Today, this is my favorite shoot of these rolls. They were photographed last night before dinner, edited after dinner and delivered via email to Michael before I went to bed. I decided quickly and now I've changed my mind. I really want the table in the shot.
Another request to pull out the camera now because these babies are going on the table. In situations like this when you don't really have time to consider what will make the best shot; out of pan, in the pan, cutting board, pulled apart, while buttering—not? The best thing to do is shoot away, try different things, and move as quickly as possible.
We decided we liked this shot—OK, but today I'm wondering if I should have cropped it tighter for his blog.
After he brushed the butter on I played with the towel and angles.
Then we took it out of the pan—um...like it in the pan better. OK, shoot tighter. In the end, we were happy, but I'm happier with the shot I chose today.
I love the shot you chose today - the way the light in the upper right supports the glistening of the rolls; the way the neutral browns in the upper portion of the photo enhances the neutral grey of the pan, whereas the lower portion's warmer brown enhances the lovely browning on the rolls, and the way the curved carving of the table not only echoes the lovely round roll tops but also the curve of the pan... and the hand towel provides the perfect contrasting texture and color without distracting the eye from the food!
You're making me want to cook again. 🙂
Thank you for sharing all these!
Donna, besides cropping what other editing do you do to your pictures? I need a course in editing....
The shot you used in blog was good, but the one at the top that you choose later is even better. They just look "eatier" which I think is the number one element in food photography. Great stuff, I love the background to you photos. Sometimes, could you give more technical information such as f stop, speed, ISO? Thank you
For these dark day of winter my shots are done pretty much the same. Because it's dark here when I'm shooting whether morning or evening, I've set up my strobe lights that have built in modeling lamps. I always shoot at 100 ISO whenever I can for quality. My shutter speed is 160th of a sec. so I can hand hold my camera and keep any ambient light out. I determine my f-stop depending on how much depth of field I want (how much from front to back is in focus) I can control how powerful my strobes are by regulating the power on the pack and by moving my lights closer or farther away. Because I wanted the front of the table I knew I would need at least f-11.
Then, I down load and edit the shots down to a few in iPhoto. Transfer the finals to a labeled folder, open my final picks in Photo Elements and adjust exposure and contrast, crop, clean up any scratches(our table has a lot), get rid of any hair in the food—Kidding!—then convert the size to 440 pixels wide for Michael's blog.
Nice rolls... great recipe. The type of flour I get around here... does not seem to relax to EVOO....But going back to shortenning I can get that type of consistency. Shortenning relaxes the megamarkett dough. A great oven helps a lot. I live in gadget Hellllllllllllllllll!.......
Couldn't resist but order a Kaiser roll mold thingamabob....
For the heavy lift bread crowd I would ask one question. Is malt essential in a recipe that calls for malt? or can I substitute the damm thing for something else?
As always gbthanks in advance folks...
Michaell Parker rolls are yummy and ..... well...forebidden type off fruit...
Both photos are nice, truly. I'm no pro, no photo expert, just someone who likes to have nice photo with her recipes. I want photos that say "I'm soooo yummy, eat me. Look how good, how tasty I look." I want photos that make me drool ... make me itch to get into the kitchen and try to make that food. Make me want to lick the photo! LOL.
That being said, of the two, my choice would be the photo pubished with the recipe because the above photo seems more about the setting than the rolls. I wants the food, man! 😉
I've seen artsy-fartsy photos at a well-known magazine website, arranging cookies in geometric designs and pulling camera back so far, the design IS the picture. Well, hey, what about the cookie? I want to see the cookie. I want a good closeup of the cookie. I want it to call to me. I guarantee you that looking down on tiny cookies arranged in criss-crossed diamonds do NOT make me want to eat them, nor does such photography impress me as a food photo.
Here, to my eye, there's more "buttermilk rolls" in the pic with the recipe -- or at least that is my perception. I look at that photo and the first thing I see are those delicious looking rolls, and next note they are being blessed with butter. Mama mia.
By contrast, half of the photo above is the setting. Furthermore, at minimum, the downward pointing towel dramatically below the pan immediately splits the attention. At worst, that point pulls the eye downward to bottom of the photo first rather than upward to the rolls. Do you really want that? Sure, it's a lovely picture but for me it fails as the better recipe photo of the two.
But then, [n the end, it comes down to individual taste, doesn't it? I prefer food photos solidly focused on the food, photos which unerringly draw my eyes inexorably straight into the food! Heaven.
Deja—Thank you, you hit the nail on the head. Michael is all about the food and that's why he chose the rolls being brushed with butter. I am all about visuals and that's why today I chose the other for my photo post. Art and tastes are subjective, so go with your gut and if you please yourself, chances are you'll please others.
I clicked on the link to this post this morning and wondered if I was looking at yesterday's post, but my brain told me something was different. I thought that somehow I missed the table detail yesterday. It drew me in and made me wonder what the rest of the room looks like -- is it filled with antiques, are there vintage window coverings, are the linens used on the table from times gone by, is the house from a Craftsman era or is it Victorian? I could almost imagine a family gathered around the table for Sunday dinner with a perfectly cooked roast chicken with buttermilk dinner rolls at the end of a cold winter week.
The inclusion of the table detail didn't take away from the rolls for me -- I still want to make them. And that's my subjective opinion. Isn't art great? 🙂
iphoto...i am going to read up on it. See, its when u say things like 'clean up the scratches' and 'adjust the exposure' I need to learn...have been trying my camera on AV priority and I am a total failure. I can't seem to get depth of field..
I will keep on truckin'
Have you thought about doing a post on lights? I'd love to see your setup and how you use it. I remember you saying you'd had the same set of Dynalites since forever - which do you have, and how do you position them? Inquiring minds and all that jazz...
I really think you need the extra scroll work in the wood of the table to counter the hard metallic-ness of the pan. Any other pan would be different and I think if the rolls were, say, in a basket it would be entirely different.
Good point Chris—the more I photograph food I find myself paying more attention to texture as a way to convey warmth. Though I didn't realize this while shooting, I probably was drawn to the warm rich softer wood to counter-balance the hard coldness of the metal pan. Also, adding a cloth in photos can really soften and add curved lines when needed.