Hey All,
Thank You dale!
This is a picture of where a branch was broken off an apple tree in the backyard some time ago.
When I show this to "kids" into LOTR, WoW and the like they love this image and race off to the backyard to find the spot on the tree. The little "gnome-like creature" so clearly identified in the deadwood is what they like. You can see his(?) head, ear, eye, nose, mouth, hand, leg, stomach etc clearly.
What I wanted to do with this image was to try to bring "him" to life in a dark dreary atmosphere. Think battle scenes in the dreary rain in LOTR. The moss on the tree does a good job of outlining "him".
Apparently I failed.
The challenges in this image are as I see them: 1) bringing out noise in the background on the right vs bringing out detail on the left (in the wood and moss - I don't want the noise, and ; 2) getting the right atmosphere and the right colour of green and right light and dark in the wood to get the job done.
Any further comments on how?
-Ed-
What I was
If it were mine, I'd extend the green foliage to the top and bottom, covering up the small brown patches, and crop some of the image off of the right side.
The purpose would be to emphasize the duality of the green and brown in nature, with the large brown area against the green background. It might require a slight color/contrast adjustment to make that work...