^If you're interested in B/W photography I'd recommend checking out Sally Mann's work. Subjects of the pictures may be a bit gross as she's most known for photographing her naked children but the finish of her pictures has been an inspiration to me. That's much thanks to her using glass plate collodion process in many of her pictures. Prehistoric technically but produces extremely interesting shade-scheme.
Guess what differentiates art from pornography (or in Mann's case child pornography) in photography is the B/W finish.
As for violin shot. It was basically just an experiment on lighting and levels (and I think they turned out quite nice). It was shot as a product photo and heavily retouched. Shooting macros is actually a very good idea I'll look into it. As a violinist (at least a former one, I'm trying to pick up on it again) the photo as it is may have a little bit different appeal to me and to me violin is one of the most beautiful instruments visually. Not as much found on it's sound which may be a bit funny. Like cellos more.
