my first pair of shoesby
misterjoshComment by KaDi: Greetings from the Critique Club!
An appealing image of baby shoes! I can relate well to the image because my shoes (and many of children I've known) were similar. The wear on the shoes is classic and shows that the child both crawled around in them (the wear on the toes), spent a fair amount of time walking in them (the creases in the upper leather and the back of the heels), and wore them for some time (the aging and wear on the laces).
As some of your commenters noted, I think a greater depth of field would have helped the image. The near lace just begs to be in focus where the frays are. It would have helped with the detail in the stitching as well.
The arrangement is appealing. I like the way the one rests on the other--it helps relate the two better than placing them side by side. It's probably just me, but I think the shoes should have been inter-changed so that the left shoe would be where the left foot would be on a child. The use of negative space seems appropriate--it helps frame the shoes.
The lighting brings out the form and preserves detail in the shadows. The color of the shadows does not fit as well with the photo, however. Perhaps desaturating the cyan would have pulled the image together a bit more. The multiple shadows under the shoe on the left create unwanted interest--for this type of shot I might have diffused all but one of the light sources so there would be only one clean shadow cast. (I use tissue paper or gauzy fabric in front of lights, or bounce light off white foam-core.)
Overall a pleasing and nostalgic image. It's a beautiful way to preserve the memory of an object without having to preserve the object.
Keep shooting!
--Kadi
Photographer found comment helpful.