Cooking up trouble!

[SJH Foto]

Hey guys! I was at a picnic yesterday, and I took this shot of a couple friends making dogs:



Does the smoke add to the flavour (sorry, I couldn't resist) of the picture, or is it a distraction? Do their expressions denote the intense concentration the pair are manifesting as they grill? In short, does the picture give that feeling that works for you?

The EXIF is Canon 40d 24mm f/6.3 100sec ISO 100

[corry]

yes i think it does add to the picture, the smoke makes so you can almost smell em cooking. can you bring out the colors just a wee bit, it seems a wee bit flat but maybe that is just the smoke .

[Major_Small]

Well, honestly, I would pass this shot off as a snapshot.

My main reason for that is that I don't find any overall theme or subject standing out. I can tell by your questions you had some good ideas, but none of them came through clearly to me.

If you were trying to capture their expressions, in my opinion, this missed the mark. I see some guy just turning hot dogs, and another person walking up to check on things, and maybe have a quick word. I know when I used to grill hot dogs, I didn't need to really focus on the task at hand. I always found it quite boring.

Basically, I think what you wanted would lend itself much better to a set up studio type shot. Perhaps some cooked hot dogs on a grill, and a little bit of added smoke (a lot thinner than what's here), and behind them, somebody almost eye level with the dogs intensely scrutinizing them.

[SJH Foto]

Those are good ideas. It was a snapshot-I took it at a picnic. No one was posing-it was totally candid.