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Weekly Competition #126 - Favourite Food Competition

Competition Details
Closing Date: 06/12/2009
Judge: Hyram

Images of your favourite food or foods, which can be food in its raw state or cooked or as manufactured (if Mars bars are your favourite). A photograph of your favourite Italian, French or Mexican restaurant etc. is not what I am looking for. The key ingredient of the photograph must be food.
Winner
Competition Entries
Hyram
Posted 07/12/2009 - 01:02 Link
Thank you all for entering – a good selection of photos and a manageable number!

First – the usual disclaimer that what follows are just my personal thoughts and I hope that nobody will be upset and perhaps a few might agree with some of what I have said !

It has been interesting to see the variety of “Favourite Foods” ranging from food walking about to some succulent looking cooked dishes. As I had hoped – a variety of ideas in interpreting the theme. I have not tried food photography but I understand that it is not easy to do and the professionals resort to all sorts of cunning tricks!

As I do not know any of you personally (apart from randall85), I am of course assuming that you do all really like the food that you have submitted !


mattox – fish market cambodia

Fish – one of my favourites as well, although I have to say that these fish do not look particularly appetising ! I like the composition with the rows of fish disappearing into the distance, although I wonder if it might have been better to have the sharp focus on the front rows of fish ? I think I would have also opted for a slower shutter speed for greater DOF, given that f4.5 is fairly wide open. I might also have tinkered with the contrast in PS as well and one final thought – it might work well in black & white.



TOZZA27 – Fast Food !

Well the good news is that these snails are eating the bird food rather than your garden plants! Hopefully your favourite food is the culinary variety rather than the common garden snail ! But having checked out your occupation, anything is possible !

I do find the background very distracting, so think that I would be tempted to straighten up the bird feeder to the vertical and then go for a much tighter crop, since the image is all about the two snails feeding. Difficult lighting it would seem, as you have used ISO 800 f5.6 and infill flash. A ringflash would probably work well in this situation or quickly move the bird feeder into better light before the snails realised what was happening. Good lateral thinking – I had not expected snails to turn up.



John Riley – Bountiful Nature

I believe you, John – I like tomatoes as well ! Did you grow them ?

I like the composition and the range of colours. I can’t work out where it has been taken, perhaps indoors or inside a marquee at some sort of horticultural show ? Is there a hint of flash having been used on the edge of the barrow ? For me, tomatoes are all about sunshine and I think the one thing missing is a band of sunlight, which would add to the interest and provide the link between the sun and the ripening of the tomatoes.



kayster – Medium Raw

I see from your gallery that this is not your first attempt at food photography. This looks a very well prepared, cooked and presented meal sitting on a table where it looks as though a few glasses of wine will be served. Yum, yum.

I like the image and you’ve caught the glistening moistness of the meat very well. My main criticism is the distracting surroundings – I think that the plate either needs to be sitting cleanly in its own place setting or entirely on its own, preferably on a dark coloured background to set off the white plate. Lack of light has clearly been an issue. But I do like the dish and I am beginning to feel hungry so my compliments to the chef.



kiq – Desert Island

Definitely a fun entry and very well photographed. Hopefully you don’t just eat canapés like this: not very filling ! But maybe the Desert Island had nothing else to offer. I like the little slice of what looks like olive, providing a hat.

I am undecided about the crop and wonder whether a slightly tighter crop would be beneficial ? I like the way the foreground merges seamlessly into the background (or is it all foreground ?) but feel that it would be better as a different colour. I am guessing that it was taken using the Sigma 105 macro ? Overall I like it as a quirky, almost abstract image.



