Was not content with salt material. Emission shader was not effective. Adjusted materials and re-rendered each shaker and table top separately. (This allowed GPU rendering!) Composited in Gimp. Here is a high resolution version: http://blenderartists.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=393894&d=1439089781
Thank you, Forrest. There are some tiny fibers too. Have to look at high resolution image link to see them. :)
Very realistic! The scattered grains are definitely a nice touch!!
Thanks, Thomas. Yep! There is a second plane with salt and pepper particles. It is slightly above the table top with the emitter not visible, so the particle object bounds do not intersect the table. I used weight paint to scatter them. There are tiny fibers on the shakers, caps and on the table too, just for a little more realism. They are much more visible in the high resolution image. :)
Nice job. How did you scatter the salt/pepper on the table, particles?