You mention above that by studying the piece you can see signs that it is a painting and not a photo.
Or something like that. I think. Maybe.
So what are the signs to look for?
Lack of detail in some aspects of the image, too much detail in other parts. The depth of field seems off for a pure camera image. This is getting to be very problematic with digital cameras and digital post processing. The other shots with the shoes and her hair/face show artistic rendering of shading/shadowing rather than photographic. You can actually start to see pixilation of some elements but not of others that are within the same plane of focus and should be the same size. There is a usually a degree of randomness of pixels at higher magnification in a photo that is usually missing in a digital "painting". The painting usually has a degree of flatness to it.
These are really stunning images and my compliments to the artist. He is a true master at what he is doing.
