my first SWEET shot

[Eduardo]

Hello all,

I am new here and in photography in general. My wife just got home from our local patisserie and brought this. I only had a few minutes to shoot while she was waiting to eat it all.

All I had was a blank sheet of paper as background, my camera (Nikon D40) and a 35mm 1.8 lens. I used available light, although if i had more time I'd try my external flash bouncing of the ceiling.

I'd like to hear any tips on how to make this shot better ? also, any post production tips ?

Thanks

Eduardo

[windrider86]

For me it seems abit blured in areas. Knowing your exif information could prove to be a valuable asset here so we can offer more technical advice!

[Eduardo]

yes, it is a bit blurred and i think it's because the f1.8 aperture used - i didn't have a tripod so had to keep the aperture wide open to allow a fast (1/60) shutter speed in available light and also auto-iso was set to 800.
I think it would be better on a tripod and a smaller aperture to get more in focus and in lower ISO to avoid noise.

how do i get rid of the reflections on the cake ? or when shooting something metallic, etc... ?
i guess it has something to do with the lights/ etc... ?

thanks

PS: next time I'll remember to include EXIF data, maybe there's a way of doing it automatically ?

[elkidogz]

that looks like an amazing piece of food. a softer light would have dulled the reflections

[candleman]

the main issue for me is the yellow cast. (particularly in the foregreound and on the back of the pink crispy things.
next time turn off the incandescent lightbulb

OR

simply up your flash output to +1
and in manual mode use something like 1/200th or 1/500th and aperture f/4 at iso100 to eliminate the ambient.
(you'll need to enable TTL-BL and AutoFP) ...so use Matrix metering
then fire the flash at the white wall in front of you or 45 degrees up at the ceiling.

thats what i would have done in a rush