Shineby
pollComment by Artyste: Hello, and greetings from the Critique Club. I am your critiquer, Artyste, and I'll try and do my best to bring some intelligent discourse to your photo.
Initial Thoughts
What the.. oh.. hey, clever.
Composition / Content
A very unique view of shoes, which is confusing at first glance, but then slowly grows on you. The curves you've gotten are really quite nice. If I have one issue, it is that the setup seems slanted to the right, a little offsetting, but minor.
Background
Nice and clean, and compliments the coloring well.
Camera Work / Technical
First thing I want to touch on is the lighting. Mostly, it's done well, subtly, but I feel that the right side of the right shoe being in full shadow needed to be corrected. The image in my mind would have benefitted if the lighting on that side was the same as the lighting on the left. Falling off into shadow there unbalances the image for me, and contributes to that right-leaning slant I mentioned earlier. Also, your focus seems just the *slightest* bit off at the top of the back of the shoes. I personally love the shallower DOF, putting straps in front OOF.
Digital Processing
You didn't mention any processing, but I think that maybe working on selective colors to try and tweak the muddy burgundy/brown into something a little more dynamic would have also boosted the look of this photo. Just a suggestion though.
Fits the Challenge
While it definitely fits the challenge, it *does* have that initial "what am I looking at here?" thing that can result in turning a 6 or 7 vote into a 5 from people that are in a hurry. Just something to think about. Abstracts really take a certain something to do really well on DPC, I find.
My Opinion of the Photo
Despite the initial confusion, it's a photo that grows on you as you look at it. I like the creativity and simplicity. I'd have liked to see a little more color to it, perhaps more glow in the background, but it works as is too. Good work, and good luck in future challenges.