Matthew 4:19 - Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.by
fotomann_foreverComment by purpleflutterby13: Greetings from the Critique Club.
I gave this image a 4 during voting. But looking at your comments and scores, there seems to be a bunch of people who appreciated it a lot more than I did, so I guess it might be down to personal preference.
I did like the concept - it fits the challenge perfectly, but in an original way. The old bible is perfect for the shot, and the composition is good - it's like the bible is asking to be followed.
My biggest objection was to the lighting. It seems really quite harsh at the bottom right, and it's coming from an angle which still leaves the fishing rods somewhat indistinct. I also thought the dark bits at the back were too much in contrast with the harsh lighting at the front. I guess I would have preferred either light coming from the top right corner of the picture (cliched divine light metaphor style of thing, probably not that great for lighting up the subject matter), or a similar enough layout, but slightly more subtly, evenly done - where there are still highlights and shadows, but the front is more gently lit, and the back isn't completely black. I would've been tempted to light-paint the subject using a flashlight - that gives you some interesting options.
I also would have prefered a slightly different camera angle - maybe raising it slightly so that the Bible looks a bit less flat and the figure was brought to life a bit more.
However, as I said, I do seem to be representing a minority view, so there are probably a lot of people who really liked the features I find objectionable...
Well done on an interesting entry anyway :)
Photographer found comment helpful.