Wow, Laura, I’m impressed. It has been SO fun to see your growth in photography! VERY well done with the lighting. And like others mentioned, you were successful in making all the food look appealing! Second shot is my favorite as well.
With the first shot, one of the things that’s giving it such energy is the angle the board is placed on the tablecloth. The diagonal lines are certainly giving a sense of energy. Plus there are checkers on the cloth, giving action as well. If you wanted it to be more of a “restful” shot, you’d want to line the board up with the tablecloth so they were both going straight in the same direction. I’m not sure how much leeway you have with cropping, you might be able to just crop out the tablecloth altogether and manage a crop that looks something like what I attached (that is, where the edge of the screenshot cropped, not where the crop overlay is). 🙂
