Critique / Lighting Question

Hello, I am new to this forum... Could someone kindly suggest, how I can improve lighting on the attached photo of the soup? I am a big fan of Aran Goyoaga food photography but I just cannot achieve the same result as far as lighting. What am I missing? I shoot in my kitchen, right by a large french door with a large white board on the table to bounce the light. I tried different times of days, my photos are sometimes ok, but I am just wondering if perhaps I am missing some additional light source like a strobe... I love natural light photography but was wondering if maybe I need additional light source, even at daylight. I am attaching one of Aran's photos from her Flickr account. any suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you


https://farm5.staticfl​ickr.com …79529310_140580​e7eb_b.jpg

looks to me that lighting wise it seems fairly close, the only issue I see is the muted colors which could be brought up in post. The lighting itself though seems well balanced

I agree with afphotomke above. The composition is more of an issue. In the Aran shot it's clear what the subject is - cookies. But it this shot it seems to be a rather bland spoon.

Flash lighting means more opportunities to shoot, instead of relying on natural light. It also means more control.

@myprettyeats , maybe you need to show about two-thirds or three-fourths of the bowl , sprinkle fresh herbs on top of your soup , place the spoon ( use stainless steel spoon as it looks better , find something that doesn't reflect too much light ) at the background so as the fresh herb . Use blue accents , maybe a blue placemat or use a blue bowl ?

check out this thread: https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=16163444

What i see in the above is that you have simply "illuminated" (nod to wilt) the food and not taken care to light it. Your light is flat and seems to come from all directions. Rarely is that a good way to flatter your food.