Shoes

[Jim A]

This was trying something different and eye-catching. Does it work?

[Urbanflyer]

Fun! Might consider a more mottled/varied background. Bravo for stretching yourself!

[Shadowman]

Color, pattern, and composition elements work fine but as Judith says the background needs a bit more work. Nice effort.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Jim. I like the composition and colors I think you should be more careful with the PP work as the edges of your mask shows artificially. The image looks a bit soft , your shutter speed (1/30) seems a bit too slow , may be that's why

[Mike Buckley]

Agreed with all of the above. Consider also adding a slight vignette.

[Jim A]

Many thanks for all your comments and suggestions, Judith, John, Binnur and Mike. I have replaced the background with a rock face from here in NZ. Have yet to tidy up the edges. Have also applied a feathered vignette. Re the sharpening, I cannot retake the shot as it is one of our grandchildren some years back. She won't have the shoes now, unfortunately. To try to recover I have done what Scott Kelby calls extraordinary sharpening. If I clean up the edges will it then work, do you think?

[Urbanflyer]

Many thanks for all your comments and suggestions, Judith, John, Binnur and Mike. I have replaced the background with a rock face from here in NZ. Have yet to tidy up the edges. Have also applied a feathered vignette. Re the sharpening, I cannot retake the shot as it is one of our grandchildren some years back. She won't have the shoes now, unfortunately. To try to recover I have done what Scott Kelby calls extraordinary sharpening. If I clean up the edges will it then work, do you think?

Whoa! Your original color was a great one for a background. But it was just flat and uninteresting and needed a little texture.

Do you have a good partly cloudy blue sky you could lay in at maybe 40-60% opacity, use a lighten blending mode, and redo the mask (should be quick and easy since the blending mode will take care of much of it). Then you will have the right color in the background but it will have texture with a light touch! I really love the shoes and socks and think it is worth a little more effort.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Jim. I'm afraid the new BG is busy and distracting. I prefer the old one as it has a lovely color. Judith's suggestion might also work. Extraordinary sharpening seems to work fine

[Jim A]

Well thanks, Judith and Binnur. I have tried a slightly cloudy sky. However, whilst I did reduce the opacity somewhat, I did find that using a Lighten blend mode did take all of the effect out, so compromised on this. What do you think please?

[Urbanflyer]

Well thanks, Judith and Binnur. I have tried a slightly cloudy sky. However, whilst I did reduce the opacity somewhat, I did find that using a Lighten blend mode did take all of the effect out, so compromised on this. What do you think please?

Close--the blue color that you started with in the original shot really worked because the same blue was in the laces. If you could get back to that blue and reduce the vignetting I think you would be there. Did you put in the sky over the original blue background? That is what I had meant. Hurrah for continuing to work on this photo since it is a good concept!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Jim The cloudy sky certainly works better for the BG . IMO it conveys the feeling of naivety in the childhood and it changed the mood of the image completely. Judith's suggestion about changing the color of the BG might improve the image but it is difficult to say without seeing.