To blend it a bit better with the background I did what's called a "light wrap". It basically blurs the fruit just a little on the edges so it doesn't appear as a completely separate element (which it is because I rendered the scene on 3 different layers). A good tutorial for creating a light wrap in AE can be found here: http://lesterbanks.com/2012/01/create-a-simple-light-wrap-in-after-effects/
The 3 render layers I used were the fruit, the table, and the background. To simulate depth of field in after effects, I first created a gradient like this in photoshop:
In after effects I added a lens blur to my table layer, then attached the above gradient as a mask. This allows the table to be blurred where the white is and remain in focus where the black is.
I also rendered out the fruit with plain grey shaders so I could show the models without any color. In after effects, I just turned down the opacity on the colored fruit to reveal the black and white.
