Let's see. This is my first attempt at making a highly composed still-life setup. I expect it to do better than a "candid" sort of shot or something naturely might do, insofar as I could take pictures of that sort that meet the challenge, though probably not do better than around the 70th percentile.
Let's see some more... what I like about this image is that there are many layers to it: first the bottom black (which was a lush fur coat, and I regret that none of the detail came out), then the watches and coins, then the gauzy scarf, then the leaves. Four layers in all, so it's got a bit of depth to it.
I'm pretty pleased with the lighting; it's even without being flat. I set this up on a table below a six-bulb electric chandelier, and effectively made the light indirect by holding a chunk of cardboard over the setup while I took the pictures.
I'm mostly happy with the composition, but of course there's always room for improvement. To my eye there are five major things that draw attention: the two watches, the two illuminated/bright pennies, and the leaves. Having an odd number of elements is always good, and the more you can balance without confusion, the better, assuming one is not going for minimalism.
I also really like the folds of the scarf. I had to mess with it a bit to get the lines all pointing inwards. I think the scarf kind of adds a feeling of agedness to the whole thing, partially obscuring all the inanimate stuff in the background, leaving the leaves as the only element that's in complete view. Kind of helps with the inorganic/organic dualism.
What I'm not so happy about- I'm afraid this may look overcomposed. I did mess with it a lot, and changed the arrangements many times before I took this picture, which was the third to last in the shoot. I think it's clear that it took a bit of fussing to get this picture, and I'm not sure I like that.
I also wish the dates on the coins were clearer. The Morgan dollar is 1886 and the worn-out Barber quarter is 1900, which was supposed to make a clear juxtaposition with the shiny penny. It still does, but not as much as I'd like. Also, it's impossible to tell that the pennies by the watch on the right are wheat pennies: they just look old.
It would have been nice to be able to work in more coinage- I had contemporary versions of all the old stuff in some shots. But I felt like the composition became cluttered, and the shiny metals drew too much attention from everything else, so they had to go.
I'm also not sure that it's clear that one of the watches (the one on the left) is shiny and crisp and new, while the one on the right is ancient and broken.
I think I met the challenge pretty well, but I'm sure that others did so in a clearer fashion. I did what I could!
Anyway, postediting: slight increase of RGB contrast; slight increase of Red channel contrast to make the image a bit warmer; minor Selective Color adjustments; resize, add borders, save for web. C'est tout.
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I like this. I'm not sure I understand the point of the money, but that's probably just me. But the netting (or whatever) over the watch on the right, which gives it the feel of dusty spiderwebs, is a nice effect. It's a pleasing composition, also. 7
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