Green Man

http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/w...eenmansRGB.jpg

I like the subject but i can tell it's been dodged and burned a lot. I think having less contrast will help the image.

It hasn't been dodged or burned at all.

...didn't mean to sound peevish. I haven't used dodge and burn for more than about 15 minutes of the thousands of hours I have spent in photoshop. I don't even know exactly what they do. This is manually blended layers of different exposures. I think dodge and burn MIGHT be similar to that but I doubt they are identical. They can darken or lighten the colors that are there, but they cannot bring out more detail the way a new exposure layer can. So while dodge and burn are useful tools if you only have one exposure, they are blunt compared to the subtlety you can get with multiple exposure layers.

Maybe someone can comment on dodge and burn and use this criticism as a teaching opportunity.

Not having more space on the side that he is looking creates a tension or uneasiness. Whether that is good or bad is, of course, up to you. - TF

dig the subject. looks very cool.

This is a planter that someone had put on a sidewalk facing wall of the house we used to live in in Denver. My neighbor told me more than once about encountering some drunk guy who was going by raving about the "satanists" that obviously lived there and how he should get them. It's pretty funny, I am not a satanist. I am an atheist. But telling him that likely would not have helped.

Anyway, I liked the planter so much I took it with me when we moved.

OldClicker: Partly it was intentional. I do recognize that pointing the gaze out in a crop like this is more alienating, and I would have chosen to do it even if I had other options. Given where the thing is hung and that I didn't want to move it, I really didn't have another good option for the shot though.

how big is that thing?

Only slightly larger than a normal adult head I think.

Wow, it looks like the size of a car in this photo. That's one scary looking face. My only useful comment would be that my eyes are drawn towards the opening to the sky in the background which bothers me.

Oddly the shot does make it look extremely large.

Here is the unretouched original for this:

http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/w...q/IMG_1803.jpg

That is a very interesting subject Daq....I think it offers a broad range of shooting possibilities.

I might suggest to give a bit more space around...the crop feels a bit tight. and the BG...I´m unsure what to suggest but the windows seem to be in the way in the composition....I think the pull out to much attention from the subject.

BTW I think this a "sculpture" of Bacchus the wine god in the Greek culture....

interesting sculpture

how about placing a black cloth behind the figure ... ?

and maybe playing with your strobes to give a more sinister look

Yeah black cloth background would probably be good. I have a backdrop setup on order with black and white cloth, but I am not sure I will shoot this again. Frankly I like the first shot on this enough not to bother revisiting. Except if I get an ivy. Maybe some candles with a black backdrop. Perhaps a virgin....