Tomato

[J-F]

Hi folks, I'm new to the forum and new to photography in general. I recently acquired a Canon Rebel XT and used the lens that comes with it for a while. Last week I got a Sigma 70-300 lens and I love the possibilities it offers. I took this shot this afternoon in my kitchen and would like some suggestions as to what I can improve next time.

Obviously the photo has been post-processed in photoshop, but nothing major. I only killed the blue background and tweaked the levels. Ah yeah, and I cropped it off-center on purpose (I wanted to catch some of the dirt on the right).

Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks

 

[JohnMF]

hi J-F, welcome to the forum

i find the steel basin thing the tomato is leaning against a little distracting and it cuts off that intresting background a bit soon for me (maybe that can be manipulated in photoshop).

Maybe a bit more saturation aswell, to make the tomato really pop out

 

[Chase]

Its a nice sharp shot, interesting to the eye, but I don't feel the tomato stands out enough against the background. Possibly just more light on the tomato may make a big difference for me. My attention keeps going towards the background as it stands now.

Definitely not a bad shot at all though!

 

[terri]

Throw more light on your subject. Not enough to make a hot spot, mind you, just show us some red. The bright red of your subject, with the attractive drops of water, contrasted against the black & white background is probably what you had in mind when you placed it there. But it's backlit, so the color is lost.

I like the idea though, so try it again! :thumbup:

 

[J-F]

Thanks for the quick replies guys! It's incredible what you pointed out; things I never thought about.

John: I had tried to saturate the reds a bit more but it looked too harsh. You're right about the abrupt cut-off generated by the background, it's far from ideal.

Chase: Thanks. The lack of light is something I noticed when I was taking the picture and it frustrated me because I just didn't have the equipment to generate more light. I tried pulling huge sheets of aluminum foil to reflect the outdoor light but to no avail, it was too soft. Looks like I'll need to get myself at least a fill light if I want to experiment with these type of shots...

terri: Actually that's not exactly what I had in mind to be honest! I simply sat the tomato there with not much thought. I will have to give it a thought when I setup a similar scene in the future, it's definitely something to watch for.

Thank you all for your comments and encouragement, I will experiment some more.

 

[Chase]

I think you're onto a really good shot there, but lack of equipment is always a pain. Either time to purchase some stuff or see how creative you can get!