Restaurants, Takeaways and Food Stores

I really like this as it's an intriguing situation - and I think it's a strong frame (albeit, I presume with the horizontals corrected in post production) but I'm curious as well as what we can't see because of the extreme crop. That said, I do think it works so well done for making a striking and interesting frame.

Almost perfect. I really like the man cooking at the hot plate and his expression and movement give a really good impression of his restaurant... but oh, the guy behind I'm afraid has, through no fault of his own (I'm sure he's being friendly and simply reacting in a way he thinks you want him to) rather ruined it for me. Sometimes we can be polite (if the scene is not of journalistic importance and integrity) and intervene - but sometimes we just have to smile and carry on. Nicely done though.

This has the potential of an interesting image - the gesture, the face - but it lacks both timing and critical framing. I like the angle and the set-up and I don't even mind that the serving woman's face is partly obscured by the painted character on the window. But I get no sense of the customers - it's up to the photographer to balance the frame between the two. It's a good potential image though and with a little more thought could have bene great.

What a shame. This is almost lovely but if you're going to make such a simple picture, you have to make sure that everything is right. Here the photographer has cut off the bottom part of the frame and it jars and makes the composition less satisfying. I'm also slightly bothered by the reflection of the customer in the glass - but with the slightly lopsided tree artfully bisecting the frame this could have been great. Anyway, well done for seeing.

There is a lovely picture here but again the issue of one of framing. I really like the smoke agains the blue background and that gives the perfect opportunity to set the figures off against it - but one has his head buried behind a flower pot... As photographers we have to move ourselves around a scene to make it harmonious. Nearly.

This is quite Eggleston-esque and all the better for that - but crucially the background (through and around the car) is quite distracting. Especially the yellow pillar. There IS an image here and it's almost this but a careful bit of re-framing might have helped. Nicely seen though.

The simplicity of this is its strength. I really like the round shapes and the peek of tea (coffee?) in the mug. The triangular shadows add a nice depth but the difference between the shadows and the highlights are almost too much. An accurate exposure would have made this into something great - but well done for seeing the potential.

Really, strong graphic sense here and I'm struck by just how pleasing to the eye this is. One meanders around the frame picking out little details - like a stray leg or the child in a pushchair. Sometimes good photography is as much as looking for visually stimulating and different ways to see the world.

Lovely. I get a real sense, firstly of what's going on and secondly, the warmth of the experience. This is an image that is balanced and simple - and all the better for that. A good exposure against the smoke ensures that we can clearly see the face and hands and explains the movement. Nicely done.

I think this is smashing. I love the angle and the sense of anticipation of the man looking at his food before he dives in. The simplicity of the image makes one realise that sometimes it's possible to reduce a photograph to its bare essentials and still remain informative and aesthetically pleasing. That it's shot on an iPhone simply reinforces the notion that the best camera is the one you had with you.

This image isn't perfect but I like it - almost entirely for capturing the noodle slurping of the child. How to improve? Tricky against such a busy background and I can see the wide aperture has worked a bit... but sometimes we have to move ourselves around and perhaps a higher angle might have eliminated some of the distracting street scene. Still, well done.

This is a cracking effort and pretty well framed but it is crucially and critically out of focus - and food photography like this has to have at least one point sharp. It is however easily fixed. Your ISO is very low and you're shooting at only 1/60th... Most food photographers will use a tripod for this kind of work and, to be honest, be a little more careful not to blow the highlights as you've done here on the plate's edges and foam... but these things can be fixed next time - it's the composition tat gets the good marks. Good effort however.

Nicely seen and done. Frames within frames. Looks decently exposed but there's a bit of camera shake I think (or is that too enthusiastic sharpening and saturation?). A higher ISO would help here but ultimately if you're shooting at 1/60th you need to be at least 1/125th I suggest to nail sharpness. However, well done.

I like this a great deal - it's atmospheric, colourful and has a moment that you've captured pretty well. This is always a tricky situation in which to make a clean shot: - the background with the two (?) figures is distracting so I'm wondering if a lower angle - or a change of side (from the customer) might have helped but that said, a good effort.

I think that this is terrific. A really nice frame that expresses both a spontaneous emotion and a bit of the character of the chef. Kitchens are really tricky places to work in: they're small, cramped, full of red-hot things and stressed and stressful people. This works well but I can see another chef's whites at the bottom right and I wonder if you'd have moved an inch or so to your left whether we'd have ad more of the main character's arm - but for all that this is a great effort.

Nicely done here with echoes of Stephen Shore and his documentation of the everyday. A nice cool colour palette broken by the red of the car and the 'cafe' sign. It screams American mid-West and emptiness despite its Cornish location. The overhead wires take you out to a highway that is never quite revealed. If I'm picky I'd have liked a tiny bit more elevation to isolate the car - but this is a strong, thoughtful frame.

I really like this - as much for its simplicity and what it doesn't say as much as what it does. A good, simple composition allows the eye to wander and inevitably rest on the resigned face of the stall holder. Often a straight-on stare doesn't work but it's the expression that carries this - nicely framed by the irregular pattern of the stall's awning and the vegetables. Nice.