First time I manage to capture two totally different interpretations of a challenge in the same photo!
The result probably has too much "concept" and not enough "wow", but it was a fun challenge to shoot. The model is my wife Adine, the hand holding the quill is mine, and I'm also holding the page. The camera is on tripod, on self-timer, but I still needed one more hand to hold an umbrella to shield the page from the much-too bright sunlight. My son came to the resque for that one. Getting the lighting good enough, the focus deep enough (18mm lens at f 22), and the pose right actually took only 24 tries. Then a fair amount of postprocessing was needed to improve contrast and fix the blown highlights on my hand.
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Place: 145 out of 275 Avg (all users): 5.3487 Avg (commenters): 6.7647 Avg (participants): 5.2602 Avg (non-participants): 5.4435 Views since voting: 928 Views during voting: 328 Votes: 238 Comments: 18 Favorites: 0
First of all, I think it met the Leading Lines II Challenge quite well (both figuratively by the words and literally by the line of the pen).
Composition
I think it is well composed, but might add some interest by off-centering your subjects a little more. The different sizes of your subjects in the foreground, midground, & background work well to establish both perspective and depth.
Lighting
Love the sparkle of light on the pen. Very good lighting on the paper and great lighting on the rose. The model could use a little more light/contrast and evening out of tones/highlights. I think the background is a little dark.
DOF
Excellent. The only minor thing I notice is that the model could be a little less "soft". Also, perhaps less emphasis on the background (gaussian blur perhaps?).
Color
Also very good. My only suggestion is again regarding the background. Perhaps bumping the sat up would make it brighter and more interesting (IMHO).
Overall
A really strong entry that I think finished much lower than I expected. You met the challenge perfectly and executed a technically superior image. Great job!
This is a very interesting shot. A written leading line used as a compositional leading line. Great DOF. Clever concept. Very good. Bumping up quite a bit!
A very clever idea indeed. I do feel, however, that a little bit of sharpening could be applied to the subject, as she looks to be a little soft in comparison with the sharp lettering.
The pen certainly appears to be mightier than the sword. Very well photographed, nice even exposure. A less generally familiar font would have been a good idea.
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