Clementine from a newbie

[Toon No 9]

1/60 Second
f5.6
300D - with Kit Lens

Evening all - I'm new to this, and although not "brand new" to photography am very much a novice !
Please be gentle with me !
This is one of the first pictures i have taken with my new 300D. I am extremely glad I have stumbled across this forum, as it has proved very helpful to trawl through the postings and find people are in the same position as me.
Promise I won't post anything like this again.
But will be back asking you guys for help with regard - well - almost everything. Starting with choosing a 75-300 lens.
Anyway - let me know what you think - I'm interested in every comment.
Cheers in advance

[Hellashot]

The picture doesn't do anything for me. To me it's just an ordinary picture of fruit.

[dewmuw]

Are you Alan Shearer? Toon No9 :)

For me it is just a picture of a fruit in a bowl - depends what you want to use it for. I've tried taking lots of pictures of fruit and it is hard to do - so keep trying.

[GaryTorello]

Hiya Toon!

First off, let me say I am NO expert when it comes to taking shots - but am good at critiquing anything :eek:

I'm on this forum since my better half (KarinaB1970) is the photographer who I assist and encourage as much as possible. My expertise in this arena lies with photoshop, graphic arts, and digital imaging. Buuut, my 10+ years of working with others digital images and having to select/modify/adapt/direct imagery for various commercial tasks has given me some insight into the subject and certainly taught me what to look for in selecting a good image. :wink:

All that said; some suggestions and constructive criticism to perhaps improve the above shot:

Diffused lighting should help elliminate the glare on the fruit.. Since fruit is fairly easy to convince to stand still, try a tripod, longer shutter speeds, good natural light and no flash.

Also noted is that the slightly out of focus fruit is somewhat bothersome, personally I like to see DOF used in such a way that it's either obviously supposed to be out of focus at a certain plane, or in this case I'd suggest a larger f-stop to get more of the fruit in focus. Speaking of more fruit, some more fruit "underneath" would also elliminate us seeing any bowl surface inbetween the pieces.

Last but not least, select your fruit very carefully to elliminate bruises and such. (minor ones can be photoshopped out).

Anyway, good job for attempting and sticking your neck out asking for a critique!

Gary

[jO3]

Too many different colors for me. I see Yellow, Orange, Green, Red, Black... And nothing seems to be focused, except for the glare of the wax from the orange.

I don't know, but honestly, to me, the textures of the orange itself doesn't match, just simply because of the porous exterior of the orange mixed with the glossy finish of the wax... It's like a double-negative to me.

For your next attempt, I'd recommend taking out all other fruits except for fruits with the same texture. Perhaps Grapefruit, limes, or lemons. I would also wipe off all the excess wax from the fruit to eliminate unnecessary gloss and glare.

Mess around, and see what your eye comes up with. Good luck!