watermelon

[stefanie_s]

Trying to get an interesting shot of watermelon to give to an organic farmer. I tried a few different positions and whew. I dunno! Any ideas?

[jiminyClickit]

stefanie_s, Welcome

I moved your thread to Composition because it's missing enough information for viewers to give a good Critique. There are Critique guidelines:

Critique Forum Rules

Feel free to add information and repost in Critique tomorrow.

[private]

I would saturate the colors - even though most seedless watermelon generally is not very red, its what most people expect when they see watermelon...

[stefanie_s]

The exif info (if that's what you're referring to?) is embedded in the photo, but it's fine here in composition. Are we required to ask specific questions? But thanks for moving it and not deleting it.

About the saturation, I had increased the saturation of the reds in RAW and it looked a little fake when I did that. I suppose that's acceptable though.

I was hoping for a natural look since it's an organic farm, that's what people focus on. I was hoping to get critique or ideas on placement of the watermelon to show it off a little better. Maybe the placement it good then? It seems there's only so much you can do with a couple of pieces of watermelon. lol. I didn't want to go with the typical chunk of melon sitting on a platter that we usually see in ads. I guess I'll just up the saturation a little and print it out. Thanks for the reply, private ^^

[starrylaurie]

Have you tried putting a piece or two on it's side? You know, so you see the triangle... <) and maybe stacking them? I agree with private, I think the saturation is a good idea. Even though it's an organic farm, they proabably want people to look at the picture and have their mouths water from it.

I've not tried it, but have been told that you can get a can of spray acrylic (I think - if not, just get the clearcoat in the spray can --glossy) and spray whatever food you're photographing and it will give it that fresh, juicy, watering look.

HTH

[jiminyClickit]

stefanie_s

Composition doesn't ask much beyond the right size of photograph. That's why I put your thread here. You can ask questions; Technique is more about discussion than Critique, but nearly anything you discuss can be like Critique.

Pure white in a background raises almost no reaction. Any color tint (like the pink in your shot) can evoke a feeling beyond the watermelon. Organic suggests purity = white.

Imagine a woodstrip picnic basket, lids closed, pointy slices of melon lined up overlapping on top of lids, grass in the background.

Or, open basket, pure white napkins inside, 3 or 5 slices of melon arranged overlapping, pokerhand-style inside on cloth, all grass background just barely outlining a slightly diagonal basket

Or, kitchen window sill, very clean white paint, window open, one slice of melon, rind end down, bucolic scene blurred well in background (clothes drying on a line, kids on a swing, etc)

[stefanie_s]

Good ideas! Thanks very much. I'd have to make quite an effort to get out and get the props to do any of those ideas, but they're quite good! One thing I was going to try was putting balls of the melon in a parfait glass and see how that works out. Thank you all for the input! It's greatly appreciated.