Red's Roll
by Eagle40Fox2

Comment:
Coming back to leave comments after voting earlier. I like the arrangement of the sushi rolls on the bamboo placemat. It is a good shot but has the promise of being better and achieving high marks. Sushi rolls look good but could look better if the highlights were not blown. It's overexposed on the lighter colors such that in some places there is very little detail in the individual grains of rice and the chopsticks also seem blown out too. Be careful with the exposure - some details can be recovered in PP but not all. The sliced ginger and the green wasabi seem to be placed in the composition as an afterthought. Mayhap if they were placed in those tiny dishes it would help the strengthen the composition and add more visual interest.

Fraîches Escargots à la Bourguignonne
by kenskid

Comment:
Coming back to comment after voting. Not a fan of escargot but I have to admit the presentation of the elements and the technicals of the photo are great. Lighting brings out the colors and details of the subject(s) Love how you had the green shoot of leaf come into the composition at a diagonal. It rises out of the bottom left corner, presents the main ingredient just off center of the photo and continues to travel towards the top right corner.

Banana Ice Cream
by caseyface

Comment:
Coming back to leave comments after voting. MMmmm, ice cream. You have some great tones in the color of the cream - white, rich and creamy with pieces of banana in the scoops. Very appealing and tasty looking. The presentation of the ice cream however could be better. A straight down shot does very little to boast the appeal of the ice cream. A suggestion to make the composition more mouth watering and shoot the composition into the excellent category (8-10) I would recommend shooting it at a lower angle such that the ice cream is rising above the lip of the bowl. Giving us a bowl of plenty - a mountain of ice cream that we can plunge a spoon into!!!!

"Wait... you're making TURTLE soup??!"
by Lydia

Comment:
Coming back to comment and bumping up the score as well. O.K. the turtle and the humor of the photo made me think of Alfred Bester's short story "Gourmet Dining in Outer Space". The chef in the story is hilarious and one course he made was turtle soup. But I am rambling away from the shot. Love the humor in the shot -it tips the scales away from the normal shelled out recipes;-p Details and color and composition are great. Love the bokeh backdrop with the eggs and greens that will be added to the soup. The turtle seems to be haming it up for the camera and the audience. My only plaint is the composition could use a dash more saturation and contrast between shadows/highlights - not too much mind, just a pinch more to bring it up a notch because it looks a tad washed out.

Complementary-Colored Salad-to-be
by AllenP

Comment:
Coming back to leave comments after voting. Wonderful lighting that spotlights the rich red of the tomatoes and the verdant greens of the peas. I like the addition of the water to the tomatoes for not only does it add visual interest it is a subtle not to the prep stage of preparing the salad. Great picture of these veggies 7 (oh, wait, tomatoes are considered fruit).

Mixing Chocolate Milk
by BuddyBaum

Comment:
Coming back to comment. I love how the overhead view gives us a good look at the funnel in the milk that the chocolate powder is falling into. The idea holds much promise but it needs work on some of the technicals. The overhead view gives us a unique vantage point but the backdrop and rest of the composition lacks the umph to hold one's attention for a long period. The black backdrop allows the image to pop but it's sterile - maybe some rich polished wood would add more warm and inviting tones while adding interest or a tabletop akin to what would be found in a soda fountain shoppe/diner. If you had placed the glass to dominate the bottom right corner and had more of the spoon visible such that the handle is coming out of the top left corner it would create visual interest with the placement of objects. The last suggestion is that the chocolate powder on the spoon could be in sharper focus and that can be acchieved by boasting the DOF with higher aperature but the trade off is a slower shutter speed so you would have to make sure that the lighting is good to have an adequate shutter speed to capture the falling powder in sharp detail.

Hey Mom! I'm making cookies for you!
by vawendy

Comment:
OH....MY....LOL! Very different take on the challenge. Love the humor in this one! Nice attention to adding details to the shot from the chocolate chips to cracked/dropped egg to the footprint seen in the flour scattered on the floor. The humor carries the shot and the idea holds much promise (6) but it just needs a little extra umph on the technicals....lighting appears a bit harsh and mayhap angle could be a tad lower to show more of the feet and legs and mayhap some of the kitchen drawers (just to strengthen the imagery of this being in the kitchen)

Poppy Seed Muffins
by sjhuls

Comment:
Coming back to leave some comments now. Presentation and lighting is wonderful! The details in the muffins are great from the poppy seeds scattered throughout and the tones of shadow & highlights are very dynamic. It looks appetizing but without the color it lacks the eye-popping goodness that would beckon us to run over for a taste. Color would be the extra enticement to make our eyes and mouth water for a bite of these tasty muffins.

Oven-Crisped Bread with Tomato and Fresh Basil
by DomD

Comment:
Coming back to leave comments now. Lovely presentation of this tasty appetizer. Love the design on the plate for it adds a nod to this being an italian recipe. Lighting on the subject is lovely and the colors really pop. My critiques are small but I feel it would have made this even more mouthwatering. The bread looks a little too dry and toasty - visually it makes me want to reach out for the bottle of olive oil that I am sure that is just out of sight of the composition. Don't get me wrong a good crisp crunchy bread is good but with a dash of olive oil when toasted or after will make it taste divine. It may have had that olive oil added to the bread but don't 'see' any evidence of that - if that is the case then pulling back a bit to include an attractive bottle of olive and maybe a pepper shaker in the background bokeh style would have added some punch to the shot. The other critique is that the basil doesn't look 100% tip top fresh - the edges of the cut basil look bruised with the deeper green edges - it looks like it has had time to sit and either absorb the juices from the tomatoes or it shows the bruising after x amount of time after cutting. It is still fresh but just not '30 seconds straight out from the kitchen prepared fresh'. Still a simple, tasty, and well presented snack that garners an 8.

Panzanella Salad
by LN13

Comment:
Great presentation of this salad - bringing our eyes to the feast with the main course set before us with mouthwatering detail. Crisp greens of cucumber, vibrant reds with the cherry tomatoes and rich & toasty browns of the bread cubes - it looks delicious! The backdrop for this dish makes it look warm and inviting - a summer picnic.