Hamburger in Paradise

[tlpphoto]

Well not really -- Northern Virginia this past week was far from paradise. But I did have a Banzai Burger from Red Robin, which was pretty good and the pineapple on it could have made me think I was in the tropics. Anyway, I have not really done food photography before, but I thought I'd give it a try to help beat the winter blues. I used a Lensbaby to remove the distracting/busy background and because I was simply playing with it. Questions:
- Is the lighting on the burger OK?
- Would you recommend any changes to the composition to make the burger more appealing?

Thanks for your comments.
Tim

IMG_7949_v2 by Radiant View Photography, on Flickr

Canon 5D Mk II with Lensbaby Composer
50mm
F/2.8
1/50 sec
ISO 400

[ericgarner118]

I really like this picture. I love how much the background has been blurred out and the burger looks pretty appetizing. I think if you were going to shoot where the burger was centered in the picture though, you should have gotten up a bit closer to the burger and had it fill the screen more. I think the lighting looks good, like I said, it looks pretty tasty to me.

[tlpphoto]

Thanks Eric,
As you probably know, the lensbaby does the background blurring -- really neat effect. I was actually at (or near anyway) the closest focusing distance of the lens. I guess I could have cropped the image in some though. Thanks for the suggestion.
Tim

[chicagojohn]

Originally Posted by tlpphoto

Questions:
- Is the lighting on the burger OK?
- Would you recommend any changes to the composition to make the burger more appealing?

Canon 5D Mk II with Lensbaby Composer
50mm
F/2.8
1/50 sec
ISO 400

Hi Tim,

I've visited Red Robin a few times and can appreciate the great taste of this Bonzai Burger. You were faced with a very busy background that would have been distracting had you not blurred the surroundings. (Tell us more about Lensbaby).

But the other approach would be what Eric suggested, moving closer (or a tighter, in-focus crop). With your camera, I wouldn't have hesitated to go up at least one stop in ISO to get options aperture and/or shutter speed to get a closer-up, in-focus view of the entire basket that you were presented.

While I like the use of focus to direct the eye to the burger, the image brings to mind a 6 hour trip I once took from Bar Harbor, ME to Yarmouth Nova Scotia during a hurricane off the East coast. Needless to say, there wasn't an empty vomit bag to be found by the end of the trip. Or, again, there was the time my college room mate brought home a pizza after I'd had way too much to drink and had "the spins".

Anyway, there is something disconcerting, perhaps originating from memories such as these, from looking at food in focus with an out-of-focus background. For what it's worth.

What I do think might have been interesting is, if Eric had been with you, to have him take a bite of the burger and then photograph his bite pattern. Now that would have been memorable!

[sgeary]

Yes please tell us more about the lensbaby...I think a tighter crop would have been a bit more appealing!

[tat 1973]

MOUTH WATERING!

Nice shot!

I think if anyone can see this shot, you can help yourself to eat hamburger..That's for sure