Final Evaluation

Throughout this project I aimed to capture the essence of food within photography. As each task which I was asked to complete during this project was centred on food, this meant that I learned a lot about the photography of food and how it differs from the photography of other subject matters.

One thing which I explored within this project was how effective depth of field can be when photographing food as it allows you to create some very interesting images and it allows you to dictate exactly how much of the food you want to be seen by the viewer. In addition to this it also gives you the power to decide what the viewer notices first when looking at your photographs.

This project involved a session within the studio which for me, was one of the highlights of the project as I was very keen to get into the studio to see exactly how it works and also to seehow much if a difference shooting within a studio makes to photographs rather than shooting on location which is what I am more used to. I found this session within the studio very enjoyable and I am very pleased with the way the photographs I took during this time came out. This session in the studio has made me keen to work more within the studio in later projects.

This project also included a task in which I had 100% control over. This meant that I was able to plan each and every aspect of a photoshoot which I then carried out. I enjoyed this task a lot as it gave me the freedom to explore food photography in the best way I saw fit and for me, this was to use my imagination and creativity to make my own food which I would then photograph. I enjoyed this task a lot as it did not only involve photographic elements, it also involved creative and baking elements for the shoot which I decided to carry out. Along with the session within the studio, this is another of the highlights of this project.

This project reminded me of the importance of props within photography and it told me that it is okay to have other elements to the photograph besides the subject matter itself. Props are important within photography as they can add interest to what might otherwise be a boring photograph.

As this project included studio wok and working with artificial lighting, this meant that I was required to use a light metre in order to get the right light setting on my camera. Before this project I had never experienced using a light metre before so this was something new to me and something which I had to learn to use. I first found this device a little tricky to use so I needed some help with this but I feel that with some practice, it will be another piece of equipment which I can pick up and use with ease just like my camera is to me now

With this project I feel that I did not manage my time as well as I could have done as I found that I revisited older tasks towards the end of the project as I still has some analysing to do for a few photographs. This meant that towards the end of the project I felt a little rushed and a little pushed for time. This is something which I will try to improve upon during the next project. I feel that this project was a success as I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of it, I learnt new skills such as how to use a light metre and finally because I am very happy with the way my photographs came out and I am ultimately very proud of the work which I produced. 

Final Prints

Here are the photographs which I chose to use as my final prints.

This is a photograph I took during my primary research and is a photograph of a plate of nachos which I was eating for my lunch on the day of shooting this photograph for this photograph I chose to focus in on one of the jalapeno slices which topped the nachos. With this photograph I wanted the jalapeno slice to be the main focus this means I used a large aperture in order to create a shallow depth of field in order to make sure the jalapeno was the only part of the photograph while the rest of the image dropped out of focus. I feel that this gives the photograph a nice effect as it means that the viewers eye is drawn to just the jalapeno and is not distracted by other aspects of the photograph. Once I had taken this photograph I edited it in Photoshop by slightly altering the levels in order to make the colours within the image a little more vibrant. I chose to use this photograph as one of my final prints as although it was taken as part of my primary research it is one of the photographs which I am the most proud of as I like the vibrant colours which are present within this photograph and I am very happy with the way this photograph turned out.

This is one of the first photographs during my biscuit photoshoot and this photograph shows a selection of biscuits placed on a baking tray. When taking this photograph the inspiration was freshly baked cookies so in order to make the illusion of freshly baked cookies, I placed several ginger nut biscuits onto a baking tray to look as though they had just been pulled out of the oven. This photograph was taken within the kitchen studio which I feel was a fitting location for a photograph such as this one as biscuits which had actually just been baked would be found within a kitchen. The location is not visible within this photograph however, as I was within the kitchen studio, this means that the lighting provided for this shot was coming from natural lighting being let in by the nearby window. This lighting works well for this shot as it gives the photograph a nice natural and balance appearance. When taking this photograph I chose to use a shallow depth of field and focus on the biscuits towards the front of the baking tray therefore meaning that the remaining biscuits on the tray dropped out of focus. I like the effect that this has as it means that as a viewer, your attention is first drawn to the biscuit in the foreground of the photograph rather than being distracted by other aspects of the photograph. Using a shallow depth of field also means that one specific focus point of the image has been made apparent. Once I had taken this photograph I put the image into Photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to give the photograph a warmer appearance to give the illusion of biscuits which have come straight from the oven other than this I did not alter the image. I chose to use this photograph as one of my final prints as I am very happy with the way this photograph turned out and I like the way it looks as though the biscuits have come straight out of the oven

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a selection of biscuits placed in a square biscuit tin. I feel that this photograph is simple yet effective as there is only one thing in the shot and that is what I intended the focus to be on which is the tin and its contents. This photograph was taken within the studio using studio lighting which is why the colours within this photograph are so crisp, clear and vibrant. I love how simple yet effective this photograph is and how the vibrant purple of the tin stands out so well from the plain white backdrop. In addition to this, I decided to take the photograph from the corner of the tin as I felt that the illusion of a diamond shaped tin would look a lot more attractive than a square tin which has a harsh straight line running across the front of the photograph. As with all of the previous images, I put this photograph into Photoshop and altered the levels slightly in order to make it stand out and catch the eye a little more. I chose to use this photograph as one of my final prints as it is one of the photographs which I am the most proud of out of all of the images which I have produced throughout this project and I also wanted to include a photograph in my final prints which was taken under artificial studio lights as this was not something I had experienced before this project.

