My first attempt at lighting - I used a hugh powered flash light (over kill?)...anyway, I did have fun using the opaque painted glass for reflection. It was a fun challenge.
I reshot this and learned to fool around with manual settings and softer lighting using a desk lamp and a sheet for filtering.
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Deb
You had a great idea for this - still life studies work really well and many others entered the challenge with the same approach. The reflective surface adds a nice touch to your image. I think with a single orange, a softer light source, and toned down saturation, you would be on your way.
I think you did go overkill on the lighting. The bright spots on the oranges and the super-saturated colors impacted people's impressions of the photo (including mine).
Compare the intensity and harshness of the lighting in your image to that of this entry by parallax that achieved 5th place using the same subject as yours.
Soft lighting, modest f-stop (f11) and low key really provided and inviting image with no blown out sections and allowed us to see the details and textures of the leaf, water drops, and skin of the orange.
Another area where you may have gone overkill was the use of multiple oranges. With a single light focused light source, you will end up with significant shadows - these can add drama or add distraction. In the case of your image, they created some unattractive color bands on the other oranges.
As we have talked about before, simplicity is good.
I would really recommend trying to reshoot this using a softer light source and only one orange. Remember to keep the f-stop in the middle to increase the depth of field.
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