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I'm sorry nobody has got onto this on earlier, it's actually a difficult one to critique. Colours, yes. But I am seeing a number of problems.
First of all the camera was not facing directly onto the shelf, so there's a downward slope top left.
Next, wide angle has given barrel distortion.
Compositionally the mugs on the right are larger than those on the left - it would be nice to have a few more smaller ones on the far right to give balance. And there's that bracket top left, which doesn't help.
And then the crop. As a really long frieze it could be interesting, but this looks rather cramped to me.
I have uploaded very quick modification, skewing top left up a bit, correcting the barrel distortion, adding a dark frame top and bottom and cropping at the sides for a more concise effect.
I think there could be scope for getting in really close, the contrast of two differently coloured shapes, cropped to remove context, practicality.
Moira
First of all the camera was not facing directly onto the shelf, so there's a downward slope top left.
Next, wide angle has given barrel distortion.
Compositionally the mugs on the right are larger than those on the left - it would be nice to have a few more smaller ones on the far right to give balance. And there's that bracket top left, which doesn't help.
And then the crop. As a really long frieze it could be interesting, but this looks rather cramped to me.
I have uploaded very quick modification, skewing top left up a bit, correcting the barrel distortion, adding a dark frame top and bottom and cropping at the sides for a more concise effect.
I think there could be scope for getting in really close, the contrast of two differently coloured shapes, cropped to remove context, practicality.
Moira
I think Moira has said it all - to work really well, this sort of shot needs to be really perfect, and that requires either a lens giving minimal distortion, or one that you can correct pretty simply (something I find terribly difficult, myself).
My mod tried to remove the barrel distortion, and then cropped at the sides to make things neater - however, there's some residual problem, and the mugs at the sides looked as if they were falling outwards. Correcting this with further skewing gave standard wideangle distortion, iwht the mugs looking far wider than they actually are.
This would all have worked better, I think, with a moderate lens setting (40 or 50mm) and the camera moved back a good bit. Going close always gives distortion, and part of looking perfect is to get a picture like this using hte minumum of processing, and hte maximum of planning in advance.
Myself, I'd have used a longer macro lens, but that depends, crucially on having such a lens in the bag.
My mod tried to remove the barrel distortion, and then cropped at the sides to make things neater - however, there's some residual problem, and the mugs at the sides looked as if they were falling outwards. Correcting this with further skewing gave standard wideangle distortion, iwht the mugs looking far wider than they actually are.
This would all have worked better, I think, with a moderate lens setting (40 or 50mm) and the camera moved back a good bit. Going close always gives distortion, and part of looking perfect is to get a picture like this using hte minumum of processing, and hte maximum of planning in advance.
Myself, I'd have used a longer macro lens, but that depends, crucially on having such a lens in the bag.
Yes, I should have included - stand back, use the middle range of your zoom, and you will get a result that is much better balanced and easier on the eye.
As a product type shot, this would be great - it's vibrant, it's got curves and is lovely and ordered ... which is exactly what I'd like to change.
Whether I'm a rebel or not, but I hate things that are ordered by colour (even though I eat Skittles according to their colours ... go figure!). Similarly, I don't plant flowers by colour - I'm a 'chuck them all together and see what comes up' kind of gardener.
So apart from a minor crop, some distortion and leveling corrections, all I've done is to throw a slight piece of random chaos in amongst the lovely orderliness of those coloured mugs ...
A good, fun shot but it's ever so hard to 'critique' as such!
Tanya
Whether I'm a rebel or not, but I hate things that are ordered by colour (even though I eat Skittles according to their colours ... go figure!). Similarly, I don't plant flowers by colour - I'm a 'chuck them all together and see what comes up' kind of gardener.
So apart from a minor crop, some distortion and leveling corrections, all I've done is to throw a slight piece of random chaos in amongst the lovely orderliness of those coloured mugs ...
A good, fun shot but it's ever so hard to 'critique' as such!
Tanya
Sylvester, if you look at the edge of the line of the board behind the mugs, where the upper shelf meets it at the back, you'll see a slight curve in that line. It dips down on the left side, rises slightly in the middle and then dips down again as it heads towards the right of the image. That's the disortion 
This is a good explanation (wikipedia) of the different types of distortion in photography; what causes it and how to avoid or certainly minimise it.
If you've still got any questions after reading it, do come back and ask!
This is a good explanation (wikipedia) of the different types of distortion in photography; what causes it and how to avoid or certainly minimise it.
If you've still got any questions after reading it, do come back and ask!
There's another article here , less detailed than the Wikipedia article but the illustrations of how barrel and pincushion distortion work is excellent.
