Cakes, Pastries & Desserts

A lot of entrants chose to present their food in a more natural, maybe slightly cluttered setting. You decided on the opposite approach, which really works. Your choice of predominantly red food shows up well against the stark white background, giving the impression of a stylish, fine dining dessert. You have done well to keep the food under "control" during your shot - a lot of potential here for a heap of chopped strawberries and a pool of melted ice cream! A very appealing image, well done.

I have seen this image entered into several other contests, but this is the first time I have pondered longer to try to sum up the success of the picture. I think for me it comes down to the contrasts - the dark pink flowers against the rich orange cake, and the plain white cup & plate against the patterned cake case. Composition is great - the main three objects plus the fork and scattered flowers, with sharp focus on the main cake whilst allowing the other items to softly fall out of focus. Close to being my winning image, I think it was just edged out as I have seen it a few times before, so it has lost that element of initial impact. Still a worthy second place. Well done.

There were several shots of rather beautiful wedding cakes entered into this contest, and overall for me this was the best of those. I like the softness of the lighting which shows lovely detail, but also keeps things gentle. It looks like you have added a texture to the background, which has added softness there too, which enables the cake to be the star of the show. A slightly different composition without the addition of the pink flowers would have been interesting to see too, but I am not sure how much control you had over the set up, and the bride and groom may not have been best pleased if you rearranged the table setting for the purposes of your photograph! Still a beautiful image. Well done.

What places this image in my top three is the way you have so expertly controlled the light to convey a beautiful delicacy to the shot. Your capture of the details in the icing and sugar work is wonderful - accurate focusing, good selection of focus point and perfect exposure, all show all these pretty cakes at their best. Well done on your third placing.

These splash-type photographs always fascinate me. I have never attempted one, but reckon I would just make a big disastrous mess, and end up with no usable image! I commend your patience and effort, unfortunately for this contest I feel it doesn't quite meet the brief - for me a biscuit is neither cake, pastry nor dessert. Thank you for entering though, I am sure it will do well in the crowd vote.

When I initially saw this image, it had a strong impact, and it remained my first place shot throughout the judging. The composition and square crop have been very well considered. I know how difficult it can be to get the set up/placement of objects just right - but you have managed this admirably. Focus, lighting and colour balance are all spot-on for me, making an inviting but natural food capture. This a well-deserved winning image. Congratulations!

I kept coming back to this shot, and for a while it was in and out of my top ten, but I eventually decided it should be placed. The focus on the cheesecake may not be as sharp as it could be, but I really like the richness you have brought to the shot, with the glint from out of focus lights adding extra sparkle. Where you have done especially well is in your choice of aperture setting, which allows the cup and coffee pot in the background to be just recognisable, but not to be a distraction. All this enables that tasty looking cheesecake to be the star of the show. Well done.

You have definitely succeeded here in producing a shot that looks good enough to eat! You have done well to capture the lightness and texture of the sponge with a little glistening ooze of jam. The shot looks to have been taken outdoors, with natural lighting creating very realistic colouring, which all add to making the cake and fruit look most appetising, which is a key point in food photography. I may have been tempted to slightly tone down the brightest green in the top right, but that is only a minor point. I hope the cake tasted as delicious as it looks!

Whilst this shot is on first impression a fairly casual shot of home baking, I think the reality is far different, as it looks to me as if a lot of thought has gone into the placement of the food and other objects in the shot - this sort of set up is never easy to achieve. The rich browns and reds work well together, and I like the your capture of light glinting on the cherries. The addition of a dusting of icing sugar across the muffins helps to put the finishing touches to this tasty looking shot - well done.

A simple shot, which I feel is very effective. For me your choice of focus point is spot on, with the fairycakes in the front showing lovely detail in the icing and sugar sprinkles, with the rest fading gradually out of focus through the shot. Some images tend to be very blurred in the front of the shot too, which I often find quite distracting, but you have steered clear of that pitfall, and produced a lovely shot of some precisely iced and tasty looking little cakes.

This has a lot of potential. I like the lighting which is bright, but you avoided any ugly shadows to spoil the delicate pinks, creams and yellows. What just lets it down for me, and kept it out of the awards, was the background. For me it could maybe have worked better if the path was on both sides, or maybe even better, if you had slightly re-positioned and got the bush on both sides of the girl, with slightly toned down greens to avoid distraction. I appreciate though that your attention was on this rather fabulous cake, and not the shrubbery! Still a photo and a cake to be proud of.