Which way does pointy food point?

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17443875
you have a G15 with a zoom, right? The EXIF shows you shot at the widest possible setting. Going a bit higher and zooming in would likely maintain the look of the slice being tall.

Right, 6 mm. EXIF data are where I originally posted; we can't use the metadata feature more than once for an image. Would backing off and zooming make the lens, in effect, longer? I get so much distortion in shots at this distance that everything is unnaturally foreshortened. I discarded all the attempts that included a fork beside the plate. The fork looked huge.

I initially thought there might be a consensus, a standard in the field. Apparently there isn't, except for the vertical angle (namely, go higher).

just did a quick search for lens distortion on the G15, frankly i was surprised that the shot looked so good at the widest lens setting. The first thing i read was this thread on DPReview: http://www.dpreview.co​m/forums/thread/347508​2 Seems the camera does automatic in camera distortion correction for JPG, and Lr applies the same type correction to RAW. That's pretty cool, IMO.

so there are two kinds of distortion, the above is lens distortion, and basically not an issue for you because it is generally corrected automatically. The second kind of distortion is perspective distortion and is an issue with every lens ever made because it is a matter of camera-subject distance. This is a great "article" and thread about perspective distortion.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=672913

so yes, backing up and zooming in makes the lens longer. But the perspective (and any resulting perspective distortion) from any given distance, with any focal length lens is exactly the same so long as the camera-subject distance remains the same. So, while maintaining the same camera subject-distance, zooming in (or out) only has the effect of filling the frame with the subject.

LH Brisket, SkipD's post is a great help. Thanks for that link! I had an idea that maybe zooming would reduce distortion because then you're only using the center of the lens, but no, it seems that the distortion is just a matter of geometry.

I kind of think that the human eye has a wide lens and when we look at a 3D scene in real life, the brain compensates for the distortion. We have biological Lightroom. But when we look at a flat picture, the brain walks off the job. Another reason for the difference is that the blur in peripheral vision makes distortion at the outsides in real scenes less conspicuous.

OhLook wrote in post #17443846
This wasn't for publication, so there was no page layout to accommodate. By "straight on" do you mean pointing toward the viewer? But then the wide side of the wedge wouldn't show at all. On some cakes, that surface is decorated and you might want to display it.

Well, that's the lens I have. I agree with you and Lupo-Lobo that shooting from a higher angle would do more justice to the top surface. The angle was low in order to capture the height of the slice.

Some want it pointing to the left, others to the right. Can't please everyone.

It may not have been for publication but that's always something to keep in mind because you never know. Generally, those rules ar in place because it looks aesthetically pleasing, regardless of whether it is for publication or not. I said straight on, skewing to one direction or another. So not directly pointing at the camera, no. The key is the angle. Like I said, ask a food photog, they'll tell you that 45 degrees or straight above are good starting points. The important thing is to make it look attractive.

What if the food pointed towards the viewer? Think that would be cool !!

This all depends on the framing and rest of the composition. If the cheesecake is the hero in the shot, very often you will se it positioned so you get the a perspective view of it. The "point" will rarely be away from the camera.

I'm late to the conversation and found this interesting. I'll have to ask one of the table staff at a restaurant we frequent. He's been in the industry for 32 years. As far as what I'm presented at the table have been no particular common theme. Aesthetically a variety of angles works depending how the subject may be decorated

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I agree with most of the others - I don't think there is a hard-fast rule to how food needs to be served. I looked back over a few of my photos from meals at Michelin-starred restaurants, and I did not notice any pattern to how the desserts at the different places; however, each restaurant did serve their plates the same direction for all guests, and I would assume it was simply the orientation that the chef thought looked best.

One your photo, as a critique, I may have preferred for the wedge to be pointing to the lower right corner around 4 o'clock and maybe a bit more from the top; as another person mentioned, the lemons and icing on top are interesting and add nice color to the image. Regardless though - the photo is still great and it's making me hungry!

fwiw, I don't think that there are any hard rules either. Barring other considerations, I like to spend time figuring out the best way to view the food that makes the best, most interesting photograph that either accentuates or diminishes features of he item. Sometimes it points left, sometime right, sometimes straight at the camera there are likely some 'traditional' approaches that are time tested and simply 'work' but that's not to say that you shouldn't be open to exploring other views.

I have an art director that I work with that is a dyed-in-the-wool believer in the 'never point food off the page' camp. It's a very traditional approach and is simply the way that she learned design (it's right up there with the 'never shoot food on blue' *rule*, imo). I accommodate her requests but don't necessarily believe that they're always the best way to show something.

Lupo that is my favorite cake