Dr Mhuni – Seafood

Seafood – definitely one of my favourites. That is seriously impressive seafood and not a brick in sight ! I really like this image. Excellent composition starting with a low down viewpoint, the object of the photograph immediately in the foreground but interest too in the background with customers and someone who is possibly the stallholder ? That appears to be a hurricane lamp providing the lighting for the stall and for the photograph ? It lends a very atmospheric quality. I get a real feel of Sri Lanka from this image. Excellent colour – very nice all round – I feel ready to buy some of the produce !



organicimagery – Sardines

Belinda B likes sardines – I don’t but won’t let that influence my views ! Shiny wet fish, aglow with silver, blue, green and red colours can make a very good picture although the lighting here makes the sardines look a bit drained of colour – perhaps the lighting was too harsh? I also think you might have achieved a better image by cropping the bottom of the photo more tightly.



piotrloza – Pretzel heart

A similar image to kiq’s – Desert Island, which is a good start. As with kiq, I hope these aren’t your favourite food (nice as they are), otherwise you must be as thin as a pretzel !

You’ve caught the crisp crunchiness very well and the yellow and brown tones; even a few grains of coarse sea salt ! Nice simple image, well photographed.



chas1uno – Buffet

What a spread ! Surely all of this food can’t be your favourite ! But maybe you are particularly fond of wedding buffets?

A colourful array of food but for me the photograph lacks a focal point. I guess it was taken to illustrate the spread on offer at the time and this version is effectively exactly as the original ? I think a crop is in order but having said that I don’t have a feel for what that crop should be. This is one of those occasions where you just need to experiment and see what looks best. Perhaps colour popping might be worth a try or possibly rearranging the food so that red was the predominant colour? Having said that, you may not have been in a position to start re-arranging the table! I think you set yourself a challenge getting a great photograph out of such an array – looks very tasty though.



Frogherder – Ducks

Or maybe it should be Duck herder? Nice plump looking potential dinners!

I like the ducks’ eye view and the two drakes in the front are great – nice sharp, beady glances and lovely plumage. Slightly spoilt as an image (as you will already know) by the ‘strays’ (third and fourth drakes in the background and a very popular lady duck thinking of exiting stage left. May be she guessed your choice of favourite food? Would also have been improved if the houses were upright!



GlynM – He’s Back!

I should really award you 1st Place for submitting a photograph that really cheered me up, when I saw it ! It is great to see Hipperty back again and looking so well ! He’s a chipper little fellow, isn’t he – although he doesn’t seem to be growing too fast on his carroty diet. High fibre, low fat – good stuff !

Nice composition and colours and very sharp. OK, so the rest of the kitchen creates a rather cluttered backdrop but I don’t suppose Hipperty cares when investigating dinner. An appealing photograph and a great title.



Davidtrout – Oranges and apples

You have captured the look of both these fruits beautifully. The orange peel is dimpled, roughish and shows that interesting difference in colour that you often see – one orange definitely orange, the other one much more yellow. The apples look grainy, acid, very crisp. The points of light reflected on each of the fruits are also nice. And you have also been honest, showing the scarring on the orange and what look like bruises on a couple of the apples. Nicely taken.



Prieni – Romanescu

I was convinced that you would enter one of your fish market photographs, so an abstract style vegetable shot turning up is quite a surprise !

I had to look up Romanescu – it looked as if it might be broccoli of some sort and, apparently, it is ‘fractal broccoli’ with these extraordinary swirling patterns. I also really like the way you have mounted it, like a piece of abstract art. Nice one.

I’m not sure about choosing this particular image for B&W conversion and would also like to see it in its original colour – light green, I think, which contrasts with our usual very dark green broccoli. Maybe a slight desaturation of the colour original would work well ? If you look at it long enough, it almost becomes hypnotic. Taken on the trusty Sigma 105 macro I assume ?



Ben76 – Chestnut

Beautiful clarity and colours. The dry, crackly, brown shiny leaves are very good, as is the fruit nestling in its white and green cocoon. I assume that flash was used which has resulted in some areas being just a shade too bright ? Maybe a slightly tighter crop would be beneficial ?



cardiff_gareth – Eaten Apple

Must have been tempting to eat the lot!

Nice detail on the flesh and peel and the stalk is good. Singing, clear colours too. But I don’t think it sits in its frame too comfortably. To my mind, it needs a bit more of the background (good choice of colour) on the left hand side, which would provide more balance to the whole.



Nathanever82 - Fresh Artichoke – Pinzimonio

This is an interesting image – very impressive for a 1.4 lens wide open, which gives it the unusual effect. The in-focus artichoke looks almost like a satellite in orbit and the soft, out of focus background brings lovely muted colours. A very satisfying end result. Sounds a nice dish.



