This is my first entry in these parts (or anywhere). Be kind? Also, tons of criticism would be very much appreciated. This is my first work since transitioning from Gimp to Photoshop.

Well I think you did a great job, I like it and keep up the good work!

good work

I would suggest using healing brush to blend your background better and maybe work on the edge of the thumb. GL!

Funny but blurry.

very nice work author,but as Bob sad its to blurry...love the idea do...best of luck

Hmm... is there a way to make it less blurry? I imagine simply using the sharpen tool will not provide fantastic results... yeah?

The goal was to make it look like a shallow depth of focus, guess my execution doesn't translate with everyone very well.

sometimes if you place the same image over itself (duplicate layer) and use the MULTIPLY layer blend it helps to define the image... it works for me.. good luck author.. awesome first chop