I like the layout here and the composition. Pretty good for not having a Macro lens. The dark area at the top of the frame is a little distracting, but not overly. I would have liked to have seen a narrow crop, like maybe a 2" x 6" instead of a 4x6.

Nice DOF....I like your take on the theme =)

I like this shot too but the pencil in the right hand corner is distracting to me being so far out of focus. I think I would have liked to have seen it pulled back some in the shot and not so far up from the "V" of the pencils. I didn't notice it was in a V shape at first and did you take it straight on by chance just to see how that looked? Some of us just like straight lines and some of us don't - it's all relative. It was still a great capture of sharp pencils.

Here is what I would change- Leave more room to on the left side. I feel like the pencil tip is too close to the edge. I feel like it needs some more space. The pencil that is out of focus on the right is really distracting. I would just crop that out.

Things you did well-I like the black line, I don't think its bad. I also like the number of pencils and how they are lined up.

I think this is a good shot. I love shallow dof and think it can really add to a photo. I also like the black at the top, or really the fact that the colors change as it goes to the top. It adds some more life to the picture so that it isn't all just one basic color. I agree with the other people who said they didn't like the pencil closest to us. I actually think it would have been great to just have the back half of the pencils, and get rid of all the front half. The line formed by the back half really leads you through the frame, and the blurred pencils in the front kind of take away from that. Overall nicely done.

I agree with the comments re front pencil, like the colours and composition

Great idea on the composition. Just need to cut out the OOF pencil(s) on the right. Nice color.