I'm trying to get better at lighting my images, so I am looking for any constructive advice you can give.  Here is a recent shot:



This image was produced with window lighting, and a white board reflector to try to fill in the front of the fruit tart.  I did not utilize a soft box for this shot.

Except for some Curves work, this is pretty much the exposure out of the camera.

I will be ordering a strobist type setup this week.  But even then, I would still like to use window lighting at times.

Dan, the highlights at the back appear to be blown.  Also, watch out for composition in terms of stock sales - what might look good as an 'art' composition doesn't necessarily sell as stock.

For your picture above, note that stock buyers almost always want everything in focus, and the out of focus strawberry will probably destroy sales of this picture.  See how the viewer's eye is drawn to the strawberry and away from the main subject.

Although not as pleasing composition wise, you will get better sales if you remove the strawberry thus giving the flexibility of white space to the buyer.

Nice tart.  Now where's my breakfast.....?

picture looks tasty to me which is probably one of the most important factors in selling food pictures in my opinion
Dan, since I doesn't have any extra lighting equipment except of slave flash and I like natural light many of my photographs done using it, wonder if you used any diffuser between window and basket or you didn't have direct sunlight(my windows look to South)?

Returning to picture, I actually like strawberry on background(but I'm not experienced enough to take my opinion for granted),  something black in bottom right corner disturb me so it would be good to remove IMHO.

i agree with madelaide, I thought that the tart was the subject and the strawberry was just background.  Background info can (and should) be blurry and overexposure is also fine for background material.

I have noticed recently that a lot of popular food shots have the main light from the back, as does this one and I think that works very well.

In food shots is far from unusual to have the main light coming from behind because it helps to define the shape of the food itself.
I don't also see anything wrong with having out of focus objects with blown out highlights but, as Hatman sharply put, here the strawberry catches too much the attention of the viewer to act as an effective background.
Then the other problem is the nature itself of the microstock market. My "arranged" food shots are viewed and sell far less than isolations in microstock agencies.
If you instead browse throught the catalogs of food specialized macrostock agencies you'd find a handful images with "everything in focus", the current trend is to have a very very selective focus to highlight the texture and the "appetizing factor" of the food.
They're different markets that evidently satisfy different porpouses. I'm keeping my "arranged" shots for macro now, they're wasted in micro.

As an example of what I'm saying here is one of my food images with shallow DOF and light from behind (and just two views on IS):


This is my bestseller on IS:


This other instead is a shot (wonderful in my opinion) of a very good food photographer named Michael Ray (http://www.foodportfolio.com/) with main light form behind (then a couple of reflectors and a fresnel spot probably), shallow DOF and blown highligts.

While a great photographer for sure, Lou Manna isn't one of my preferred to be honest (but I ordered his book from Amazon being one of the few completely dedicated to food photography), Ray for my personal tastes is miles ahead for example. But these are personal tastes and opinion, we're still talking about great pros.

About the light is very subjective, I'm actually using continuos (darn cheap) tungsten light and I'm looking to buy in the next months an Elinchrom dual flash setup and a fresnel spot.
In the above shot if I remember correctly the lights are a main light at the back bounced against a large white foam panel (which is very close to a window or a softbox as effect), another light into a DIY softbox at the left and a couple of other white foam panels at the right and above.
I think the above panel is crucial to have a very diffuse light while still keeping the objects from being too flat.

thanks all, in particular to hatman and ale re: the pro or con of " out of focus " in stock photos. i have just started my submission to 3 agencies, and incidently, all my acceptance were "all in focus" and my rejections were just what hatman noted: image out of focus.  even though, as you mentioned the strawberry was NOT the subject , it does seem to the person making the selection as part of the whole.

i am learning very quickly that to err on the safe side. put all in focus,LOL.
the next submission were all accepted.

hey,  i want to stress that all you ppl have helped me a lot in gaining a quick idea between art and working photography (which i have years of experience in), and microstock.

the change in shooting concept wasn't difficult to adjust, but it is a bit of a dr jekyll mr hyde thing for me to get used to.
cheers!