Critique my critique

[shutter_blitz]

Since I photograph food a lot, I spend a lot of time browsing through food blogs and websites with good photography and try to develop my critiquing skills which helps me hone my photographic skills. The problem is, since I am an amatuer, I don't know if my critique is accurate. So, I invite you to critique my critique.

This is a site that I admire a lot. This lady uses a Nikon D2X. She has 2 sites, one dedicated to her farm and another to her cooking:

http://thepioneerwoman.com
http://thepioneerwomancooks.com

I personally think most of the farm pictures are outstanding. But a lot of the cooking related ones look a little blown out as far as highlights go and maybe even a little over exposed? Especially the close ups.
For eg: in the mashed potatoes page here (http://thepioneerwomancooks.com/2007/11/delicious_creamy_mashed_potatoes.html), the first four pictures seem to be this way. And her white balance doesn't look consistent through the post.
I don't know what lenses she uses.

What do u think? Am I on the mark or way off?

[rammy]

Don't be shy, let's see your food pics and let US critique :-)

Did you check out the histograms on her pics? The ones I looked at had no massive white clipping. Ok so they are not awe inspiring but I doubt that is what the aim is.

I'm looking to write my own food blog with my own photos on recipes I have liked or created as my friends and family have asked for them so many times. It's not ready yet but the step by step images won't be as important to me as the final photo that is a "set" image.

[tim]

But a lot of the cooking related ones look a little blown out as far as highlights go and maybe even a little over exposed? Especially the close ups.
For eg: in the mashed potatoes page

Agreed, your critique seems reasonable.

Would anyone care to critique my critique of the critique? :p

[StewartR]

Disclaimer: I've only looked at the mashed potato and lasagne pages. So if there are issues with this person's photos on other pages, I don't know about them.

Anyway: I'm not sure I agree about the highlights and over-exposure. They look OK to me. You're going to get some blown highlights whenever you photograph reflective metal surfaces, such as saucepans, but that's OK.

However, I do agree about the white balance. It's all over the place, particularly on the lasagne sequence. If you look at photos 10 and 11 in the mashed potato sequence, for example, there's a dramatic difference in colour there.

But ... and I think this is a big but ... these photographs are means to an end. They are not meant to be art. They are simply intended to illustrate the sequence of steps involved in the recipe. I'm not sure that critiquing the exposure and white balance is really fair. As far as I can see, the photos are well composed and show each step of the procedure very clearly - which surely is the main point?

(But does it really take 41 photos to show how to cook mashed potato? Are americans really that stupid?)

[shutter_blitz]

I agree. The point of pics on the cookery site is not to create stylistic, artistic pics. I was just using it gauge my ability to read the pros & cons of a pic w/o a histogram.
All your points are well taken. Thx!

Rammy,
I am working on putting together pics that I can exclusively share on POTN! I work for a client right now and all my pics are copyrighted. I currently use Sony's A100.
But, I am a very soon to become canonite! I am looking to start of with the rebel XT and then working my way up, budget permitting ofcourse!
Good luck with your foodblog. I am sure with your experience in photography, your blog will be very popular. Maybe I can guest shoot for your blog someday....;).
I agree, the final image is the one that really matters. I have tried the step-by-step several times and it is such a hassle. I don't know how ppl do it. The results were good, but it is exhausting.

StewartR,
"(But does it really take 41 photos to show how to cook mashed potato? Are americans really that stupid?)"
:lol: You are right, thats a total of 41!! I hadn't realized that!