This is one of the first photographs which I took during the photoshoot I did consisting of rice crispie pumpkin bites. This photograph shows a selection of rice crispie pumpkin bites which I had hand made just minutes before taking this photograph placed on a baking tray. I chose to take this photograph as this is what the batch of rice crispie pumpkins looked like right after I had finished making them as I had put them onto a baking try in order to let them cool and set in the fridge for a while. This photograph was taken right after taking the tray out of the fridge and I had placed the tray on the worktop by the window in my kitchen. This means that this photograph was lit using natural lighting which was let in from the window which was situated behind the rice crispie pumpkins. With this photograph I wanted to keep it simple, this is why I did not include a lot of props which could have potentially distracted from the subject of the image. In addition to this, to keep the focus on the intended point, I chose to use a shallow depth of field meaning that the focus on only of the front pumpkin while the rest drop out of focus. This means that as a viewer, your eye is not diverted to other aspects of the image. I chose to use this photograph as one of my final images as I am very happy with the aesthetics of this photograph and I love the way that only thr front most pumpkin is in focus while the other pumpkins drop more out of focus the further back they are set on the tray. I used this photograph as a final print as I am very proud of this print and it is one of my favourite images which I took during the entire project as I also enjoyed the creativity which I was able to express in the lead up to taking this photograph.

Final Posters

After I had completed the research which I carried out about posters for different food establishments it was time to create my own poster for my own food establishment. For this I chose to create two different posters advertising two different food establishments. Each of these posters has a very different and unique look to them and they do not share the same themes which I think is good as it adds variety to my work.

Here are the two posters which I created: 

This is the first poser which I designed and I think this is my favourite out of the two which I created. The main feature of this poster is one of my own photographs which I took of rice crispie bites made to look like small pumpkins which I made myself. I chose this as a theme of this poster as it is currently mid October meaning that it is almost Halloween and it is currently autumn and I wanted something which fit around this time of year. The photograph within this poster fills the entire page meaning it is the main focus of the poster. The image which I used consists of a small pile of rice crispie pumpkins which I took a photograph of using a shallow depth of field in order to make the front most pumpkin fully in focus while the others within the photograph are still visible yet thet have dropped out of focus. I like the effect that this has had when used within the poster as it means that the poster is not overwhelming and too in your face and it also means that information can also be added to the photograph. The information which I have added to this poster is quite minimal yet I think it is effective. In the top left hand corner of the poster I have put the name of my food establishment which is “The Pumpkin Patch” which I feel fits with the theme of the photograph and adds to the autumnal theme of the poster. The second piece of information within this poster is located within the bottom left hand corner and this contains a small slogan which says “Autumnal treats for all” which I feel would welcome people of all aged into this food establishment and under the slogan is the opening time of this food establishment which I feel is a very important factor when advertising a café or something of this nature. I decided to contain all of the information for this poster within the left hand side as the focus point of the photograph which I used is on the right and I did not want this to be covered by the information which is displayed. In order to create this poster, I used Photoshop and I did this by starting with an A3 sized document and dropped the image which I wanted to use onto this document and after this, I layered banners on the top to provide the backdrop for the text which I then layered on top of the banners. The banners which I used were found by doing a quick google image search and then altered slightly to my taste within Photoshop until I was happy with the way they looked. I feel that the detail which I put onto this poster adds to the Autumnal theme which I am very pleased with as it ties the whole poster together. I feel that this poster is effective as it is simple, yet eye catching and includes relevant information. I feel that the aspect of this poster which makes it the most eye catching is the vibrancy of the orange colour of the pumpkins as this really draws you into the poster for you then to look a little closer and read the information which is featured within. Overall I am very happy with this poster which I have created.

This is the second poster which I created for a food establishment and this time it focus’ around the theme of biscuits and cookies. This poster shows a selection of photographs of cookies which were shot both within the kitchen studio and the photography studio. To create these images I used both deep and shallow depths of field and I included a variety of photographs within this poster. This poster consists of six images arranged in three rows of two photographs in order to fill the poster. This poster like the last, has minimal information but I feel that it has all of the relevant information which it needs. However, in order to improve this poster, I could have included an extra section which could possibly include a special offer which would potentially draw more people towards the bakery in which is advertised. The information which is featured within the poster includes the name of the establishment which is “Smart Cookie Bakery” which I thought was nice and sweet in order to go along with the theme of the cookies within the poster. In addition to this the opening times of the bakery are located within the poster as well as a contact number. I feel that all of this information is important information to have on a poster of this nature. The text within this poster is contained within a boarder which I found though doing a quick google image search and I fell in love with the flowing floral design of it and also the mint bow was a nice touch I felt as it adds an element of class to the poster which I feel makes it look like the poster is advertising quite an up market bakery. the font I used for the name of the establishment is curly and flowing which I feel fits in with the curly and floral nature of the banner which I used so these pair together nicely and ties the poster together nicely however I chose to use a block font for the opening times and contact number as I wanted these details to be very easily read as these are very important factors of the information which is located on this poster. This poster is different to the last as although this was also created on an A3 sheet, I chose to design this poster in portrait rather than landscape as I felt portrait fir this type of poster better than a landscape format would have done. I feel that this poster is effective as although the information is minimal, it is relevant and in addition to this, the poster is also eye catching as the bright colour of the biscuits catch the viewers eye and draws them into the poster itself as I feel that the colours which I have used work well together. Overall I am happy with the way this poster has turned out although I do slightly favour the previous poster as that one has a clear theme of “Autumn” whereas this one does not.

Poster research

For this task I was ask to research posters which feature photographs of food within them. Doing this research meant that I am prepare for when I design my own food based poster later on. This research enabled me to get an idea of what posters for food establishments look like and how they can be laid out. This is useful information to have as I will be designing and creating my own poster for a food establishment and I needed to get an idea of how posters of this nature were set out and what proves to be the most effective when designing a food based poster. Here are some of the posters which I came across which I foun interesting.

