Another still life !

Continuing my still life theme....here is another one ..indoor shot this time.

I'd see improvements in using softer lightsource, but mostly would recommend this:
Whenever photographing something that is commonplace, Use absolutely flawless specemins.
Unless rot, mold, insects or other flaws are part of the story your trying to tell with your image, the food/flowers/produce should be perfect.

Thanks for the comments Don... I guess I kind of liked the gnarled and straggly look, but I know what you mean.

if you liked it then it was right.
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I like the imperfections in the onions. They match up with the tiles to give a rustic look. Much more real than if they were perfect, since when was the last time you saw 3 perfect onions together?

I do too.

But I think I'd like it even more without the lemon, since one lemon with several onions seems a bit random to me.

How much less random would two lemons be?

G

Half as random, of course! And if there were enough lemons, it would be the onions that were random

Just a slightly contrived combination I think - onions and a lemon. Just my subjective reaction, FWIW.

Er guys....I think this image has a message, something on the lines of "know your onions"

Anyway, thats it, next time I prepare a stir fry your going to get the lot, as long as I dont touch my K10D with smelly onion fingers or get black bean sauce on the lens everything should be jus fine

Ah... nice one, then, in that case. That hadn't occurred to me. In that context, I withdraw 'random'.

This is another example of what I was banging on about a while back, where the intention, or purpose of the photograph has a great bearing on whether one likes it or not - and, dare I say, whether it's any good, although obviously that's very subjective as well.

If the purpose of the picture is to get across the 'know your onions' theme, then I think it works very well, and has humour, as well as rich colour and detail as well. It's the incongruity of sticking a lemon with a bunch of onions that makes the point, and makes it well.

However, if, as the title implied, it's a still life, with the focus on the vegetables in the context of the rustic-looking tiles, then as I say, I think the incongruity of the lemon detracts from, rather than adds to the composition.

Of course, often, knowing the real intent is impossible, so we just end up with a lot of subjective impressions, based on what we imagine the purpose to be.

Ok I think you are all quite close to discovering the sublim(e)inal message in my picture !

Ah, OK the shot is for people who "know their onions" and "can spot a lemon when they see one". Very Good.