PHOTO of FRUIT

What do you ppl think about this photo? Is it done well or do you have any suggestions.

technically, it seems fine. don't think there's anything here that makes me excited. could be i'm not a fruit picture person.

I would say that to consider shooting still life fruit, look to the old masters:

zigi_S said:

Gustave Courbet
Paul Cezanne
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Paul Gauguin

Click to expand...

etc.

The reason being, these guys when they were goin to paint some fruit, knew they were going to invest a great deal of time and effort producing the work, they therefore studied composition, lighting, texture, contrast and juxtaposition amoung many other things.

Even if you were to just try to replicate their work in photography that would be a very interesting start... And probably very rewarding for you.

My comments on your image is it is a little lacking in contrast (shadows and highlights showing the shape and or texture of the fruit), and its composition is a little unnatural, as a pile of fruit as an island in blackness, this style may work better as a crop.

On the plys the colours are very good, you have chosen fruit that have a fresh appealing look with a very tidy grouping.

I think you would enjoy trying the replicate the work of the old masters.

Ab

--

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” - Albert Einstein

E-3, E-300, 50mm f2, 35mm f3.5, Sigma 105mm f2.8, 12-60, 14-45 kit

I think it's a very nice shot -- good colors, nice composition, sharp. Looks like you took some time to arrange the fruit in a pleasing set up. Did you use a flash? Which camera and settings were you using?

You might try posting this on the regular Oly forum -- people there may have more comments for you. I, for one, am a big fan of food pictures.

Susan
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http://www.pbase.com/susan_1016

Haha thanks for your comment.

Yes it's not "the photo". I still learn the technics and i dont have that much gear to be choosy about my motives. Only the standard zuiko lens.

Excellent tip. Thank you very much.

Hi Susan. Thank you for your comment.

As for the camera i used. Its a E-410 with the standard zoom kit lens. I didnt use flash, because of the harsh lightning, blown highlights and shadows it produces.

This photo is to me more about colors than composition. I like strong fresh vivid colors in front of a black background.

I would try a sqeeze of lemon juice and a good spoonfull of whipped cream - lovely!!

Best wishes
Steve
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UK Olympus Safari Group Member
UK Photo Safari Group Events : http://www.ukphotosafari.org

http://www.stephenelliottphotography.co.uk

Thank you.

Lovely pictures u have in the banner.

Jaggies on the background indicate that the black was added as a PP effort?

I like my fruit shots with contrast - here's one I did that is very popular (many views).



I think your shot could use more lighting effort to bring out some of the textures in the fruit themselves. The kiwi is really very bland - I would like a nice sheen on it indicating it was just cut.

Colors are good in your shot, as is the exposure. Composition is OK.

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Good shooting.

• Adam

Equipment in plan

Thank you.

I'm no still life expert, but I like it, and what I might have done different is probably purely a matter of taste (no, wasn't thinking about using other kinds of fruit ;-) – but I probably would have made it slightly brighter (except the backround), and maybe I would have tried to arrange the strawberries in the foreground so that they look a little bit less arranged, "in file" ;-)

Cheers,
Robert

One thing that things like fruit, ice cream, and the "fresh" foods have is a translucent "subsurface scatter" quality. When light penetrates the interior, it bounces around the liqud and glows. Like skin, or fine alabaster or marble. Try to utilize this quality and get some strong light shining behind, or at least at a 90 degree angle to create strong contrast. Use bounce cards on other side, or a fill flash to keep the shadows from going completely dark. check exposure to make sure nothing is blown out. Mist the fruit to introduce water droplets for interesting surface effects. I like the suggestion of old dutch masters paintings, but check out Walter Murch's atmospheric stuf too.

zigi_S said:

What do you ppl think about this photo? Is it done well or do you
have any suggestions.

Click to expand...

I want to start doing stuff like this, so thanks for the inspiration. What I don't like here is the black background, but I know you like it. I also think the fruit can be presented more 'glowy', like it's in sunlight or something.

I really haven't attempted something like this, so I hope to try something like it soon. How did you light this?

Only daylight through the window used. I had to block the direct light. Used black cloth for background and books for blocking direct light. Shutter was about 2 seconds opened.

I recalled an old thread with a photo I thought at the time was spectacular:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=25766909
It does a lot of what the other commenters have suggested.

The light seems very warm, notice the strong yellow cast to the highlights on the strawberries.

I think there are too many strawberries too, fewer objects better placed.

AoxoA

zigi_S said:

Only daylight through the window used. I had to block the direct
light. Used black cloth for background and books for blocking direct
light. Shutter was about 2 seconds opened.

Click to expand...

Alright thanks for the info. I bet this is harder than it looks, but I will give it a try soon.

A couple of ok suggestions from others but to my eye you have done a splendid job, I would not change a thing, Bravo!

Thank you very much.