 This is the first poster which I am including in this research and it is a poster advertising for food to be donated at a food bank. This poster shows a photograph of a cob or corn being opened with a tin opening key alongside the slogan “yes we also accept fresh food donations” and below that is a little information about the food bank, where it is located and a website to visit for more information. I feel that this poster is effective as the first thing that catches your eye is the cob of corn being opened in an unconventional way. I feel that the photograph used within this poster I very powerful as it combines the idea of both fresh food as well as tinned food within the same image. This photograph is basically saying that most people assume that the only food which can be donated to all food banks is that of a tinned nature as this lasts a lot longer and can be preserved better however this food bank will also accept fresh food in addition to the tinned goods which they receive. In addition to this I feel that the design of this poster is good as it is simple yet effective. The photograph and the text are set on a neutral background meaning that the poster is not distracting and straight to the point. The main bulk of the information is enclosed within a bar at the bottom of the poster meaning it is out of the way and is only noticed in its full capacity when you stop to read the poster itself while the striking photograph and the short and to the point caption are big, bulky and eye catching. The bulky font used for the caption makes the text stand out and it makes you look at the poster a little closer, drawing you in to read more and find out more about what the poster is advertising.

This is another poster which I found whilst doing research on this subject. This poster is advertising a two for one offer on Tuesdays at an Indian restaurant. This poster displays a photograph of spices and ingredients which are traditionally used within Indian cuisine which fits very well with the theme of the poster as the poster is advertising an Indian restaurant. With this poster the photograph takes a side line and is not the most important feature as the deal which is being advertised is the main feature of this poster. The main portion of this poster is made of the large white section which has been filled with writing. The writing within this section includes the restaurant’s name, the offer which is being advertised, the terms and conditions of the offer and also various ways in which you can contact the restaurant and keep up with the restaurant on social media. I feel that this poster works well as although there is quite a lot of writing within this poster it is not overwhelming as the size of the font makes a big difference as to what the eye is drawn to first. This means that the deal which is being offered is in the largest font in order to catch the viewers eye to draw the viewer into the poster. Once the viewer is looking at the poster the next thing you see is the name of the restaurant, this is important as if you are interesting in partaking with the offer which is available, you are going to need to know where the offer is taking place. After this, you see the small print which includes the terms and conditions. This part of the poster is written in a smaller font as it if quite a lot of information which you can choose to read to gain more information about the offer but it is not the first thing which should be seen when viewing the poster. In addition to this, it is great that there are a lot of ways in which you can contact the restaurant if the viewer was to have any questions about the offer or any other general inquiries. Overall I feel that this is a very successful and effective poster.

This is another poster which I found whilst doing research on this subject. This poster is advertising dark chocolate Reese’s peanut butter cups. This poster has very minimal information as it is simply advertising a product and a lot of information is not necessary for the type of poster which this is. The only text which is present within this poster is the name of the product and a short slogan which says “do not deny your dark side” which has a double meaning of “don’t deny your dark side” meaning the dark and mysterious side to a persons personality and also because the product in question is a dark chocolate snack. Along with this text, this poster shows an image of two of the peanut butter cups one of which is whole and the other has a bite taken out of it. This is a good idea as it shows both what the product looks like whole and it also shows what the inside of the product looks like. This poster is simple and quite minimal however I feel like It serves a purpose and is very effective

This is another poster which I found whilst doing research on this subject. This poster is advertising subway and it simply shows a sandwich which has been made within subway. This poster contains minimal information but I feel that the information which it does include is enough to advertise this fast food chain as the iconic logo is displayed towards the bottom of the poster. This poster also give a location of one of the stores so that the viewers of this poster know where to find their nearest store which is very useful for a poster like this. In addition to this, the poster contains the slogan “every sandwich tells a story” which is trademarked to the subway company. This slogan is very effective as it is short and snappy and it suggests more than it actually says. As subway is the sandwich shop in which you can create the sandwich which you want to eat, it means that no two sandwiches need to be identical so by saying “every sandwich tells a story” it suggests that the story is that of the consumer and as with every single person, their story of who they are is unique to them, as is their subway sandwich. This poster features a photograph of a subway sandwich in the centre of the page which in itself looks very appetising however this is not the only thing which draws your attention to the photograph as the design of the poster contains a lot of very strong leading lines which all point into the centre of the poster where the sandwich is this means that even if you did not instinctively look at the sandwich in the middle of the poster first, the nature of leading lines means that the sandwich is then what grabs your attention. I feel that this is a very effective poster.

This is another poster which I found whilst doing research on this subject. This poster is advertising a week long even showcasing Thai restaurants. This poster features a plain red background with a strip of photographs from the Thai restaurants along the centre of the poster with information above and below this. In the top portion of this poster, in large font is written “Thai restaurant week” which is what immediately draws your eye to this poster as the contrast of the white on red background makes it stand out and in addition to this the bold font grabs the viewers eye right away. The lower half of the poster contains much more information about this event including what will be happening during this week and at the very bottom of the poster there are contact details which are very useful. I think that this is a very good poster as it is simple and sleek yet it also contains a lot of information without being too overwhelming.

Food For Thought

Planning:

For the food for thought task I have been asked to plan and carry out my own food based photo shoot. As it is October and therefore close to Halloween, I have decided to make some Halloween themed rice crispy bites in the shape of small orange pumpkins and take photographs of them. I have chosen this to photograph as I feel that it is something a little bit different and as it is not something which is store bought, it adds some originality to the photoshoot. In addition to this, I have themed my shoot around the current time of year to add a little more interest to the photoshoot. For this photoshoot, as I plan on shooting the images not too long after I have made the food in which I will photograph, I plan on taking these photographs within the same location as where they were made so this would be in my kitchen at home. I have chosen my kitchen to take these photographs as I plan on taking them during the day and the large window in my kitchen means that a lot of natural light is allowed into the kitchen making for well lit photographs with shadowed areas also if I wish to have a slightly darker setting with softer lighting. I plan on making this photoshoot a still life shoot meaning I will gather some props for my images but I will not need and models for my shoot. As far as props go, I plan on keeping it simple and keeping the focus on the food itself. The type of props which I intend to use include general kitchen equipment such as a baking tray, chopping boards, small plates and maybe some other small pieces like this which I feel would work well. In addition to this I may use some pieces of fabric to style my shot and add a little bit of added interest to my images. For this shoot I do not think that I will need any additional equipment other than my camera itself. As this is a still life shoot, I may require some close up shots for which I may use my macro lens adapters in order to get a more close up shot but this is something I will decide at the time of shooting. As far as costs go for this shoot, there will be some initial cost as I am planning to make the food in which I am photographing so I will first need to buy the ingredients. I will be buying the ingredients from my local shop so I do not need to worry about travel expenses but I will need to buy the rice crispies, marshmallows, food colouring and some Haribos in order to pick out the green gummy bears to create the stork of the pumpkins. The cost of all of this should not be too expensive as these are quite cheap ingredients and I am guessing the price of all of this will be around the five pound mark. This is the only cost involved with this shoot making the cost of this shoot just five pounds.

