*Critique Club*
Overall
You use a very limited orange-centred colour palatte to create a homey, soft, comfortable feeling. Viewers are tempted to eat your offering, which is the point of the photograph. In this, you succeeded well in creating the mood. However, the colour limitations also tend to obscure key details, the syrup itself, the edge of the plate, the sense of runnyness of the syrup.
I like the precise dof used. The subject is very crisp and the fork is placed outside. The fork adds a human touch, we feel that someone is going to eat the waffle soon, but isn't a key element. Your dof brings out this very nicely.
I'm not certain that you're totally aware of your subject. There's a sense of confusion between the waffle and the syrup. If the subject is the waffle, the present placing is fine. But if the subject is the syrup, you need to consider ways to bring that out more.
Composition
You've placed the waffle dead in the centre of the shot, making it the key subject, not the syrup. I wonder if a much lower camera angle pointing to the place where the syrup runs off the waffle might have created a more dynamic effect and place the emphasis on to the syrup? The strawberry and the fork create a nice line, unbalancing the centred waffle.
Lighting
Here is the main problem - desk lamps tend to give an orange cast. Here, too much, I feel. You need to counter this using your white balance setting. I realise that you went for the orange glow, but viewers know that, for example, the plate is white, so the final effect is slightly unnatural. Also, the strawberry is hidden by too much shadow. You can position your lights at different distances to simultaneously provide light and depth. Same distance placing weakens any feeling of depth. For example, in this shot, you could put 1 lamp to the immediate left as the main light source and the other about 30cm further away to the front to help counterbalance the strong shadow.
Suggestions (take 'em or leave 'em as you will)
Fix the colour balance.
Set up the lights as suggested.
Get real close. A macro shot on the point where the syrup falls from the waffle. Use a slowish shutter speed to capture the drip.
Get out, wide. Show a human about to dive into the waffle. Focus on the emotion, the mixture of anticipation and expectation.
Clean up the syrup.
Use a differently-coloured plate, one that contrasts with the yellowish syrup, a blue, perhaps.
Change the composition. Subjects that are bang in the middle are often lacking in interest.
Gosh darn it, more food! This has been an agonizing voting round! I like the shot overall, the placement/framing, the idea. It seems a bit washed out and/or overly yellow at the top third or so; the bottom third is much better.
Meets the challenge. I like the composition a lot, a second strawberry would've made it more complete for me though. Like the cropped off fork in the background, it rounds things off nicely. I think you deliberately went for those warm orangey hues, for my personal taste they are a little too much, almost as if your white balance is off. Still, overall, I kinda like your shot :)
It's a little hard to see the maple syrup with this color plate and I like the addition of the strawberry. The exposure also appears to be uneven with the top of the photo overexposed, and the bottom slightly underexposed.
Sumptous colours... I think you could adjust the levels a tad to get more dark and light, it looks a litlle washed out to me at the moment. Nice lighting. 8
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