On Monday, November 30, 2020 at 8:37:43 AM UTC-5, songbird wrote:
Nyssa wrote:
...
I've had similar problems doing food photography. Lighting,
presentation, and color correction among the problems
I'm seeing.

I've snagged a few books on food photography and hope
to find time over the winter to actually read some of
them and do some practicing with my complicated DSLR
that seems smarter than me.

Perhaps some of the hints and techniques in the food
photography books might point you in the right direction
to figure out how better to photograph your beans and
other garden-y things?
most of the time when i take pictures outside or the
less close up things i'm happy with how those turn out.
but i will certainly look into those topics.

as for color balance and lighting they have a few
gadgets for that which help (a color chart/card with
the black and white squares for white balance) and
one which lets you adjust your screen so it is showing
colors closer to what you are seeing.

those are two of the gadgets i'll be adding to the
things here.

the other items i need would be some barriers to
block light coming in from the windows and patio door
so that the light is more consistent and those will
also be white reflecting surfaces to help even out
shadows and reflections.

i was hoping for just a bit more depth of field on
the macro zoom lens so we'll see if i can get that or
not and if not, do i want to use a different lens
instead or what.
Nyssa, who never quite got the hang of her old Nikon
film SLR now has even more problems figuring out her
newer Nikon DSLR
i'm happy with most of how the new camera is working
out, but yes, plenty to learn.


songbird

Another thing to consider is the total composition of the picture, after such things as light and color as mentioned above. I've learned over the years to take several pictures of something then keep the best. While focusing on the pumpkin, I'd sometimes overlook the fact that my shadow was in the picture, distracting from the subject. Or some shots might use the light better than others to get a better image of the subject.

Or a wide shot might include something you don't want to include, like a garbage can or a pile of discarded landscape fabric. On the other hand, sometimes you get a lucky accident, like the time I took a picture of our newly-constructed greenhouse just as our black cat was walking past the doorway.

Paul