Risk Assessment:

Photographs:

For this shoot I decided to photograph some rice crispy bites made to resemble small pumpkins which I made myself. I decided to do this as I felt the idea was unique, original and showed my creative side. This was something I wanted to do as I did not want the idea of my shoot being replicated so by photographing something which I had created myself, it eliminated this risk. Before shooting my images I first had to create the pumpkin rice crispy bites and this was easily done by combining rice crispies, melted marshmallows and some orange food colouring then rolling small amounts of the mixture into small balls before topping with a green gummy bear to resemble the stork of the pumpkin. I was happy with the way these rice crispy pumpkins looked however they did not look perfect but I feel that this added to their charm as it made them look home made which was the feel I was going for with this photoshoot. Once the rice crispy pumpkins had been created, it was then time to photograph them. To do this I relied on the natural lighting which was available within my kitchen and used a few props in order to style my images but relied on the food itself to be the main focus of my images as this was the most important thing to photograph. As I had quite a lot of these small rice crispy pumpkins, this meant that I was able to choose how many I included within the shot at any time. With this in mind it meant that some shots include only one or two of the treats however some of the other shots show many more to the point where they fill the entire shot. When planning this shoot, I was a little concerned that it would not go to plan as it was something I did not yet know what it looked like as I was yet to create it however I am happy with the way this shoot turned out and I am happy with the images which I gained from this photoshoot.

Here are the photographs which I took during this photoshoot:

Here is a closer look at some of my favourite photographs from this photoshoot:

This is one of the first photographs which I took during this photoshoot and it shows a selection of rice crispie pumpkin bites placed on a baking tray. I chose to take this photograph as this is what the batch of rice crispie pumpkins looked like right after I had finished making them as I had put them onto a baking try in order to let them cool and set in the fridge for a while. This photograph was taken right after taking the tray out of the fridge and I had placed the tray on the worktop by the window in my kitchen. This means that this photograph was lit using natural lighting which was let in from the window which was situated behind the rice crispie pumpkins. With this photograph I wanted to keep it simple, this is why I did not include a lot of props which could have potentially distracted from the subject of the image. In addition to this, to keep the focus on the intended point, I chose to use a shallow depth of field meaning that the focus on only of the front pumpkin while the rest drop out of focus. This means that as a viewer, your eye is not diverted to other aspects of the image. 

This photograph is very similar to the last in that it was taken within the same location at the same time and I did not move anything when setting up this shot. For this shot I left everything as it was and chose to take a close up shot of the pumpkin which was closest to the camera. As I used a shallow depth of field and this is a close up shot, it means that the front pumpkin is in focus while the rest of them drop out of focus and also fill the background of the image giving an overriding orange colour to the image which I feel fits well with the autumnal theme which I was going for with this shoot. When editing this image I put it into photoshop in order to slightly alter the levels to make the colours pop a little more. I did not feel that this image needed and additional editing as I was happy with the image as it was.

For this photograph I chose to just take one of the pumpkins and place it onto a pale golden coloured piece of fabric which I then crumpled slightly around the pumpkin in order to add a little texture and detail to the photograph. For this photograph I chose to only use one pumpkin as I didn’t want to overload the photograph with information which the viewer then has to take in, I wanted to keep it simple yet effective which I was I feel I achieved with this photograph. The lighting for this photograph is provided by natural lighting which was let in from a window located behind the pumpkin and this is evident by the way the light hits the folds of the fabric. With this photograph, I like the contrast of textures as the rice crispie pumpkin has a very uneven texture while the folds of the fabric create a smooth, silky and flowing texture which provides a nice contrast to keep the photograph interesting yet remaining simple. Once I had taken this photograph I put it into photoshop and changed the levels slightly in order to bring out the orange of the pumpkin to make it catch the eye slightly more.

For this photograph I used the same piece of fabric as the backdrop of this image but this time I smoothed it out in order to create a smooth and even background. This photograph shows two pumpkins, one placed slightly in front of the other and using a shallow depth of field I focused on the front pumpkin making the back one drop out of focus keeping the viewers eye predominantly on the pumpkin in the foreground of the photograph. As with the other photographs from this shoot, this photograph was lit using natural lighting which provides a nice even lighting for the shot however, as the lighting was quite bright. It meant that it washed out the golden colour of the fabric which I used as the backdrop. Ideally I wanted to keep this golden tone in order to add to the autumnal theme of the image however the yellow tone was lost creating a white backdrop which is crisp and clean however it does not add to the autumnal theme which I wanted. Once I had taken this photograph I put it into photoshop in order to change the levels slightly. 

For this photograph I used an orange carrier bag which I found to form the backdrop of the image. This image shows a single pumpkin in the centre of the orange carrier bag and was intended to have an autumnal look to the image, however it did not go how I thought it would have done. In theory the orange of the carrier bag was supposed to add to the autumnal theme of the shoot however it turned out that it made the image look too busy as there is quite a lot going on with one colour covering each section of the photograph. This photograph was lit by natural lighting being let in by the window behind the pumpkin and I also chose to use the flash on my camera in order to illuminate the pumpkin slightly more to make it stand out from the carrier bag. This also did not go to plan as the flash has been reflected off of the pumpkin itself making it a little too bright. After taking this photograph I put it into photoshop in order to change the levels to try make the photograph more appealing however, even after attempting to edit this photograph, I am still not happy with it and I think that the other photographs from this shoot are a lot better.