Yollie - Tomatoe’s anyone

I love the idea of capturing ‘roly’ things (like little tomatoes) with chopsticks. Recipe for disaster for me so I would just use my fingers to gobble them up !

This is a seriously nice photo – crisp and very good colours. The expanse of very bright white to the left could perhaps have been cropped just a little, which would still have left the tomatoes in the right sort of place for an even nicer, more balanced composition.



JudithAnn – Yummy!

I knew this was one of yours the moment I saw it. You’ve been baking again !

The golden colour, texture and moist sugariness of the cake are brilliantly captured, as is the crinkly paper case. I think the topping could have been a little more in focus without losing the crumbly look of the cake. And ideally needs just a shade more width and height so the whole of both cakes is in the frame rather than just being cut off at the edges. Whatever it is in the background is also a bit distracting.

But very definitely very yummy!



Darlene – Cookies by the dozen !!!!!

More home cooking – very commendable ! Also looks very yummy. Thank heavens photos don’t contain calories.

Textures show up well and good colours. The middle cookie is nice and sharp but I feel a smaller aperture would have been beneficial to increase the depth of field. I am not too sure about the crop and think I would either zoom out quite a bit so the cookies are more framed by the bowl/table or cropped a lot tighter to really focus on the middle cookie.



Amoringello – Cocoa Dip

This could almost be ‘Death by Chocolate’. I am not sure how many glasses of inebriating liquid you had before you came up with this idea ! I do like it as an image, it has a classy feel to it and is very well taken but I find the number of objects in the shot and the two everyday objects (spatula and measuring cup) do tend to distract from the overall effect. Very sharp and well lit – most unusual.



Aiki – Today’s Dinner

Sorry to have caused problems with today’s routine ! Were the rest of the family sitting around eating, whilst you were setting up the tripod or did they all have to wait for you?

Nice and sharp and good colours but I think I would have tried a more square crop, cutting out the right hand side (including a bit of plate) to focus on the greenery and chicken (?) in sauce. Very tasty.



Mikew – Tomatoes and spaghetti
A satisfying image with a good plain background without any distractions. I like the crop. Nice and sharp, as one would expect from a DA 70 Ltd lens. Not so keen on the slightly over bright highlights on the tomatoes. But quite a novel idea – the ingredients rather than the finished dish – and the spaghetti certainly makes quite a striking frame for the tomatoes.



Doingthebobs - Pear
Luscious texture on the skin of this pear (Conference?) and colours are very well captured but unfortunate that the shadow effectively obliterates the top point. The background is also just a shade too dominant and would probably benefit from a larger aperture to throw it even more out of focus. I also think I would be tempted to crop just a sliver off the bottom to remove the leaf stalk, which has caught the light and is slightly distracting.



Womble – Hot Stuff
Taken at 23.00 (approx.) today and then entered just minutes before the deadline – hot stuff indeed !. A very colourful and crisp entry. Exactly the right crop and a good choice of background. I am not so keen on the overbright highlights on many of the specimens but despite that an interesting idea, well executed.



So now for the results and the special awards :

Dr. Mhuni’s entry came in fairly early on and remained my favourite to the end. I did stumble across the debate about the alternative version, but it is the composition that I particularly like (the same in both versions) and the fact that it tells a story !


1st Place – Dr. Mhuni - Seafood
The Greatly Coveted 2nd Place - Nathanever82 - Fresh Artichoke - Pinzimonio
3rd Place - Yollie - Tomatoes anyone


Highly Commended – Prieni – Romanescu
Highly Commended – Davidtrout – Oranges and Apples
Highly Commended – Mikew – Tomatoes and spaghetti


Most Appealing Photograph Award - GlynM – He’s Back!
Best Animal Performer – Hipperty!

