A very good topic - I like the picture that Nicole posted - very nice.
Photos are a very important part of this forum for conveying the essence of our interests. Photos showing the fruit, insides of the fruit, leaves, our set ups and figs in the outdoor environment are all fun to share and are informative on different levels.
We all may be faced with various limitations which include limitations of our camera equipment, or skill level challenges. Despite the limitations, I am very appreciative of much of what is shared via the photographs that are loaded on the forum. I will however, outline a few aspects that I think are important and some possible solutions.
I have been involved with photography most of my life and love to take photos. I use a Canon D5 and love having complete manual control over every aspect of what I can control. For me, the lack of some manual control makes getting the photo I am trying to make very difficult. I think that there are common shared frustrations with the automatic cameras that might include difficulty getting the subject in focus and occasional color balance issues.
Focus - There was a time when we may have had more control with this aspect of photography, but with the newer point and shoot cameras it can be a challenge focussing on smaller objects that are not part of the larger scene or focussing on something close up because of macro limitations of the equipment. Sometimes there might be menu options in the small cameras that allow for close up photos. Another option would be to take a photo further away and then crop it.
Focus is also affected by the shutter speed. If you are in a low light situation, your camera will adjust the speed and if you are not holding the camera still, it will be fuzzy. A tripod is one solution or brace yourself against a solid object.
Lastly, focus is a matter of the depth of field which is related to the aperture opening. A smaller aperture opening gives us a greater depth of field meaning that distance points of a greater degree of separation from one another will be in focus. When taking a photo in low light, the shutter speed is slower and the aperture will be more open. A wide open aperture results in a very narrow depth of field.
With close up (macrophotography), depth of field is even more limited, making it more challenging for example, to have an entire fig fruit in focus. There are ways around this...
Color balance & lighting - For most folks this is an elusive concept, one we really don't concern ourselves with. However, we do certainly notice when our photo's color doesn't look right. This of course can be an issue if we are trying to truly convey the color of the fruit. All of the digital cameras adjust the color balance automatically and not all have ways to control it manually. Auto balance systems I think, look for something "white" in the scene and try to balance the color temp based on that. They don't always get it right.
Your camera may have some color balance options that include automatic, daylight, cloudy, shade, tungsten & fluorescent light. Some more advanced cameras may have the option for you to use a grey card and customize the color balance. Another option is to adjust the color balance using a program like Photoshop, but that starts adding more complexity.
Other solutions might include:
a) Taking a photo in good bright diffuse light. Diffused light is best to avoid a contrasty picture. A bright cloudy day might work well or taken in bright shade so that the light is diffuse (evenly bathing the subject in light). A piece of "bright white" paper in a corner of the photo may be beneficial for the more automated cameras to calculate the correct color balance - perhaps others could share some knowledge about this.
b) Using your flash option - usually it is balance properly so that "white" is actually white and that the colors come out correctly. There is however, a chance of creating unwanted shadows.
Exposure - Usually automatic mode might be adequate but sometimes it can be fooled. If you are taking a photo of a dark fig on a dark background, the camera may overcompensate by overexposing the picture. The opposite issue might occur if you are taking a photo of a light colored fig on a very light/bright background. The camera will underexpose the photo. If manual override is not an option, one solution might be to use a neutral background.
Composition - Sometimes I think we have a good natural ability to frame photos well. I think that it also can take some time to understand this concept and do it well.
Related to composition are the use of available backgrounds or backdrops to enhance the subject. Jon does this with most of his fig fruit photos, using a dark background or using a photo program to complete the process. Jon talked about this in a posting a long while back.
So these are just some quick comments and thoughts. Hopefully some of this will be useful - I could write much more but wanted to keep this at a reasonable length. Perhaps others will elaborate or add some additional useful techniques. I think it would also be very useful to know which smaller cameras are capable of taking extraordinary fig photos.
Ingevald