For this photograph I chose to take a selection of the pumpkins and place them onto a cake board and put them into a pile in order to resemble a pike of pumpkins which could be found at a pumpkin patch or something similar. The lighting for this photograph was provided by natural lighting which was let in from the window which was situated towards the left of this photograph. This is made evident by the left side of the pumpkin pile being well let while the right is in shadow. This shows that lighting is only coming from one side rather than from both sides. When taking this photograph I decided to use a small aperture, creating a large depth of field meaning that each of the pumpkins is in focus and the entire pile is clear and visible. After taking this photograph, I put it into photoshop in order to alter the levels slightly to make the orange of the pumpkins stand out a little more and make the photograph a little more eye catching than it was before. 

This is another shot taken immediately after the last. This photograph shows the same pile of pumpkins but this time I chose to take a close up of the pumpkin which was situated on the corner of the pile. As I wanted a close up of the one pumpkin, I chose to use a shallow depth of field so that the one pumpkin was in focus while the rest dropped out of focus keeping the focus on just the pumpkin in the foreground of the photograph. As this photograph was taken immediately after the previous one, this means that the lighting is the same as before and was provided by natural lighting let in by the window situated to the left of the photograph. I feel that the lighting for this photograph works well as it makes the orange colour of the pumpkins nice and bright and stand our from the neutral backdrop. After I had taken this photograph I put it into Photoshop and adjusted the levels very slightly in order to make the colours pop a little bit more to make the photograph a bit more eye catching than it already was.

This photograph shows a birds eye view of one of the pumpkins which has been placed onto a wooden cake board. I chose to take this photograph from this angle as I thought it would be slightly different to the other images with I have taken within this shoot and changing the angle of the photograph makes it a little more interesting than if I had kept the angle the same throughout the entire photoshoot. As with all of the other photographs within this shoot, the location of this photograph is my kitchen meaning that the lighting was provided by the large window however with this photograph I chose to use the flash on my camera as the angle which I was taking the photograph from meant that I was blocking some of the light from hitting the pumpkin so I used the flash on my camera to add a little more light to the image and brighten it up a bit which I feel works well as the orange of the pumpkin is nice and vibrant within this photograph. Once I had taken this photograph, I put it into Photoshop and changed the levels slightly in order to add a little more depth to the image. 

This is another photograph which I took using all of the rice crispie pumpkins which I created. This time I decided to place them all together in rows and took a photograph in which multiple pumpkins fall of the edge of the photograph meaning that the pumpkins fill the entire photograph and this gives the illusion that there are a lot more pumpkins here than there actually are as the photograph only shows 9 pumpkins but this photograph looks as though it is quite a close up shot of a large batch of these pumpkins which was not the case. The lighting for this photograph was once again provided by the natural lighting let in from the large window towards to left of the photograph however because of the time in which I took this photograph, I began losing light as it started to later into the evening this means that the lighting within this photograph is not as bright or vibrant as the other photographs. When taking this photograph I used quite a shallow depth of field meaning that only the pumpkins which I focused on are in focus while the rest drop out of focus however the out of focus pumpkins are not too out of focus as you can still make out what they are but they are out of focus enough so that they don’t cause a distraction to the rest of the photograph. When focusing my camera I chose to focus on the second row of pumpkins as I felt that this would add a little bit of interest to the photograph rather than always focusing on the item which is in the foreground of the image. After taking this photograph I put it into Photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to try and brighten up the image however the lack of lighting within the image is still noticeable but I have grown to like this look as I feel that the dark sections of the photograph add warmth and depth.

Sunday Dinner

For this task I was asked to photograph “Sunday dinner” and produce at least 5 colour images of this meal. For this task, as I do not tend to have a traditional roast as Sunday dinner very often, I instead photographed the main meal which I had on Sunday which was steak, chips and onion rings with a couple of slices of buttered bread on the side. For this task I photographed this meal from a few different angles in order to capture the best shots of this meal. Here are the photographs which I took during this shoot.

 This is the first photograph I took for this task and it shows a general shot of the food which I was photographing. This photograph shows each component of the meal including the steak, chips, onion rings, buttered bread and some rings on onion also. This photograph was taken within my kitchen right after the food had been put onto the plate so this means that the lighting for this photograph was provided by harsh and bright artificial lighting. This lighting is not ideal as it is far too harsh and does not make the food look appetising. A more yellow based light would improve this photograph as it would bring out the golden tones in the chips and onion rings more. When taking this photograph I used quite a shallow depth of field in order to make the food in the foreground such as the chips and the onion rings in focus and the food in the background such as the steak drop out of focus. Once I had taken this photograph, I put it into Photoshop and changed the levels slightly in order to try to bring the harshness of the lighting down a little however the lighting within this image is still a bit too harsh.

 This is another photograph which I took for this shoot and is a close up shot of the steak topped with a ring of onion. I chose to take this close up shot in order to show the piece of steak off on its own without being distracted away from it by other food items on the plate. When taking this photograph I used a shallow depth of field and focused on the far side of the ring of the onion and the side of the steak which is the furthest away from the camera. I did this as I thought it would be slightly different to focus on the background more than the foreground for a change as when taking photographs I usually focus on the foreground rather than the background. This photograph was taken at the same time as the last one meaning that this was also taken within my kitchen under bright, harsh artificial lighting which is not ideal for this photograph. After I had taken this photograph, I put it into Photoshop and altered the levels in order to try and tone down the harshness of the lighting a little.

