Thanks everyone for all the great votes and comments. I'm really happy this did so well.
I'm not very good at doing studio shots so this one was definitely a challenge for me. I don't have studio lights and my hot shoe and pop up flash on my camera are broken so I had to rely on natural light.
My friend let me use this beautiful serving set which was handed down to him from his grandmother. The set up was taken on the dining room table next to a window. I'm also holding a shiny automobile sunscreen on the left side as a reflector.
I tried a few different compositions but liked this one the best. I also tried cropping it tighter but the shot seemed too crowded and lost much of that open, airiness that I liked. I wanted the shot to be more about an inviting dessert setting, rather than a single piece of cheesecake. The one thing I realized later was I forgot to include utensils, thankfully it didn't seem to bother anyone.
As for the cheesecake, I'm proud that I made it myself (and pretty much ate it myself, too.) :)
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 51 Avg (all users): 7.0917 Avg (commenters): 8.5000 Avg (participants): 6.9677 Avg (non-participants): 7.1348 Views since voting: 3268 Views during voting: 271 Votes: 120 Comments: 48 Favorites: 2 (view)
For those interested, here's the recipe I followed. It was pretty easy to make actually. One step that's not in this recipe is when the baking is done, turn off the stove and leave the cheesecake in there for 4-5 hours, making sure to not open the oven door during the entire baking and cooling down process. Then refrigerate the cake overnight. Letting it cool down slowly will prevent the cheesecake from cracking. Enjoy :)
Congrats on the blue; well deserved. I now know why it appealled to me so much - I always love natural light and use it most of the time and with the same lens. And, the cheesecake is gorgeous; thought it was store bought.
Nice lighting, focus and color balance. In judging this challenge I don't ask "Does this photo make me want to eat this?" -- I ask "Would I want to hang this on my wall?" This is good technically and might be a good photo for a foodie magazine, but it isn't that exciting for an artistic photo. I feel there are too many elements in the photograph (cheesecake and more cheesecake, a cup and another cup) and the background elements demand too much attention.
Great use of the textures in the table cloth, raspberries, mint, dishes, and cheesecake. Well-lit, great exposure, and very pretty. I would have liked to see a much closer crop and a less static angle though. I really only look at about 30% of this image, dead center, bottom half.
I love the lighting in this, it screams afternoon tea (coffee), maybe with a window open to let in a Summer breeze, listen to the birds, enjoy a quiet moment... and those raspberries look so nice and fresh, if I could reach down and snag one I would!
This is a tough challenge to vote. I'm torn between "what are you trying to do here" and "what do I expect here". Further complicating matters is the question "what would I do here".
What I would expect would be a technically strong piece of eye-candy that would present the dessert in a way that I would want to at least sample it, if not order it. Along these lines I'm looking at technicals: backgrounds, distracting elements, exposure, sharpness. I'm also looking for creativity, imagination, and originality, which can make up for less than perfect technicals.
So, where does this leave me with your image?
Excellent work! Not only perfect on the technicals, it makes me want to sit down and ask for a fork. The rich detail, the composition - I can't say enough. I really love how light and airy this feels.
I like the setup here the china compliments the texture of the dessert nicely and the use of rasberries and mint leaves adds just enough additional color to keep it from being to yellow. The positioning of the various elements here creates a nicely balanced shot all around.
wicked nice use of pattern, love the doily, love the china pattern, the the super sharpness of the cake bringing up the texture and the bokeh style focal drop-off. can i have a piece of this 10
Lighting is excellent on this composition. The set-up of elements is light, bright, and airy making the dessert look inviting and tasty to eat. Details in the desserts and all the other afternoon teatime is what makes this an appealing image to both drink in and have a bite. Well done, I have no suggestion on how this image could be improved.
New York Cheesecake With Fresh Raspberries
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