@edster:
no bad intention from my side, all good - as said, the idea itself is cool and much appreciated, of course ;)
(esp. with the CT-forum-frequency nowadays, so very true that point is)
but the thing with every photo is...it's not the light, the cam, the lens or the whatnot, it's the skills to take a good photo under the circumstances you're in (a dark/night room, with flash....c'mon! at least you could've done them in daylight or switched on some light that's not "ambient and indirect"...).
you say you're about to start a series of these threads, so you make it your subject then and the only thing i'm saying is, that in this case, your core compentency (not sure if this word is on point as it is in german) is lacking major skills. when i read the topic i expect some photos which at least gotta be in focus and don't make the shoes look worse than they are in reality - sorry, but that's a miss then.....