 This is another photograph which I took for this shoot and is a close up shot of a slice of buttered read with a couple of rings of onion towards the right of the photograph. For this photograph, I used a shallow depth of field and focused on the middle of the shot meaning that the far side of the bread is in focus while the rest of the photograph such as the near side of the bread and the rings of onion have dropped out of focus. I like the effect this has had on the photograph as it means that the eye is only drawn to one part of the photograph and is not distracted by other items and it means that the photograph is not too busy. Once again, the location for this image is within my kitchen under harsh bright artificial lighting. This was the only lighting I had available to me at this time as it was dark outside at the time meaning there was no natural light available to use and I did not have access to any alternative artificial lighting so I had to make the best of what I had available. After I had taken this photograph, I put it into Photoshop and altered the levels slightly in order to try reduce the harshness of the lighting and to bring out the yellow colour of the butter.

 This is another photograph which I took for this shoot and is a close up shot of the rings of onion which topped my meal. With this photograph I wanted the onion to be the main focus but not the only thing featured within the photograph as I wanted to get the idea of a full meal across with this photograph. So to do this, I placed the onion on top of the steak and chips so the onion would be in the foreground with the steak and chips in the background of the image and I used a large aperture to create a shallow depth of field meaning that I could focus on only the onion allowing the steak and chips to drop out of focus slightly. This photograph, like the others was taken under harsh artificial lighting with my kitchen while I had no access to alternative lighting. I also put this photograph into Photoshop and attempted to bring the harshness of the lighting down a bit and to add more interest to the image by changing the levels slightly.

 This is the final photograph I took from this shoot and it is probably my favourite from this shoot although it is not perfect. This photograph shows a selection of onion rings piles on top of each other and using a shallow depth of field I focused on the onion ring which is located in the middle of the photograph as I felt that this was the most appealing onion ring to focus on. This photograph is my favourite from this shoot as I like the golden colour of the onion rings as I think it makes them look quite appetising. This photograph was taken within my kitchen under harsh bright artificial lighting which is not ideal for this photograph so once I had taken this photograph I put it into Photoshop and altered the levels in order to bring out the golden colour of the onion rings more and make them look more appealing.  

Task 2 - Oh Crumbs

For this task I was asked to bring in biscuits to photograph in a still life manor. This shoot was made up of two halves, with the first half of the shoot taking place in the kitchen studio relying mainly on natural lighting let in through the windows and the second half of the shoot taking part in the photography studio under studio lighting. For this shoot I brought in some props in order to style my images to make it look as though the biscuits which I was photographing fit in to the surrounding that they were in. Props are an important part of photography as they can compliment the item which you are photographing however they do need to be carefully selected or they can draw attention away from the subject of your photograph or they may not be relevant to the photograph. Here are the photographs which I took during this shoot. 

Here is a closer look at some of my favourite photographs from this shoot:

This is one of the first photographs during my biscuit photoshoot and this photograph shows a selection of biscuits placed on a baking tray. When taking this photograph the inspiration was freshly baked cookies so in order to make the illusion of freshly baked cookies, I placed several ginger nut biscuits onto a baking tray to look as though they had just been pulled out of the oven. This photograph was taken within the kitchen studio which I feel was a fitting location for a photograph such as this one as biscuits which had actually just been baked would be found within a kitchen. The location is not visible within this photograph however, as I was within the kitchen studio, this means that the lighting provided for this shot was coming from natural lighting being let in by the nearby window. This lighting works well for this shot as it gives the photograph a nice natural and balance appearance. When taking this photograph I chose to use a shallow depth of field and focus on the biscuits towards the front of the baking tray therefore meaning that the remaining biscuits on the tray dropped out of focus. I like the effect that this has as it means that as a viewer, your attention is first drawn to the biscuit in the foreground of the photograph rather than being distracted by other aspects of the photograph. Using a shallow depth of field also means that one specific focus point of the image has been made apparent. Once I had taken this photograph I put the image into Photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to give the photograph a warmer appearance to give the illusion of biscuits which have come straight from the oven other than this I did not alter the image. I am happy with the way this photograph turned out.

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of the same ginger nut biscuits as seen before, however this time I grouped some of the biscuits together and took a close up shot. I decided to take a close up shot of these biscuits as I thought it would be interesting to capture the cracks within the biscuits themselves as I felt that this was an interesting and unique quality that each of the biscuits had. When taking this photograph, I again used a shallow depth of field, this time I used it to emphasise the cracks within the biscuits. By using a shallow depth of field and having only the front biscuits in focus, this meant that the cracks within the front biscuits are emphasised more as you cannot see those which are present within the other biscuits as clearly. This means that the photograph is to the point however it is not overwhelming and too in your face which I think adds a nice touch to the image. Again this photograph was taken within the kitchen studio meaning that the lighting provided was natural lighting provided by the nearby window. When editing this photograph, I again only changed the levels on order to enhance the warm tones within the image as I did not feel that this image needed any further editing. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is another photograph of a ginger nut biscuit. This time before photographing it, I decided to break the biscuit in half and slightly overlap one half with the other. With this photograph I intended to capture the texture of the inside of the biscuit after it had been broken as I wanted to show a less perfect view of the same biscuits which I had previously been photographing. When taking this photograph I used a macro lens in order to try to capture the detail of the uneven middle part of this biscuit. I used a macro lens for this as my standard lens was not focusing on the small details of the jagged edge where the biscuit had been broken where as a macro lens proved to work a lot better for this close up detail shot. The location for this photograph is also the studio kitchen meaning that once again it was natural lighting let in from the near by window which provided the lighting for this shot. As with the other images shown here, the only way in which I edited this photograph was to alter the levels slightly within Photoshop in order to give the biscuit a warm, more golden glow. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a collection of party ring biscuits placed on a golden coloured piece of fabric which I used in order to style this photograph. I wanted it to look as though the party rings were surrounded by the fabric so in order to do this, I laid the fabric flat, placed the party tings on top of it then pinched and scrunched the fabric around the biscuits in order to create the rippled effect of the fabric which you can see here. When taking this image, although I had created a mound in the fabric in the foreground of this photograph, I did not want this to be a distraction to the final image so using a shallow depth of field, I focused only on the biscuits meaning that the fabric in the foreground and background of the image drop out of focus making the biscuits within the mid-section of the photograph stand put and catch the eye the most.  This photograph was also taken within the kitchen studio meaning that again this the lighting for this photograph was provided by natural lighting. After taking this photograph I altered the levels quite dramatically within Photoshop in order to make the coloured icing on top of the biscuits be more vibrant and stand out more. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of tin full to the brim and beyond with an assortment of different biscuits. I like the way the biscuits in this photograph do not sit together perfectly and they are all kind of piled on top of each other in a disorderly fashion, I feel that this, along with the biscuit tin, gives this photograph a homely feel to it. When taking this photograph, I only wanted the tin of biscuits to be in focus so using a shallow depth of field I focused on the biscuits, blurring out the background. This photograph was again taken within the kitchen studio and the lighting was provided by natural lighting. This time however the lighting for this photograph was provided by the window which was located directly behind the subject of the image rather than a little way away. This means that the lighting in this photograph is a lot harsher than in some of the other photographs which I took within the same location. When editing this photograph I altered the levels in order to bring the brightness of the image down a little as the lighting on the day was very harsh.

