Rusty Barb
by codys

Comment by jarriaza:
Great picture

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by glad2badad:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First Impression
Great contrast and a nicely done B/W photo!

Looking Deeper
While the bread is centered, the weight of the plate in the composition does a nice job of throwing the feel to that of a balanced off-centered presentation.

I like the creative thinking that went into putting this together. The use of a candle for the backlighting worked well (and you end up with a toasted side after all when finished!). :) It would have been easy to mishandle the lighting here, but the exposure came out just right. Other technical considerations are the focus and DOF - both done well here IMO (no noise either!).

You missed something initially that I may have missed also, and was so kindly pointed out in the comments - use of backlighting to "rim" the top of the bread. After reading that I can see where it would have helped to keep the top part of the bread from blending into the background.

I think this was a fairly difficult challenge to do well in. The expectations were not firmly outlined by the challenge description - it was left loose for a wide range of interpretations. Placing as you did with an "artsy" type image in B/W is very good IMO, and a very nice result for your first challenge.

Well done!

If you have any questions or would like clarification on my thoughts, please feel free to send me a PM. Thanks.

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by codys:
Wow, I did not expect to do quite as well as I did. This was my first challenge and I gotta say, It was so much fun to login every couple of hours and watch the voting progress.

Thanks for all of the comments!
quiche and mark_u_U are exactly right. I wish I had thought about adding a back light to give the top of the bread some separation from the background.

Also, in case anyone is wondering, it's not toast, just a piece white bread resting against a Glade candle.

Cody

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
looks like it's glowing...

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by ct:
Interesting use of light.

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by Jason_Cross:
This is a very cool unique image.

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by jjstager2:
What a great original approach and concept. Nice job.

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by quiche:
Very nice. I like the backlighting and the graphic quality of the plate. Would have been nice to have adjusted the backlighting a little bit to have the upper edge of the bread separated from the background.

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by jjsmom:
I'm sorry, but this just doesn't appeal to me. I think it needs to be in color. The bread is lost in the background.

bread on a plate
by codys

Comment by J-Me:
Interesting done in B&W! Might now have worked well in color but, great choice!