first try at food

got a quick little assignment the other day for a mexican food restaurant.

here's my favorite shot guacamole dip

took it with my Canon 10D. Played with a couple different lenses, a 28-200mm and a 70-300mm.

any comments?

Does the gold tint bother you? Is it obvious that I sharpened the fresh fruit & veggies? too much? not enough?

"Does the gold tint bother you?" i dont think so cause i cant see a gold tint,

"Is it obvious that I sharpened the fresh fruit & veggies?" Now that you told me? yes, but just from looking at that you wouldnt no,

oh and the hat in the background - tad to much blur on it or was that how the origonal turned out?

I think it's a little too crowded. It's a nice pic but it doesn't have a main point of interest.
Food pics are difficult to get because you have to work the items a lot. The sombrero is a little too blurry and you may as well take it out. there's way too many onions and the plate has too much dip for a commercial pic. Also the tomatoes and cellery and (limes?) which should provide a maximum of "happy contrast" are too dull. Try water droplets.

One thing I learned is that food that is to be photographed is never to be eaten. Good pics of food are never taken from edible stuff. You know the icecream sundae pics? The caramel is actually motor oil. And spagetti and tomato sauce - the tomato sauce is actually red paint.

Anyway - what I would do is this:

Buy a spray on, silicon based shine polish. The ones they use for cleaning/shining dashboards and steeringwheels. There's some with wax - those are not good - silicon provides good natural shine and provides good adherence for water droplets - rub it in the tomatoes and limes and avocadoes and then spray on water...you'll see how nice the droplets stick to the surfaces...

Also I say get rid of a lot of redundant items - the onions - just leave one. A lot of people don't like the smell of onion and it's not good policy to force them to remember they won't be able to kiss their wifes if they eat "just the salad" Also have the chef cut larger pieces of foodstuffs for the actual plate and make the dip/sauce more sticky - and colorful - it doesn't have to be edible....

If you really want to include a sombrero I say just cut the top and replace it with the food bowl - and use the borders for the veggies...and take a wider shot.

Of course this all depends on the budget... if they're gonna snatch the plate and serve to someone when you're done taking pics....they should be glad with any kind of photo

hope it's helpful

*edit= please don't get me wrong - it's a very nice pic. I only figured I'd tell you what I would do in your stead... .

Not too shabby

cool - I was wondering how they got those water droplets to work...

it was a quick shoot, only 45 minutes with little to no budget for this project. Kind of just helping out a buddy - lots of back scratching in vegas, know what I mean... I'll get a good dinner out of it next week. mmm... Carne Asada Burrito! Hell yeah!

lol - lots of backscratching here too - must be the food:D
Man I hate burritos....I mean I love to eat them - only later there's hell to pay hihi