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a selection of broken and crumbled biscuits all mixed together. I like this photograph as it displays a lot of texture from the broken pieces of biscuit as there are a lot of rough edged on display within this image. In addition to this, I also like the contrast between the light and dark biscuit pieces as this adds a lot more interest and depth to the photograph. This photograph was again taken within the kitchen studio but this time not in the direct light meaning that the lighting was softened as it was reflected off the walls and other surrounding object within the room I was in. the lighting for this photograph is even meaning it is appealing to look at without any overly bright or dark areas. Again, with this image, I put it into photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to make it look a little bit more appealing and to make the contrast of the light and dark colours more prominent. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a selection of biscuits placed in a square biscuit tin. I feel that this photograph is simple yet effective as there is only one thing in the shot and that is what I intended the focus to be on which is the tin and its contents. This photograph was taken within the studio using studio lighting which is why the colours within this photograph are so crisp, clear and vibrant. I love how simple yet effective this photograph is and how the vibrant purple of the tin stands out so well from the plain white backdrop. In addition to this, I decided to take the photograph from the corner of the tin as I felt that the illusion of a diamond shaped tin would look a lot more attractive than a square tin which has a harsh straight line running across the front of the photograph. As with all of the previous images, I put this photograph into Photoshop and altered the levels slightly in order to make it stand out and catch the eye a little more. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a selection of biscuits broken into pieces with crumbs surrounding them. This photograph was taken with the same intentions as a pervious image shown in that I wanted to capture the texture of the uneven surface of the broken biscuits. The difference with this image and the other similar one is that this photograph was taken in the studio under artificial studio lighting. The artificial studio lighting gave me more light and made it so I was able to see more of the texture within the cracks of the biscuits. In order to properly capture this texture, I took a close up shot using a macro lens and this allowed the camera to pick up the tiny details of the crumbs which would otherwise be out of focus. The brighter artificial lighting also made it easier to capture this texture as it illuminated the grooves in the cracks giving more depth to the texture. Just like with the other images, I put this photograph into Photoshop in order to alter the levels a little bit.

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a jar filled with chocolate topped biscuits on a plain white backdrop. I like the simplicity of this photograph as I feel that it is very self explanatory and speaks for itself in that what you see is what you get. There are no distractions from the subject within this photograph which I think makes for a nice image as you know what it is that you are supposed to be looking at and your eyes are not diverted to elsewhere within the image. This photograph was taken within the studio using a plain white backdrop and artificial studio lighting which combined make for a very clear and precise image. As the jar of biscuits is located right in the centre of the frame, this also draws you to look at the image. As with the other photographs, I put it into Photoshop in order to edit the levels and make it stand out more and make it more eye catching. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of the same jar which can be seen previously however this is just a close up shot of the top of the jar and is not strictly a photograph of biscuits however the biscuits can still be seen within the jar. This photograph, like the previous few, was taken within the studio under artificial studio lighting against a plain white background. The artificial studio lights and the plain white background make for a very crisp and clear photograph. I chose to take this close up photograph of the top of the jar as I found the purple line around the top of the jar very pretty and I thought it would be nice to focus on something which has a nice colour to it. In addition to this, the lines of the metal jar fastening lead the eye up and into the jar enforcing the fact that this is the main focal point of this photograph. Once again, like with all of the other photographs from this shoot, I put this photograph into Photoshop in order to alter the levels slightly to make the image stand out more and be more eye catching. I am very happy with the way this photograph turned out and like with the previous one, I love the simplicity of this photograph.

primary research

After I had completed my secondary research and gained an idea of what food photography is all about, I was then asked to go out into Bradford and take a few photographs of my own. In order to do this I went into some cafés in order to take photographs of the food which was available within these facilities. As the photographs were taken within the café environment, the location of the photographs is relevant to the subject and it means that the photographs are not disjointed with a somewhat random and irrelevant surrounding. Taking these photographs allowed me to get a feel for what food photography was about for myself. Taking my own photographs of food meant I was able to see first hand what settings, lighting arrangements and so on worked best for this type of photography. Here are the photographs which I took as part of of me primary research.

Here is a closer look at some of my favourite photographs from this shoot.

This is one of the first photographs I took as part of the photoshoot which I carried out for my research. The first place which I visited to gain material for my research was Starbucks. While in Starbucks I purchased a muffin and a drink in a take out cup in order to photograph. This photograph shows the muffin and the drink stood next to each other, side by side. This photograph was taken within the coffee shop itself which can be seen by the warm lighting and the wall which has been dropped out of focus in the background of the photograph. In order to achieve this photograph, I used a shallow depth of field to make sure that the muffin and the cup were both in focus while the background dropped out of focus. I wanted this to be the case as I wanted the main focus to be on the muffin and the cup. The lighting within this photograph is provided by a mixture of the artificial lighting which was present within Starbucks and natural lighting which was being let in through the near by window. The natural lighting let in by the window gives the photograph a nice balanced look while the artificial lighting gives off a slight yellow cast which I feel works well for the photograph as it gives the image a warm and comforting feel which I feel compliments the photograph. As I wanted the photograph to look warm and comforting, when editing this photograph, I simply altered the levels in order to enhance the warm tones within this photograph while still keeping it true to real life. 

