Drawing outside of the square

[raynerj1]

I was refering to the top of your sons head. It Looks too sliced for some reason and I was trying to find out why. The background has a tendency to be antialiased with the foreground. It appears like there is some "white fringe" on the top of his head. It just makes it seem a touch off for some reason. it isn't bad, but I noticed it right away.

Maybe I should cook me up another batch of "home brew".

[steve.ledger]

John, the head is originally against a white overcast sky (as seen in the thumbnail in post#1).
Placing a pure solid blue sky background behind will lead to a stark difference.

To demonstrate, here's the same image but against a cloudy sky background.
No changes made to the image of my son (though Peekai seems to have wandered off....maybe chasing seagulls?)

[raynerj1]

Much better Steve. Your son doesn't look so sliced and diced on this one. I have worked with bitmaps so much over the years that that stuff just jumps right out at me.

At first I thought he was wearing a yamaka (sp?) or was already looseing his hair.

[steve.ledger]

or was already looseing his hair.

Unfortunately his head began growing through his hair at 19.

Actually, I prefer the later example myself now
The beach photo is taken somewhere north of Port Douglas, Far North Qld (by my brother with his DMC-TZ5)

[Biggy Rat]

Nice one Steve. I like how you've pretty much nailed the right angles for the shadows as well. Without the inset, you'd be hard pressed to know what the original background was.

[raynerj1]

At first glance he resembles my older brother (my brother is a little older than 19 tho. Which would make my brother feel pretty good, but don't tell your son.)