Jigsaw puzzle

[aktse]

I finally realized that I'm constantly framing the world around me and I can no longer deny it. :rolleyes I went out to dinner with some friends on New Years and stopped by their house to before we took off to the restaurant.

And then I saw the unfinished puzzle.. I could think stop thinking about how I was going to photography this... and, that my friends were crazy for wanting to complete this puzzle. 1000 itty bitty pieces.

But I was strong! I didn't take any photos! But I thought about it all through out dinner -- the colors, the shapes, textures!

After dinner, I went back inside their house to continue the conversations and I couldn't resist! I stood on chairs , got low to the ground, etc. :D My friends thought I was nut. :rofl

C&C. Give it to me. I'm unsure about my post processing, especially since everything had a green/yellow tint. Which framing works best? What needs to be done?

Taken with a 40D, nifty 50 and ISO 1600 under horrible lighting.

1.
http://aktse.smugmug.com/photos/450051404_xLyM9-M.jpg

2.
http://aktse.smugmug.com/photos/450051022_FUsSx-S.jpg

3.
http://aktse.smugmug.com/photos/450050633_Lg6Pm-M.jpg

[Zarathustra]

Number 1 I don't personally like much. I think that the fingers are too cramped in the far right side of the frame. That and it seems a little over-saturated to me. The colors just seem a wee bit unnaturally intense.

Number 2 is my favorite of the three. The hands framing the piece really does it for me. As far as post is concerned I'm too much of a PS n00b to be able to comment since I'm not really sure what you've done. It looks to me like you did a little bit of sharpening but you didn't go overboard with it when it is displayed at this size at least. I also like the fact that you have two different points of focus with the main subject being in focus and the bottom pieces being fairly sharp as well.

Number 3 is far better than number 1 as far as the position/pose of the hand.

All in all, I'm glad that you didn't let this set pass you by even if your friends do think that you are a bit barmy!

[aktse]

Number 1 I don't personally like much. I think that the fingers are too cramped in the far right side of the frame. That and it seems a little over-saturated to me. The colors just seem a wee bit unnaturally intense.

Number 2 is my favorite of the three. .... Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is the feedback that I was looking for!!!!! Perfect! Just what I needed to hear!

And this is the type of color that I had to work from.
http://aktse.smugmug.com/photos/451118883_q5miS-S.jpg

And after staring at a bunch of them for a while, I could not trust my eyes anymore!

[Jack'll do]

I agree with the previous poster concerning # 1. While I really like the hands in #2, overall I prefer #3 mostly due to the fact that it shows work in progress on the puzzle as opposed to a person examining a single piece. To me the subject here is the "process" of working on a puzzle and #3 shows this best. Also the larger # of puzzle pieces in focus in #3 is a plus. On my monitor the colors are very nice.
Just my $0.02