Kevin's Watch

I was browsing one of my favorite photography websites when I saw this San Francisco Chronicle article in the news section:

The worst restaurant food photography on Market Street

It's both funny and sad that restaurants could make their own food look so awful. Enjoy!

WOW...scary.
Maybe I can get rich showing these peeps how to do it. Been on a few food-commercial sets....all you need is ice-water, scissors, hair spray and shaving cream to make it all look yummy [just don't eat the damn prop-food]

They probably don't need to get that elaborate, though some of the dishes do look like they were prepared by a cook on the run.

It's just sad they couldn't be bothered to look for someone competent with a camera. I know it's ultimately about how the food tastes, not how it looks, but still...you'd think they would make an effort to have their food look good, out of professional self-respect if nothing else.

And if you take pictures of real food never use the flash. Use natural light - even if that means you have to take the plate from the kitchen into the garden. Close ups with blurry backgrounds are also essential. This, of course, doesn't help if you can't plate your food well.

Good points, Vader - I totally agree. That beans & eggs dish looks like some alien creature that would eat me. Not sure any "good" picture of it is possible!

"Flat" food looks bland - stapled high it looks professional.

I would have plated up the beans in the middle like a little mound (either with a ring or a cup). I would have placed the fried egg on top. Just for the eye a sprig of flat leaved parsley (or cilantro) on top. May a bit of sauce drizzled around. If no sauce is available a few slighlty carmalized cherry tomatoes and drops of good olive oil would have worked as well.