This is another photograph I took within Starbucks as part of my research. This is another photograph of the same muffin as previously seen however this time I chose to photograph the muffin on its own without being accompanied by the cup. This photograph was taken immediately after the photograph previously shown meaning that the location and lighting situation remains the same as before. In this photograph, the natural lighting being let in from the window is more obvious as the right side of thie muffin is a little brighter than the left side as the window was on the right of me as I was taking this photograph. I feel that if the light being cast on the muffin was more even and not brighter on one side than the other, then this photograph would look a lot better than it does now. For this photograph, I used a shallow depth of field meaning that only the muffin itself is in focus while the rest of the shot drops out of focus. I did this to emphasize the fact that the muffin is the main focus point of the photograph and I did not want any other aspects of the photograph to cause a distraction to the viewer. When taking this photograph I wanted the muffin to be the most gripping part of the photograph and with the use of a shallow depth of field, I feel that I achieved this

This is another photograph which I took within Starbucks as part of my research. This is another photograph of the same muffin which can be seen in previous photographs. This time I chose to only photograph half of the muffin and take advantage of the rule of thirds. I intended for the subject of this photograph to be contained within the left hand third of this photograph which I think I achieved reasonably well as the subject is where I want it to be and it is lit well and in focus, however, the white section of the photograph on the right is a little distracting and it draws the eye away from the muffin which I intended to be the main subject matter. Had this whit section not have been there, I think that this would have been one of my favourite photographs from this research shoot as I love the way muffin is well lit by the window light and the background which is out of focus is dark. I feel that this makes the muffin stand out more than in the other photographs. When editing this photograph, all I did was edit the levels slightly in order to make the colours within the muffin slightly more vibrant and eye catching than before. I did not think that this photograph needed any further editing. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my research. After taking photographs in Starbucks, I went for lunch in Wetherspoons and decided to take some photographs of my lunch. As I had ordered nachos I thought that this would make for some nice photographs as there were some nice bright colours present with the green of the jalapenos and guacamole and the red of the salsa. When I saw these vibrant colours I thought that these would make for an interesting photograph so I decided to take a close up shot of the topping of the nachos. This photograph was taken inside Weatherspoons although the location of this photograph is not clear just by looking at the image itself and the lighting for this photograph was provided by natural lighting let in by skylights in the roof. This is made evident by the balanced, true to real life colour of the photograph and the reflection of the light present over the entirety of the plate of food. As this was a close up shot of one specific area of the food I wanted to get as much of it in focus as possible and I think I have achieved this within this photograph. Once I had taken this photograph I put it into Photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to make the green and red colours slightly more vibrant and make the overall image a little more eye catching.

This is another photograph which I took during my research. This is another photograph of the same plate of nachos as seen before. This time, instead of photographing a lot of the nacho topping, I chose to focus in on one of the jalapeno slices. As this photograph was taken at the same time as the previous one, it means that the lighting and the location remain the same as before. With this photograph I wanted the jalapeno slice to be the main focus this means I used a large aperture in order to create a shallow depth of field in order to make sure the jalapeno was the only part of the photograph while the rest of the image dropped out of focus. I feel that this gives the photograph a nice effect as it means that the viewers eye is drawn to just the jalapeno and is not distracted by other aspects of the photograph. Once I had taken this photograph I edited it in Photoshop by slightly altering the levels in order to make the colours within the image a little more vibrant. Overall I am very happy with the way this photograph turned out.

This is another photograph which I took as part of my research. This is a photograph of a flapjack slice which was purchased in the café located above the Waterstones book store. This photograph simply shows the flapjack placed on a plate next to a fork. When taking this photograph, I think I used the flash on my camera. This would explain the contrast between the brightness of the white plate and the darkness of the background as the light from the flash would have reflected off of the white plate. I like the effect this has had on the photograph as it makes the subject isolated making it the only thing within the photograph meaning the viewers attention cannot be diverted to other aspects of the image. When taking this photograph I used a shallow depth of field and focused on the corner of the flapjack which is closest to the camera. I did this because I wanted to capture the detail of the oats within the flapjack towards the front of it with the rest of it disappearing put of focus. I think this has a nice effect on the photograph and I am happy with the way It looks. When editing this photograph within Photoshop, I only altered the levels slightly as with each of the other photographs from this shoot. 

This is another photograph taken within the café above the Waterstones bookstore in Bradford. This is a photograph of the salt pots found on the tables within the café. When taking this photograph, I wanted the location of the photograph to be apparent but not overriding so in order to achieve this I decided to take the photograph in such a way that the background could be seen beyond the focus point of the image. In order to achieve my desired effect I used a shallow depth of field to make the salt pots in the foreground of the image sharply in focus while the background dropped out of focus. This means that the first thing you see is the salt pots which were intended to be the main focus point of the photograph however if you continue to look at this photograph and look beyond the salt pots, although out of focus, you can make out that this photograph was taken within a café environment which was the effect I was going for. When shooting this photograph, I decided to shoot in portrait rather than landscape like with the rest of my images as the salt pots were taller than they were wide and I didn’t want excess space at the edges of my photograph. In addition to this, by taking this photograph in portrait it allowed me to include the café in the background of the photograph. This photograph was lit mainly by natural light being let in by the window towards the left of the photograph. This can be seen as the light is being reflected off of the chromed lids of the salt pots. Again, like with the other photographs, I put this image into Photoshop and altered the levels slightly to make the image a little more eye catching