Egyptian Door Knocker

I was really taken by this door knocker found in the town of Volterra (Tuscany). I've gone for a high contrast 'silhouette' look and I would welcome comments and (constructive) criticism of the approach I've adopted.

Phil

I like that Pal, always had a thing for doors and their knockers myself

I like the way you have kept all the shadow in. The contrast is fair enough, a bit severe but that's maybe what you were after. The only unfortunate thing is that the door itself is such an unattractive background, with its splodges and marks being quite distracting.

With a bit of Photoshopping that could be cleaned up if you felt that was necessary.

John - in the colour original the marks on the door are OK and add to its character, but I know what you mean in the B&W version. I might revisit it and see if I can tone some of them down a little.

I was after a 'severe' effect, in fact the first version was even more severe with almost no detail in the shadows underneath the head. In the end I decided to lift them a little, while keeping a lot of contrast around the eyes and between the two halves of the face.

Phil