Thanks a lot Rik for your comment. For some reason #1 seems noticeably darker when I reduced the resolution. Anyway, I was going for a dreamlike and mysterious look for #1. I think I will lighten it up a bit. For #3, that could be a tad brighter too and I'll probably raise my midtones a bit. I am also guilty of enjoying high contrast situations. With these beads if the contrast is low the image is flat and has little dimension to it. The bead in #3 is almost perfectly flat.
I don't collect them. I buy them cheap and use as subjects. My subjects are typically man-made objects. I wanted something of similar size and style so I am in the midst of flower beads in the 5mm-20mm range. Here's another:
- 8mm resin bead
Also, here's a sample of just a wooden bead:
- 10mm wood bead
-Josh