I tried at least a few of the suggestions that were given to me in the last thread. I made Steph's dress lower cut and increased the cleavage on her chest and made Mike's eyes a little more squinty. Still working on the fedora. In Photoshop, I copied a layer which I made black and white. I decreased the opacity on this layer to change the saturation of the bottom layer. After adding smoke, I decreased the saturation of the entire pic.

Papu made a great suggestion about adding noise to the monochrome pic. I tried it and it came out looking great. Still working on LordNakagawa's white photograph border idea. Haven't really found a way to do it yet that I like. Patricia, if I find a better smoke effect I will be certain to post it :)

I think I like the sepia one best-- Every office was that rich mahogghony brown-- till you just felt like you were suffocating in it. not that a gumshoe would have such a nice place, but he's got to go snooping in them, doesn't he. The hat works for me-- my dad wore hats like that, yeah they look a little dumb, that's their charm. You can push em back even dumber when he's on the phone. They never take em off. He could still have sleepier eyes, think Robert Mitchum. Remember, every PI has seen waaay too much. The broad looks great. If you ever have any cash, check out Renapd's Sweater and skirt sets at Daz. They're strictly b-movie dames. And to die for. Emily

You mentioned Photoshop. I have PS Elements. For a white border I'd use "image >> resize >> canvas size" After some experimentation you get a border with one color. save as JPG and reload. Willy

Lookin' good! I'd lower his upper eyelids some more, though--he looks startled. And we all know that he's way too cool to ever show surprise.... ;)

Reckon, he's still worried about the burning paper basket ;-) Willy

This is coming along nicely PapaBlueMarlin!

I closed his eyes a litle more and gave him more eye wrinkles.

This is my first crack at a border. It looks more like a stamp than a photograph...

Here are the revisions without the border...

I'd say a simple white border would be nice. A couple of pixels wide perhaps?

like this?

I saw the earlier thread and thought about mentioning this there but I didn't. I will now though. On my monitor, his shirt seems bright and his face a little dark. The only detail I see on his vest is the buttons - other than that, it's solid black with no variations in the darkness (like the shadows from his arms). She, on the other hand, has her head bathed in light. I can see the details in her dress except for her left sleeve which, along with whatever else is in the lower left corner, also goes completely black. Assuming you're on a PC (I'm on a Mac which inherently displays things lighter because of the way it works with monitors) I'd make the following suggestions: Make his vest dark grey instead of black. That way it will show the curvature of his chest and the shadows from his arms (or hers) more accurately. See if you can lighten his face to more closely approximate the lighting on hers. He may be more dark-skinned than her but this looks like a lighting thing -not a skin color thing - to me. The alternative (if you want this to be dark & moody) might be to lower the lighting (or make the spot light smaller) on her face to match the darkness of his. That may also help reduce the shirt's brightness. Someone else may be able to suggest better ways to change the lighting. I just know that each time I've looked at these pictures (watching them evolve) the first thing I see is his bright left shoulder and then her face. I have to look further to see the features of his face. I also loose the gun. I suspect that's not what you want people to notice first. Which transitions to another suggestion. I know that in the other thread there were suggestions to have the pair interact. I've seen you change to accomodate those ideas. I've noticed with this version that he's got a gun out and pointed at something but he's not looking at what he's aiming at. She's looking in the general direction that the gun is pointed at but he isn't. You might consider creating a fixed spot that all three (him, her, the gun) are pointed at. Then, as a viewer I'm drawn into wondering what unimaginably horrible (or simply annoying) threat they are responding to together. These are just my opinions and I am no Art God. I'm a fellow learner, too. Feel free to imagine I'm to the left and behind the camera and have them looking and pointing the gun at me.

Wow, while I was writing that you've posted 3 more pics. His face is still looking a little dark but it seems to be lightening up. You definately have shown improvement since you posted! Good work!

p.s. I meant I suspect the shirt isn't what you want people to notice first.

Bobasaur, you definitely have some good points there! I like the idea of them looking in the same direction.

In this pic I lightened up his face and vest a little, darkened one side of her face and his shirt sleeves.

PapaBlueMarlin, sorry for messing with your pic again :P

I moved Mike's eyes into the same direction as Steph's. Not sure if I want to lighten his vest yet...

Here is with a thinner border.

The wierd thing at this point is that we may be going against your (papabluemarlin) original intent. If they're supposed to be a cocky couple posing for a picture ala Bonnie & Clyde, we've defeated the purpose. If you like the idea of them looking at an off camera object, you might consider twisting the hand (or twisting the forearm) so the gun is more aligned in a firing position. You might also tilt Sam Spade's head back, so it's confident and erect and not leaning forward. However, if you want cocky attitude, the head is probably better off tilted forward like it is. Regardless, having that gun where it is - aligned with those thighs - such powerful symbolism! ;-) Please remember, papabluemarlin - this is your picture. I'm just a stranger with an opinion - and without a gallery of his own (I do animations and I'm trying to get Renderosity to set up an animation gallery - but I don't have any stills).