CRIT: Restaurant website photos.

[kevin m.]

I shot these pics two months ago and they got the website up and

running last week. The goal - apart from the obvious one of

attracting customers - was to give a sense of

the place and the youthful energy its new owners bring. As a group,

do they hit that mark?

<p>

Note: All the pics are mine with the exception of the full exterior of

the building. They also put up some pics I included for their

personal use that I don't think should be there because of technical

flaws. (Live and learn!)

<p>

<a href=http://www.natporter.com>Pics Here</a> Most are under "our

flavor." I welcome your

considered opinions.

[corey_wise1]

Like 'em. Alot. Should've had you shoot the outside too.

[mattalofs]

Yeah, I think you hit your mark. Some of hose b&w one's have very nice tonal range (film or digital?). Some of the more abstract stuff does a good job of setting off the more active shots. I'd be curious which ones you think have technical flaws.

[furcafe]

Works for me.

[warrenlewis]

As a group of photos, they are excellent. If you ever come down to North Carolina let me know....come shoot our bistro. The photos show personalities as well as quiet movement. Real keys, in my mind, to a restaurant. The web site makes me uneasy as a consumer. Really cool and trendy. In my experience, really cool and trendy tends to just miss alittle bit. Chef observation. The wait staff is carrying out entree plates in their bare hands, which tells me the hot food is on not hot plates. First rule of cheffing, hot food, hot plates, cold food, cold plates. I showed this web site eo some chef buddies and all 3 of them noticed that right away. I would probably order the monkfish.....Warren

[peter_white2]

If I were the restaurant owner, I would have had you come in and take a few shots with people eating. All we see are empty tables, except for the one image of people at the bar. Otherwise, very nice.

[steve deer]

kevin

 

these are very impressive... if you were uk based, you'd be on my 'must hire' at the

soonest opportunity list.

[daniel j. alexander]

"If I were the restaurant owner, I would have had you come in and take a few shots with people eating."

 

Good point!

[maddav_maddav]

Nice pictures, nice website !

[leica ron]

Great job ... you've captured an essence with your images.

 

I read a certain ambiance and the food looks delicious. Looks like a great place for a quick drink too.

 

If all of the above are true, you've done a great job capturing the place.

[ishik_tuna]

the whole web site seems a little on the "dark" side. excellent photography.

[edhebert]

In a true "small world" scenario...I'm the guy that designed the natporter.com website! And I've never met Kevin before. I'm also a Leica/rangefinder user, and read this board with daily frequency (infrequent posts, more of a lurker).

 

I have to sat that Kevin's photographs made the design of this site much easier and enjoyable. As someone who's been to this restaurant, I agree that he's captured its essence very well, and with a true artistic eye.

 

Re: the site design... there's agreeably a darker, "cinematic" feel to the site. Its design evolved from adapting their site to some of their printed collateral, which had a similar treatment (with lines shooting over graphic images, etc). It made the client happy, which is really my job I guess!

 

Funny coincidence! Great photographs, Kevin. Thanks again.

 

Ed

 

my own photo stuff (taken with leicas and other old rangefinders) is at www.edhebert.com

[andrew_lee2]

Welcome back!

[michael_matsil]

Hi Kevin. Great effort. I think that the portfolio of images that show the ambiance, the

comradarie of the staff and customers and the restaurant vignettes are great and really

telegraphs to me what it would be like to be there. Not an easy thing to do. One

exception: when the images got close to the cuisine, they simply don't make the food look

that great or at least don't make it clear. I can see that most of the images are

'editorial' in nature and therefore are not about showing off a pristine dish...but you get

close to that in a few images and I feel those fall short. Perhaps some more imagery

should

be

dedicated to showing off the look of the dishes. The food in the images should look as

good and

preferably better than it looks in person. Anything less and you're selling yourself short

and turning customers away. Better yet, perhaps you should take another approach which

is to go all editorial

with your photography and just remove the questionable dish shots ( I think you know

which ones they are.) I place a high value on environment when I dine out and so do many

others, so the strong editorial nature of the site can do you a lot of good, to just get

people

through the door the first

time....then the food will do the trick to get them back again.

 

So...overall I

think your site and photography are 90% good, it just needs to be edited a bit more to

keep

the idea stronger. Good luck!

[patricks]

Kevin, that is first rate stuff - you should be very proud! Great ambiance in the images, I think they really set an inviting atmosphere. Now I want to go there!!! :-)

 

Details?

[lutz]

Kevin and Ed, that's a super site, congrats! The pics are outstanding, no "flaws" here, I kept clicking and clicking... :-) How did you approach the task, Kevin? Why and when b&w vs. color? Which camera(s)? I think you well invited me for dinner over there - it's a pity that RI is a bit off my track and that Jen, the owner, is maried already - but so am I...! ;-)

[geoff_sturm]

Great stuff, I just have a bit of a problem with the way the pictures go dim before you have time to really get a look at them. Otherwise, nice shots, nice site (if a little heavy on the flash).

[kevin m.]

Wow, thanks for all the responses! Small world is right, Ed. I meant to ask Nigel and Jen who did their website, never suspecting a fellow Leica forum inhabitant! I'll be calling you when I'm ready to do my own, if that's ok with you.

 

Thanks for the critique, Michael. The shots that bug me the most are the stationary food shots. The lighting in the kitchen was fluorescent, so the color flash shots have color temperature problems. They were all shot during Saturday dinner rush, but to get really good-looking food, I should go back and reshoot some of the dishes on an off night, and with better control of the lighting.

 

All the color is Fuji NPH, Canon EOS-3, mix of available light and flash. The B&W was T400CN, Leica M6TTL, all available light. Lutz, I just carried both cameras with me and shot either B&W or color whenever it seemed right. ;-)

[dirk-san1]

Excellent job.

 

I suspected a "different" camera for the colour, because of the 2nd curtain sync flash, if I

am not mistaken. Which works very well, BTW.

 

As for the site, I don't like intros (and the obligatory "skip this intro" for that matter) and

realistically I wonder who would be clicking through all the (admittedly great) pics. It

would be great if those photos would make it into a printed brochure, like for events/

parties or whatever. They definitely communicate an atmosphere.