Lateral Thinking Award – Amoringello – Cocoa Dip
Humour Award – kiq – Desert Island




So, over to Dr. Mhuni for Round 127 !
darlene
Posted 07/12/2009 - 01:40 Link
Thank you for the judgeing Hyram Well done...Congradulation to Dr Mhuni 1st. and 2nd 3rd....Can't wait for the next one...
Dr. Mhuni
Posted 07/12/2009 - 06:24 Link
Blimey! Thanks Hyram. Detailed and extremely prompt judging too. Exemplary!

I've got something in mind for next week, so I'll post this when I get the invitation to set the new comp.
Mhuni

500px
mikew
Posted 07/12/2009 - 07:20 Link
Thanks Hyram for good prompt judging with excellent comments throughout - and congratulations to Dr Mhuni for a good strong winner.

Mike
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You can see some of my shots at my Flickr account.
GlynM
Posted 07/12/2009 - 08:46 Link
Once again thank you very much for picking such a good subject and the excellent judging.

Hipperty is chuffed that he cheered you up and got a mention.

Congratulations to everyone for such a good set of submissions.

Glyn
davidtrout
Posted 07/12/2009 - 08:56 Link
Thanks Hyram, excellent judging and a good choice of podium awards. Congratulations to Dr Mhuni who is always a strong contender in these competitions. Thanks for my commended.
david
johnriley
Posted 07/12/2009 - 09:50 Link
Excellent early judging, I'm delighted that we're back on track!

Now with all those food images in my mind, I'm off to the kitchen....
Best regards, John
nathanever82
Posted 07/12/2009 - 11:00 Link
Congratulations to Dr. Mhuni the deserved winner,
and thank you so much Hyram for the great judging, and thorough examination of all the photos submintted. Well done to all!
'Between the lights there is always a shadow'

www.nathanservi.com & PPG
Prieni
Posted 07/12/2009 - 12:15 Link
Well done Hyram for swift and competent judging. Congratulations to Dr. (Frankenstein) Mhuni for a mouthwatering entry.
Quote:

I was convinced that you would enter one of your fish market photographs, so an abstract style vegetable shot turning up is quite a surprise !

Can't remember what you are referring to... Did I ever post fish market shots here? I do have a few, though...

Quote:

I had to look up Romanescu – it looked as if it might be broccoli of some sort and, apparently, it is ‘fractal broccoli’ with these extraordinary swirling patterns. I also really like the way you have mounted it, like a piece of abstract art. Nice one.

Thanks. I did show a Romanescu shot in this thread already, so thought you had seen it.

Quote:

I’m not sure about choosing this particular image for B&W conversion and would also like to see it in its original colour – light green, I think, which contrasts with our usual very dark green broccoli. Maybe a slight desaturation of the colour original would work well ? If you look at it long enough, it almost becomes hypnotic. Taken on the trusty Sigma 105 macro I assume ?

Here is a colour version of (I think) the same shot (at least a similar one). It is light green, a bit less saturated as this one.
Seems I cannot post an image here, I uploaded it to the main gallery instead. It's here.

And yes, it was the Sigma 105 Macro lens.

Thanks again for the detailed critiques of the submissions. And for the commendation, of course.
Prieni
How inappropriate to call this planet earth when it is quite clearly Ocean. - Arthur C. Clarke
Prieni's PPG page
TOZZA27
Posted 07/12/2009 - 14:27 Link
Appreciate the comments Sir - yes anything is possible ( although I hope I never upset the NSWales RSPCA ).Great winner and congratulations to Dr.Mhuni.
K20D,*istD ( now a dedicated M42 digital ),K100D,MZ5N,P50,ME Super,Spotmatic 1000,Spotmatic,ESII,ES,H2.18-55 II,18-55,75-300 FAJ,35-80 FA,80-200 F,28-105 FA,Sigma 24-70 AF Aspherical,Sigma 28-300 Hyperzoom , Praotor II 500 M42,Centon 500mm mirror,and a few Pentax M42 Taks,super-Taks,smc Taks,A and M lenses.Benbo trekker,7dayshop monopod and a Lowepro rucksack.

I am now on Flickr which is nice !
doingthebobs
Posted 07/12/2009 - 19:52 Link
Congratulations to all the winners.

Many thanks to Hyram for judging with both skill and humour.
Bob

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