Thunderstruck!

[Tubthumper]

Thought I'd give something purely creative a go, using Elements 4. C&C welcome, otherwise I wouldn't have put it up here.

[saturnin]

pic doesnt work for me....it looks like somthing from a relligous magazine, thats cheaply made adn quick

[Tubthumper]

Well, you're right about the quick part, anyway. I has the idea and just wondered what it might look like. I may try something at a later date when I have more time. If anyone has any suggestions , I'm open to them all.

[Tel]

I agree that it looks a little cheap but its a good concept, just needs a little work. Keep at it and try doing some more work to it, even if it doesn't turn out great, you'll be learning a lot photoshop skills by doing stuff like this! I started learning photoshop before I got into digital photography and my first stuff was all centered around filter: render: clouds and though my first stuff was utter crap (not saying yours is), without the stuff I learned then, my PP skills would be utter crap now!

[Gamut]

You asked: A totally poor effort. Nothing about this works. The cheesy technique nor the concept — neither have any hope. I'm sorry. But check out the post before yours from Renboy. Much better retouching.

[Tubthumper]

"But check out the post before yours from Renboy. Much better retouching."

Don't quite follow that one.

__________________

[Tubthumper]

I agree that it looks a little cheap but its a good concept, just needs a little work. Keep at it and try doing some more work to it, even if it doesn't turn out great, you'll be learning a lot photoshop skills by doing stuff like this! I started learning photoshop before I got into digital photography and my first stuff was all centered around filter: render: clouds and though my first stuff was utter crap (not saying yours is), without the stuff I learned then, my PP skills would be utter crap now!

Thank you for the comments, Tel: frank and honest, yet encouraging nevertheless. I freely admit that I am languishing at the bottom of the learning curve, and "Thunderstruck" was more of a step along the self-educating process. It actually stemmed from a video tutorial I found on youtube on how to create the lightning effect, which had me asking two questions:

1. Could I do that?
2. Could I apply it to some sort of creative effort in context?

I consider the answer to both questions a resounding "Yes", and although the artistic merits of the end result may arguably be lacking, I personally consider the picture a success.

I can see, however, that to appeal to a wider, and perhaps more discerning, audience, I am a significant distance from where I need to be. The journey, therefore, continues.

Rest assured, more pics will follow. Perhaps next time, someone might even like them.

[Gamut]

There was a post by someone named RENBOY that posted just before you did. I was suggesting you study his retouching because it was pretty good.

Don't lose heart. I was blunt, I'll admit. But it was only intended to make you work harder. Nothing personal. I've been retouching for a long time and sometimes I forget that many of the members are amateurs, and most are photographers first, retouchers second.