The short story is, out of about 30 shots, this was the only one I liked. Most were too dark or too light. I wish I'd had this one last month. I love the texture on the backdrop.

Criticism welcome, but be gentle. This is the first time this humble beginner has felt like he'd created something from basically nothing!

Post work in Photoshop was converting to black and white, and a bit of contrast adjustment (looks good on one monitor, bad on another. Hard to tell which is right). I may go back later to crop a bit and get rid of that bit of bootlace on the left.

-Taltos

I love this old boot, it has so much character! The background is very textured! What is it?

Were you inspired by Michelle's boots? Good job. Maybe this should be the Challenge some month?

Is it my monitor's settings, or is the image has a certain and intended darker looks..? Anyway, I like what I see on my monitor... I find the way the boot positioned (and thus the composition) to be very effective, and the lighting (though simple, as you say) works very well... :)

Great shot, Taltos. I really like the lighting. It's amazing
what you can do with next to nothing for lights, isn't it?

On the subject of different monitors, wouldn't it be nice
if renderosity had a monitor calibration page? It'd be
most useful for those (like myself) who mainly intend to
publish here. That way others could simply calibrate before
viewing the galleries.

I love this boot, so full of character, it looks ready to walk right out of the image!

Very nice shot.

Thanks all! The backdrop is actually just a towel that I had washed but forgotten to toss into the dryer. It just kind of air dried that way. I wasn't even really thinking about it when I hung it up, I just wanted something dark in the background. Anyway... I may try some more shots of it this weekend while my daughter is at her mother's.

Great shot Taltos! I was actually standing in my boots when I photographed mine. I like how worn out yours is....so full of character!