Christmas Food

These "pigs in blankets" certainly look many steps up from those purchased in a supermarket, and no doubt a whole lot more tasty too. The food has been captured in a way that conveys the smell and the taste to the viewer, making the dish look appetising and appealing, which is so important in food photography. Lighting is good and allows the food to glisten, all set off against the dark plate and surround. The rosemary sprigs add colour contrast and freshness. Congratulations on your winning image.

I love this little arrangement of tasty-looking cakes, nicely presented with a few props that are most appropriate to the type of food and to the season. Lighting and colouring across the scene if good, keeping everything looking natural, which is most important when photographing food where the aim has to be to convey something looking as it would taste delicious and tempting us in to take a bite. Great image, well done on your top ten placing.

A great still life arrangement, carefully composed and framed to keep everything looking quite natural whilst making the most of presenting some tempting goodies. Whether shop-bought or homemade, the inclusion of the little mesh sifter and sprinkles of icing sugar help persuade the viewer that the cakes are homemade, fresh from the oven, and all the more tasty for it. The golden bokeh highlights in the background help create a warm seasonal feel too. Great work, well done on your top ten placing.

The bright red sugary sprinkles really draw the eye to this arrangement of star-shaped biscuits, along with the little pops of green creating a rather festive display. Focus is sharp on the goodies in the foreground, with the more distant cookies falling softly out of focus. This technique helps prevent the scene from becoming too"busy", but inform us that luckily there seem to be plenty to go around! Congratulations on your third place finish.

A beautiful high key image of a plate of Christmas cookies, with added raspberries to make them more healthy! Photographically the raspberries add a lovely pop of rich red colour, drawing the eye onto the plate of biscuits. Quite a lot of entries in this contest contained rather generic foodstuffs, which I suppose could be eaten at Christmas but maybe not strongly representing the season. Here however you have been careful to include little touches of detail, such as the snowflake design on the glass, which keeps things beautifully tied in with the theme, leaving the viewer in no doubt that this is seasonal fare. Control of the exposure is spot on; nice and bright but not overly so. Congratulations on your second place finish.