It is certainly a privilege to share this forum with some true artists. $imon, that image is just amazing, and not just from a technical perspective. It's rare that a single image with no caption can tell a story as clearly as this one. The gaussian blurred background provides just enough visual suggestion for the viewer to construct the rest of the western town, and the dropped badge conjures up chilling scenes of a guns-drawn standoff. You can almost hear the tense, pregnant silence as the piano, and all conversation in the bar, comes to a sudden stop.
As reluctant as I am to criticise an image of this calibre, considering myself totally unworthy, the only thing that seems out of place to me is the "cleanliness" of the image. I would expect some dust and horse-crap on the weather-beaten floorboards and the hero's boots and jeans, and perhaps the boots could be a bit scuffed up. Having said that, I suppose even western towns were once new, and the toughest of cowboys would have had to replace their boots occasionally!
Trully amazing work, fully worthy of the gallery.
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