Task 1b - Café Culture

This is our first task where we produced some food based images on location around Bradford/Leeds city centre cafés and restaurants. We had to ensure that the food and possibly the drinks were the main focus of our images. We were also focusing on capturing the ambience of the café and had to ask permission from the owner or anyone in our images.

Along with the content of our images, we also had to consider some of the techniques we've covered. Like sharply focusing on the food and having the background blurred. We needed to consider shooting as if we were to use these images for advertising. It sounds like a lot of things were asked to be covered for this task so let's just get straight in it. Here are my contact sheets for my images:

For this shoot, we travelled to Leeds because we thought there was more of a variety of cafés and restaurants we could visit. But once we got there, I felt like this wasn't really the case. I think it just made the picture taking harder than it should be. I believed that my pictures weren't good enough for the task and it was pretty much irrelevant. I mean to go into further details as an example was showing the café ambience element. and I felt like a sweet shop and a donut shop didn't really relate to cafés completely. 

Nevertheless, here are my best images:

Documenting styled image

Personally, I think this is my best image from the shoot. This was taken in Trinity Kitchen. I went for this documentary type of image that I've shown in my research and got inspired to create my own. I like how the tomatoes and the lettuce are organised and set up in the back, this is like an additional prop to the image. I like how I've captured this movement with his hand as he chops up the tomatoes. The knife looks nicely in sharp and you can see it shine. The chopped tomatoes are nicely leaning towards one another and I think it's worked great.

Donuts at Krispy Kreme

This is a picture of donuts I took through the glass at Krispy Kreme. I like how there is a slight use of depth of field with the toppings. The lighting was artificial that is coming from the glass stand right above the donuts. This explains why the back tiles are kind of darkened and the donuts are well lit. The picture does have warmth tone to it, I think this makes it a little effective because you could say that the warmth tone makes it feel smooth.

Pink Glaze

Here's another image of pink glazed donuts that were taken out of the glass display. This image also has this warmth tone and I think it makes it look more golden and appealing. The glazing has a nice shine to it and you can really see the details on it. I like how you can see the layers of glazing when you look closely. There is also a small use of depth of field where the focus is more towards the middle and on the glazing.

Wasabi 

This was taken in Wasabi from the fridge. I've taken this in a vertical format because I was trying to focus on the logo. I like how it's centred in the middle and the food is also visible. The lights were from the fridge and you can see that shine on the plastic. On the lower box, you can see the sushi and overall it's a warm toned image.

Sweet shop

This is my final image. This was taken in the sweet shop of these lollies. I like how I've used some depth of field and the background is out of focus. The lighting in the shop was really bad so it was a struggle trying to capture these images hand held because the shutter speed couldn't go any faster. I cropped this image in a square format because I just wanted to include a variation. I think this format works well and the focus is on the lollies.



So after this shoot, I think this was the moment where I needed to revisit the task and shoot again to what I think café was to me. When I generally think of cafés, I think of breakfast, hot drinks, pies, anything along that line. So I did some further research just to ensure I wasn't overthinking or stressing over nothing.

I used google to define café and it says 'a small restaurant selling light meals and drinks'. So when I searched Café Culture Photography, I found these images.

 

These two images are more suitable and more related to associate with cafés in my opinion. They are very much different to my images and  I think these images have inspired me to take appropriate images that is on track with the task. So I've decided to go Bradford by myself and visit individual cafés to shoot. Here are my 2nd attempt contact prints:

This shoot went so much better. I can confidently say that I am happy with my images compared to before. It was quite a challenge in the sense that I had to go and ask for permission but I was confident enough to give it a try, and it was great because then I got to talk to them openly about what I'm doing and they were then helping me out, giving me priority in the kitchen or giving me free tea to shoot with. 

Flat Lay from Research

In this image, I've taken this from a birds eye angle. Also known as a flat lay from my research. I like the technique in this image because it flattens out this cup and saucer and I've included the sugar packets and spoon as a prop. I also arranged it this way so the spoon goes across straight horizontally and the top sugar packet is parallel. I like how the bubbles in the tea are also visible and it just adds a nice touch. The lighting is great in the image, it's bright and the tea looks appealing and milky. It has been shot from a table and it's been composed so that the cup is right in the middle.

In the kitchen

So this was shot at a café in Bradford where they let me enter the kitchen. I was glad that they really helped me shoot behind the scenes of a customer's order that was to be served. So a huge thanks to this lovely café. I like how the plate of food looks really organised. The food really associates with café from my perspective and the colours look very vibrant making the plate look appetising. I like the camera technique where I've used depth of field to make the focus strictly on the food. What works really nice is the background of the cups, plates and the frying machine. Even the steel table its placed on brings out this café theme. I like how the camera is held straight so the plate looks straight, instead of a slanted image that I've touched on in my research. Overall, this is one of my favourite images from the shoot.

Tea break

This is another one of my images from the same café. The reason I like this image is because there is steam coming out from the tea. I focused on the cup and blurred the background. I've managed the capture a waiter, customer and a menu in the back which shows the ambience of the place. I like how I've captured this towards the main door where it's bright so all that light bounces down to the tea making it the focus of the image. The light is almost drawing our eyes to the cup.

Behind the scenes

This is my version of the image that I've used for my research above. It's a documenting type of image of the coffee machine. I like how the focus is sharp on the milk jug, handles and then slowly blurs out. I've included the staff in the background and I think it gives it this café ambience behind the tills. I like how there's little jugs compiled together next to the milk jug. The cleaning cloth is also like an additional prop that works with this image.

Café ambience

The main concept on this image is catching the ambience. The focus is on the drinks and I like how I've captured these two young ladies on either side. The cafe was fairly packed out, and you can see how depth of field is used with the blurred background. There is a nice bright exposure coming from the back because of the window and I think this works nicely because it draws your attention to the drink glasses and you can still see the busy atmosphere at the same time. It's a shame there wasn't any food served at the tables so I had to improvise with the drinks. But a huge thanks to the girls who let me take the image.

Sweeteners 

Here is my final selected image from the shoot. The reason I was drawn to this image was because of the depth of field. I like how it focuses on the closest bowl of sugar packets and blurs in. I think this is a bit like when I covered leading lines, expect the depth of field leads you in to the image. I like how these bowls were aligned in a line so I just had to capture a shot. This links to cafés to me because it's a bowl of sugar near a glass stand. There is also the milk bottle and some cups that are unfocused in the background. 

Overall, I was glad that I went with my instinct and went shooting again because I wasn't happy with my images in terms of content. I had such a fun time asking the customers and the staff for permission because everyone I came across was nice and they were showing interest in what I was doing to then helping me further. I think it was a new challenge for me to ask for permission before I did, but I suppose it helped me build my confidence and now I reckon I could use that skill again when I shoot.