my own darkness
by haylees

Comment:
I think your picture would have worked better without the word 'darkness' on the bandage. The idea is strong enough, you might even have used a bit more light. Some more contrast would be good here. 7.

Balancing in the Darkness
by whatdewuc

Comment:
I like the non-centered composition here. Did you want some details of the dark parts to remain visible? I can see a sign that reads 105 and some stuff hanging from the ceiling. You could have gotten rid of those with Levels. 7.

Hull
by Mr_Pants

Comment:
Wow, great rusty textures and colours. I find the composition to be very paint-like. This is an excellent photograph.

Natures frame
by Stagolee

Comment:
It seems those birds know you by now :) I like how you make something different with the same animals every time. Your image has a great peaceful and harmonic mood.

Silk and beyond
by jjbeguin

Comment:
A lovely high key image where my eyes can play hide and seek amidst the silk. This photo stands out in an interesting way from most of your shots I know.

Ghost in the Machine
by jenesis

Comment:
Very interesting post processing. I see you took an extreme approach here. It works well. The title adds an aspect to your image and helps me understand what you were trying to achieve. Great image.

Windrush
by Imagineer

Comment:
Oh my god. This is probably the best beach shot I have ever seen. I has a great warm feeling to it. The movement is amazing.

A Machinest's World
by Brad

Comment:

Originally posted by BradP: You ONLY gave me an 8?? What's wrong with you??

I can't let you win all the time, you know :)

A Machinest's World
by Brad

Comment:
You now, if I hadn't given you that 8, we'd have swapped places :) Then you'd have had a ribbon/mention of every kind ;)

Spice Up Your Life!
by gloda

Comment:
Yeeha! Another honourable mention! (I love that new feature.) And I'm getting closer to a ribbon :)

If you like it, you can download my image here, on iStock. It's an enhanced version, I fixed some details.

Thanks for the many comments I got here! I find some very interesting or funny, so I'll respond to them here.

Originally posted by lynnesite: Someone's got a really good buddy with a lot of free time. Nicely done.

I'm glad you don't notice right away that it's a self portrait. I even pushed the shutter myself. No timer, no remote control. Just me and my camera (uh, that sounds weird).

Originally posted by ralphnev: poppy seeds ? .. briliant

Wow, I didn't expect anybody to find out what the grain actually is! Yes, it's poppy seeds, the stuff you can make drugs from. Maybe that explains :)

Originally posted by Titia: Ahhh, did it come off again??

Yes, but it hurt like hell. I couldn't wash it off with water because it would have clogged the drain pipe, so I had to rub it off with paper tissues. Ouch. But it is a good alternative to all those peeling creams I see my sisters running around with all the time!

Originally posted by o0oangeo0o: Great shot, although cropping it differently might have been more interesting...

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I now the crop is pretty tight, but I wanted the image to be really close up so you can see all of the great detail, and I wanted to crop away those parts of my head which were not covered (my hair).

Originally posted by tasha4paws: Real freiiky but not enough sand, should have covered the eye balls, and the tongue would have been good for more points. Maybe teeth as well. And the shoulders, and neck.

You can't see it in this shot, but I had a few seeds on my eye balls by accident. I tried to get them out again, but since my fingers were full of seeds...
On some outtakes I show my tongue, it has some seeds too. At least they're tasty.

Originally posted by superwide: wow! you really made his eyes come alive here. Also like the freckles detail on his neck and shoulders. nice detail

I think the eyes are what really makes this image. I was lucky to have chosen an unusual setup. I'm facing a roof window. If you look close, you can see the sky and the treetops in the right eye. The background was a green towel, which I turned white in the channel mixer. Again, I was lucky, because that post processing step was not planned at all. For what concerns the freckles...I'm full of those. I'll have to see a doctor some time.

Originally posted by Kavey: We all know that in real life teeth and eye whites aren't brilliant white - in this image they look *too* far off.

I fixed this in the "enhanced" version which is for sale by dodging eyes and teeth.

Originally posted by rktdesign: If I had a gallery, I'd want this image in it...

I'm participating in an exhibition next month. This is gonna be one of five images I'll show.