Gnarly Skull "Love Bites"

[PixelRabbit]

This is a gnarly raccoon skull I found this year, I was wandering around the house with the camera, (it's too friggin' cold to go out and shoot) and the skull caught my eye, it was dark and growly just how I feel right about now.

I named this Love Bites because of the shapes, would love to hear your thoughts, thanks for taking a look.

 

[Rick58]

Well..nice conversion and tones

 

[buddha1200]

Great name as soon as I saw the pic the title made sense.good job

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

 

[minicoop1985]

Something about this (grain?) makes it feel very, very old. Great title, too.

 

[goodguy]

Gorey and unsettling.

Not my COT

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks so much for your thoughts all!

Goodguy, then I suppose in a way it is successful, it was my intention for it to be at least somewhat uncomfortable, totally understandable it isn't your cup of tea, thank you for sharing your thoughts on it despite that!

 

[The_Traveler]

Nicely converted.
(I think that the horizontal is off a bit and I would correct that.)

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Lew, wow, it really is off isn't it, I TOTALLY didn't see it

 

[Derrel]

I think it is framed just a bit too tightly, and as Lew mentioned, the vertical is a slight bit off. I see the heart-shaped opening above the teeth and I get the title. My feeling is that this would work better if it were almost perfectly symmetrical, as much as possible, including more-even lighting, so that the teeth are all lighted fairly evenly. I see this as a "formal balance" type of shot, and the lighting is uneven on all planes. I think this would work better approached with much more depth of field, and with even lighting, and a bit more space at the top. Make it pretty "formal" in balance, and I think the effect of the heart-shaped opening and the good set of raccoon teeth (do the 'coons around there have orthodontistry available under the Canadian single-payer health plans???) and the skull would be enhanced by being able to see a bit more in focus.

This subject is pretty interesting. I've seen a lot of skulls, mostly deer and cow, but I have not seen a raccoon skull in a long, long time. More possum skulls than raccoon skulls around here it seems.

 

[goodguy]

Thanks so much for your thoughts all!

Goodguy, then I suppose in a way it is successful, it was my intention for it to be at least somewhat uncomfortable, totally understandable it isn't your cup of tea, thank you for sharing your thoughts on it despite that!

You are a kind mild menor person and I appreciate that

 

[PixelRabbit]

Aw thanks Goodguy

I think it is framed just a bit too tightly, and as Lew mentioned, the vertical is a slight bit off. I see the heart-shaped opening above the teeth and I get the title. My feeling is that this would work better if it were almost perfectly symmetrical, as much as possible, including more-even lighting, so that the teeth are all lighted fairly evenly. I see this as a "formal balance" type of shot, and the lighting is uneven on all planes. I think this would work better approached with much more depth of field, and with even lighting, and a bit more space at the top. Make it pretty "formal" in balance, and I think the effect of the heart-shaped opening and the good set of raccoon teeth (do the 'coons around there have orthodontistry available under the Canadian single-payer health plans???) and the skull would be enhanced by being able to see a bit more in focus.

This subject is pretty interesting. I've seen a lot of skulls, mostly deer and cow, but I have not seen a raccoon skull in a long, long time. More possum skulls than raccoon skulls around here it seems.

Thanks Derrel! I can get on board with it being too tightly cropped, I've been working on avoiding cropping in post and framing it right in camera and I've
realized that I'm falling back into bad habits of framing too tightly. I like your thoughts of making it more formal, when I first pondered this shot the symmetry came into it and actually the choice of the narrow DOF and lighting from the window on the left side were because of the actual lack of symmetry in the skull, mostly the missing eye tooth on the right. I didn't want the fact that it is missing to "stand out" in this shot so I was ok with the fall off of that side. Now I DO have the missing teeth and am definitely going to glue them in so it is a complete skull again and will carry your thoughts forward when I shoot it again! Thank you!