strawberries at all
by Mona

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment.

Strawberries are definitely one of nature's sweet and tasty treats. To be very honest the composition is just average. The composition does have potential it just needs some TLC to improve. First off the grassy/weeds that the strawberry boxes sit in detract from the visual appeal of the photo. Plenty is good when wanting more, but there are sooo many strawberries that it is hard to tell which box of strawberries we should look at and appreciate. One needs a focal point that will anchor the image. A suggestion to improve the visual appeal is to give your audience a small portion - a small basket of strawberries say. The advantage is that you bring in your audience closer to show off the rich red beauty of these sweet fruits. Showing a few will also show off any great details such as the seeds that dot the skin. You will show us more with close-up small portions and increase the visual appeal.

Home-madeTiramisu Topped Cheesecake with Lady Finger Crust and Choclate Covered Coffee Beans
by unbreakable

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment now.

Without the title it would be hard to tell just what exactly the dessert is. I love Tiramisu and chocolate covered coffee beans so it is a winning dessert in the tasty treat category. I know you went in to give us a nice close-up of the tasty details but with a cake I think it would be best to pull back a tad just so we can see the defining shape. The lighting does not show off this dessert to it's fullest potential. There are blown highlights in the top portion of the cake such that the white topside appears as a shapeless flat mass. Better lighting would have captured some contrast and definition of the cake. I think the focus is a little too much on lady finger crust and too little on the chocolate curls, some coffee beans and top of cake. Lastly, I suggest to get rid of the two shades of brown border. It does very little to complement the photo other than act as a distraction to draw attention away from the dessert. The important star of the composition is the Tiramisu, so play that strength up and show it off in all it's glory without any frilly 'dressings' of a distracting border.

Expiry date: 30 seconds after picking
by herfotoman

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment now.

This is one time I wish the title would give me a better clue as to what the fruit(?) is. I love the texture on the skin and how the light illuminates the warm golden center within. But I am one in your audience who has never had the experience of tasting this much less the knowledge of knowing what it is to fully appreciate why this is a tasty treat (going to give it the benefit of the doubt that it tastes good and it is not a cultural delicacy like Durian Fruit where non natives find it hard to stomach). I think it might improve the visual impact of this being a dessert/sweet if the composition had an arrangement of elements to increase the visual impact. Perhaps if you had three in a pleasing arrangement on a black plate or just something that would add an additional visual clue to those of us who are lacking knowledge of this edible treat. The fruit in the composition is just placed on a black backdrop with no arrangement to hold the eye's attention for a long span.

Pretty Please..
by FtWorthphotog

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment.

Love the rich reds of the strawberries - they really pop visually of the black backdrop. I do like that you zoomed/cropped the focus to be fully on the dessert - getting us up nice and close. The drawback is that the choice of dish to serve it to the public looks chopped and as such that stem draws a little focus away for in a subtle way it makes it feel 'unfinished'. Maybe a bowl would have better presented this treat. I was going to say the the cherry was an odd choice to place on the top when the dessert mostly is of strawberries and cream when I saw the title. I do get what you want to present but a part of me still thinks it is an odd mix. Perhaps because a cherry on top is *usually* topping a dessert that is ice cream or cake. Or perhaps it is that there is two very different fruits that different shades of red that draw my eye back and forth creating a competition for attention. The whipped cream is nice and creamy white but there is a bit of loss of detail on definition of the curves/swirl of the cream. I found from a past photoshoot I did of a Banana Split that the whipped cream from the store just doesn't hold it's shape/definition long. I read that somewhere that food photographers use cake icing to get that nice swirl pattern that hold it's shape when photographing a dessert topped with whipped cream. I know that it is not what the dessert to eat calls for but when photographing a dessert it does increase the visual appeal because it looks like the real thing while holding that pleasing curled on top shape:-) Hope this critique helps.

little tarts
by bobcc

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment now.

