June Challenge : Pizza

[Philvegetarian]

Hello everybody,

The food photography challenge for June is: Pizza (whether they're home made or prepared in a Pizzeria)

As I'm a newbie here, Wildmaven reminds me to tell you the following :

Remember, this is a food photography board, so the photos must be deliberately arranged and lit, not casual, "I shot this while having dinner" photos ...

Soon I'll propose my entry : could anyone (with some anteriority in these challenges) tell me if each of us is allowed to propose several entries or just one by member ?

Have fun !

Philippe
NB: please, forgive my poor english although I'm trying to do my best ...

[Brooks]

Philippe, You can enter as many photos as you like. I'v made this challenge a sticky here.

[Philvegetarian]

Thanks Brooks for your answer !

[Philvegetarian]

Here are two pizzas of mine

The ortolana with egg-plants, and the other with basil, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese ... I hope you enjoy (you can find the recipe of the dough on my blog) .
Thanks for C&C !

Philippe

[Brooks]

Phillipe, nice shots. It would be helpfull for all to post some details of the lighting as well as lens focal length, f/stop etc. This forum is about the photography as well as the food: maybe even more about the photography than the food.

These shots look like they were taken by diffused or ambient available window light. In any event the lighting is nice and soft which works more in the first shot because of the darker ingredients and tones. The second shot looks flat and blue from the less directional window light.

[Don Kondra]

"Okay, who's ready to eat next ? "

Softbox above, styro on the sides...



Cheers, Don

PS > I'll add this for the sake of discussion, it just feels boring to me, sigh...

In hindsight although I did make this for the challenge, unconsciously I made it to eat

I prefer to place the red peppers, shrimp, pepperoni and brown mushrooms under the cheese, ham on top.

And perhaps I was a little too careful with not having any sauce oozing out

Softbox above and another low at 7 o'clock.



Cheers, Don

[Steven G Webb]

I much prefer the lighting on the second one. I think in the first image you have a fine amount of illumination, as the shot is well exposed. Maybe it's that showering and evenness of the light that is giving the bland appearance to an otherwise spicy dish. The additional light in the second is bringing up some textures making it appear more appealing. I wonder (because I wonder a lot) if a small light source, or a "hotter" reflector, like silver or crinkled aluminum foil might not create some small specular highlights and liven it up even some more.

Steve

[Brooks]

Those are pretty good, Don. I like the light on the first one. The light on the second shot seems a bit flat.

Relating the position of the lights to the face of a clock where 6 o'clock is the camera position, I keep the light(s) between 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. Between 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock I only use reflectors, if anything. Remember, these plated shots aren't portraits so there's seldom any reason to have the light around to the front of the subject.

[Don Kondra]

Originally Posted by Songman45

I much prefer the lighting on the second one. I think in the first image you have a fine amount of illumination, as the shot is well exposed. Maybe it's that showering and evenness of the light that is giving the bland appearance to an otherwise spicy dish. The additional light in the second is bringing up some textures making it appear more appealing. I wonder (because I wonder a lot) if a small light source, or a "hotter" reflector, like silver or crinkled aluminum foil might not create some small specular highlights and liven it up even some more.

Steve

Thanks Steve,

I'm thinking the exact opposite from you

The first shot shows the slightly under done cheese to best advantage...

Originally Posted by Brooks

Those are pretty good, Don. I like the light on the first one. The light on the second shot seems a bit flat.

Relating the position of the lights to the face of a clock where 6 o'clock is the camera position, I keep the light(s) between 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. Between 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock I only use reflectors, if anything. Remember, these plated shots aren't portraits so there's seldom any reason to have the light around to the front of the subject.

Thanks Brooks !

On the second one I added the front light because I wasn't happy with the sharp shadow under the plate. In hindsight I should have used my new homemade snoot

Cheers, Don

[tdyannd]

Does dog food pizza count? ...so, call me crazy, but I had a cake and pizza made for a dog I was fostering (his birthday, to be exact)...and I took about 20 different pictures of these three slices of dog pizza...hahaha.