Originally posted by tuco I don't have any great advise. But for experimental and comparison sake, try hanging a large, white nylon sheet in front a window ( I found mine in bulk at a fabric store). Double layer if need be to really diffuse the light. Put the fruit on a table in front of the window. Use a reflector(s) common to the camera side and see how that looks. The objective here is to get the appearance of a much larger and diffused light source in lieu of the more pin-pointed, in a closet looking setup you have here. Just an idea.
I agree, the light is a bit harsh.
Also, think about how you arrange your fruit in terms of how they fit together well. A banana would make a better frame than it's division role here (IMO or course). I'd try and think about a nice landscape composition and arrange my fruit to create those same landscape elements we like, using lines, repetition, framing, and/or any other compositional tool I can get in there.
Finally I think a tad more DOF or way less would be better. Here the front pieces are sharp and the lemon in the back is just a little blurry. I think it might make it better if either they were all in sharp focus or maybe just one "featured" piece with the rest fading into the bokeh. I'd probably try both ways to see how it could look.