

[ivy'sgrandkid]

could be an ad for the chocolate line! I hate hersheys but damn you made this look yummy! would you mind sharing how you lit the subject?

[Valadilene]

sure! it was an interesting setup requiring me to hold a flash, a reflector, and a wireless release in one hand.

i set up the chocolate and the camera, then I stood behind and to the right of the subject about 4 feet away.. and bounced the flash off of a piece of foam core board. to give a little more detail, I also had a shot where i lit it from more above, more diffused, and I layer masked in some detail in the almonds and the leaves. I actually reworked the photo to soften the shadows and open up the dark area under the leaning bar. Ill post that one later.

In the mean time- here are some more shots that I took in my kitchen.. my lighting included a single flash unit, bed sheet diffuser (or like 8 layers of that press-and-seal saran wrap stuff held in front of the flash) and a piece of foam core board. (and rearranging the entire kitchen, much to my mother's dismay)
The Raspberries are shot with available light (overhead flourescents)..which is funny, because i shot it with flash for a 1/2 hour then used the available light ones.. guess thats how you learn!
The pineapple is the only one that has any serious photoshop.. i shot the background and the pineapple separate, didn't get the idea for the background till the pineapple was back in the can ><. Tell me what you think!










If you can't tell...I had raspberries and I wanted to get alot of use out of a three dollar box of fruit..then I ate them.

[Gentile]

I absolutely love the first one. I don't even like raspberries and they look yummy!

[purplerose]

Keep it up! Last one is a treat.

[Valadilene]

Thanks guys! here's the rework of the chocolate bars.. what do you think, compared to the other one? Also, tell me if you see any weird spots.. the monitor i used wasn't calibrated correctly..

[Ment]

I think in the pineapple and the bread, the background is too disturbing and I don't really get why you put two raspberries behind the bread, it's not neccesary.

I love the angle of the last one of the raspberries, it's very original and really great contrast and colors.

[Valadilene]

the raspberries are to round out the composition of the bread picture. it would be too boring without something there, though I was thinking about toning down the color a bit..

as for the pineapple.. i had a plain white background.. and it was terribly boring.. I think sometimes its just a thing of preference =)

thanks for the comments!

[purplerose]

I'm not really feeling the reworking of the chocolate photo. The first one you had made them look more appealing. The contrast in the first one gave them more substance.

[Valadilene]

hmmm.. okay.. do the deep shadows bother you on the first version of it? I can always open up the shadows but also keep the contrast on the chocolate itself.

[electric utters (:::)]

I really like the image with the dish and raspberries, the colors are so bright and and the whole thing looks unique. I also like the pineapple with strawberries, the green background is great! Good job

[purplerose]

Originally Posted by Valadilene

hmmm.. okay.. do the deep shadows bother you on the first version of it?

Nope, but I do tend to lean toward darker photos sometimes.

[Valadilene]

Ill rework it again, open up the shadows just a tad, but keep the rest of it how it was before.. in the rework i posted, i changed up which picture i used as my background layer and which i masked in from. Ill switch it back again and see how it works. Thanks for the tips!

[Eponine]

I liked the color-scheme with more redish color in the chocolate, instead of the more lean towards yellow. If you could keep shadows open and detailed in the darker areas, and yet still tone down on the lightness on top, and watch out for the green leaves so they don't get too feint.
Nice work ! But keep experimenting!

[Valadilene]

alright, I know ive been out for awhile, been real busy.. so ive got a big ol post for ya'll. Some stock stuff from the city of San antonio, sadly our Spurs lost against the Lakers.. dont EVEN get me started about Joey crawford's crappy calls.. ANYWAY! back to the photography...

[Valadilene]

And now, some more food.

[ukanfoff]

the salad with the pepper, there some unused space on top.
but i like the colors.

[purplerose]

I like the first picture with the Hemisfair Park, crop feels a bit tight on the right though.

Awesome compositions with the coffee and the peppers in the little bowls.

[Valadilene]

thanks!

yeah, the salad crop was a bit off, i see what you mean. I was also messing with the crop quite a bit for the hemisfair park one.. cropping is causing me a problem lately..heh

[Valadilene]

Picture for Ebay.. the DoF is a bit shallow, but this was a quickie.

[ShadeOfDawn]

I really REALLY want to eat that Croissant. It looks so perfectly flaky/fluffy and like it is deliciously awesome. Without even analyzing the photography i can tell you that this photograph works great on me.

Yumminess aside, i think the photograph is done very well. I love the red against the beige ish of the Croissant. The open Croissant was a great idea and shows how deliciously fluffy/flaky it is. Great choice. I like how there is a back wall and a floor to the shot, that helps focus the eye as the red doesnt drift into infinity. I like the blur and the play with left to right. The only crit i really have is that the Croissant goes out of the picture on the right.