DSLRUsers.com

I'm working on still lifes, trying to use available light where possible.

This was taken with the 50mm f1.4 at f16 and 1/4sec - click pic for larger image:

CricketFan - I have looked and looked at this pic during the day and I feel that it lacks something - maybe the lighting should fade to black towards the back, maybe the fruit needs to have more colour and contrast - I think you are in the right direction but not quite there with this particular shot IMO - sorry mate - but keep em coming

i too saw this earlier today and agree with sirhc55,
the lighting is very plain and uninteresting.
perhaps using a low key lighting shot would help.
anyway its a start, keep shooting!

cricketfan. This is a little dull colourwise. The tomatoes in particular look brown rather than red on my calibrated monitor. Is this a gamut issue (ie do they look better than this in PS than they do on the web)?

Thanx for the feedback. I think you are right.
I had deliberately used an underexposed version for this post, trying to achieve a still-life painting effect. It didn't work.

Here is the correct exposure and also a tighter crop. Do you think it is any better? (Click pic for larger image.)

cricketfan

Much better, although though there's some halation on the edges of the tomatoes.

It is much better. However I think that there needs to be more drama, like have a little guilloteen and the lime is going to be beheaded, and the tomatoes...okay that's silly.

Perhaps some soft shadows would be nice, so more of a prominent light source from one direction, like next to a window, or carefully placed Flash or something.

Another thing I noticed about still lifes is that often I notice that there is a little bit of watery mist on the fruit to make it sparkle, and a fairly shallow depth of field. With the 1.4, shoot fairly wide (not all the way) and place your camera closer so you have exaggerated shallow DOF. Then play with your composition some, and create as much depth as possible, it's nice for the eye to bounce around in the picture going into the middle of it slowly. I'm no pro of course, but this is what I've noticed. Sounds good to me.

I actually prefer the first of these.

The first thing that jumped out at me was how much it did look like a painting, rather than a photo, so, Trevor, for me, you've succeeded in achieving your original target. I also prefer the first crop, would even prefer to see the full platter, rather than having it chopped off on the RH edge as it currently is.

And the "dim" lighting, for me, is a feature; it's understated and muted; exactly what one might expect from a period style painting.

FWIW, I like the first shot the best. The soft light makes the colors look very natural with good detail.