Lighting is good on the desserts illuminating all the tasty details. As good as the image is there are a one thing that could make this even better. The arrangement of the composition seems odd - off symmetry. You have the left dessert full with colorful fruit then to balance it on the right you have the sweet treat but it is just cream and some chocolate. My eye goes right to and pretty much stays focused on the fruit tart. I feel this still life arrangement does not work so well. Those nice punches of tasty color just draws the eye's full focus. So I would play up that strength. I think the more effective arrangement would to have been a triangle arrangement where the fruit tart is front & center point while the two cream tarts rest in the back. That way we see this colorful treat and then notice the promise of sweet delights continues out to the horizon.

Greecian Baked Cheesecake
by hotpasta

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment now.

Soft pastel hues to complement the presentation of the cheesecake perfectly. Love the off center 'triangle' arrangement of elements and the angle all provide an interesting image for the eye to travel around and study. Lighting is great illuminating all elements. The dessert looks absolutely stunning on the plate. My only critique, and admitingly a small one but the devil is in the details, is when my eye travels back from the looking at the dessert in the background my eye does a hard stop at the cheesecake on the plate before us. It is then I notice the break in the symmetry. The cheesecake in the backdrop appears to be a triangle shape where the foreground slice is square. That is illusion of course because the tulips blocking it make it appear so. (Yeah, here is where I get so darn picky right;-) )So the nitpick suggestion is that to keep the symmetry going is to move the tulips so they don't block the view...and it is an added bonus that we get to see/visually help ourselves to more cake:-) Still a lovely and well presented shot that is in my pick for the top four.

Berries for my sweetheart
by gpuretic

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment now.

Love the angle you took this at - it adds visual interest and the splash of red ribbon that curls around it pulls the all the elements together nicely. The unwrapping of a sweet treat. Not sure how others feel about the tilt but to me the glass is tilting towards me. I can clearly see the berries and cream through the glass but that tilt is like the temptation of pushing a dessert towards one and stating "You want some, you know you do". My only critiques are that I wish that the berries and cream were stacked higher like a little mountain of sweets rising from the glass - or at least till the mint leaf on the left is resting on the rim like it does on the right. Then it would be a subtle nod that the flavor is bursting out towards you rather than having to 'peek' over the rim to take a taste. Lastly, is those confounded reflections on glass that can really be a challenge. The only suggestions I can suggest to eliminate or minimalize them is a really good polarizer filter or shoot the composition in a light tent.

Cookies
by MinsoPhoto

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment now.

Mmmmm, cookies....my taste buds swing from thinking these are oatmeal cookies with frosting to ginger snaps with frosting. Either way they taste great with milk:-) Hmmm, that might have been an interesting addition to the composition - the glass of milk complementing the same vertical arrangement of the cookies. But, back the image as it stands - details are good with a warm toned backdrop to complement the cookies. To me, the tree branch shadows on the wall projects the mood of sitting out in the countryside on the bench just enjoying a bite of these cookies. My critique is that I wish that the shadows the cookies cast on the wood table were not so harsh. Don't know what form of lighting you might have been using (flash, natural, or natural light with lamps), but there are two things I could suggest to lessen or eliminate those shadows. You could find something reflective/or a reflector to bounce the light back onto the back of the treats or take a table light/light and shine it onto the back of the treats to evenly balance the light.

Home made chocolate dough delight
by hajeka

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment.

Colorful, sweet and delicious - I really enjoy the close-up view you give us of this dessert. The red of the rasberry really pops vibrantly and draws the eye in instantly. You have captured great details on the red berry and the chocolate 'cups' that hold the cream and fruit. The foreground in the front is nicely focused for details and then the eye travels back to see all the sweet treats in the background horizon - making it appear that the promise of sweet delights is vast and unending:-) My only critique is that it may increase the visual appeal a bit more if just a little more of the fruits were in sharp focus before it falls off into bokeh. Not too much though; just from the rasberry and the two blueberries behind it.

Donuts!
by Kelli

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment.

There is nothing like the enjoyment of a tasty donut...especially if it is bigger than your two hands (that is one problem with getter growing bigger, the desserts from childhood memory seem to shrink;-) ) The lighting is great on your subject - you have nice even tones on the skin and some nice highlights in the hair. This is an above average shot (7 to 8 range) but I have to wonder if you managed to capture the twinkle in the eyes as she raises the donut up ready to take a bite - that would have been the stellar shot.