candle-skull in slow dissolve

Subject & Focal Details — A life-size human skull sculpted entirely from candle wax fills a vertical 2:3 frame, three-quarter frontal view with a slight tilt to the left. The skull is centered and slightly elevated on a low, irregular pedestal of pooled wax; both hollow eye-sockets contain steady, alive flames that act as miniature candles. Close-up scale emphasizes the facial planes, nasal cavity, and tooth details; no visible text or signage. Appearance & Materials — The wax alternates between glassy, polished surfaces and rough, cracked edges where it cooled; uneven drips and hardened flows cascade from the brow, cheekbones, and jaw. Melted wax pools at the base in viscous, organic folds and stretched tendrils, with micro-details such as tiny cooling bubbles, hairline fractures, and faint tool marks near the base. Color Placement — Dominant off-white ivory wax with subtle seams of soot-gray (#2b2222) in recesses, pale cream highlights (#e9e2d8) on rounded planes, and deep crimson veins (#b85a4a) subtly mixed into cracks and pooled areas; near-black char (#1a0f0f) around the flame bases and muted warm-beige reflections (#7b6b5f) on the pedestal. Lighting & Atmosphere — Primary light sources are the warm flames inside the eye sockets producing soft, flickering rim and fill light that sculpts hollows and teeth; add a cool, very faint fill from camera-left to reveal texture without flattening. Use high-contrast, low-key illumination with selective bloom around the flames, delicate volumetric smoke catch, and subtle lens flare on glossy wax ridges. Environment / Background — A deep, nearly black studio backdrop with a whisper of smoky gradation upward; include one secondary prop: a small ring of hardened wax droplets scattered at the skull’s base. Composition & Perspective — Camera at chest height looking slightly down (20°), tight vertical crop that keeps the skull dominant while showing the pooled wax foreground. Use a short telephoto perspective (85–100mm equivalent) for compressed depth, shallow DOF that softly blurs the distant background and isolates the skull, with the pooled wax in soft focus leading the eye. Artistic Style & Medium — High-end advertisement photograph rendered in 3-D hyperrealism, photoreal lighting and material shaders emphasizing subsurface scattering in wax, physically accurate flame simulation, and true-to-camera lens artifacts (bokeh, subtle chromatic aberration). Mood / Narrative Hook — Evokes gothic ritual and transience: life as flame and form dissolving back into wax, quietly unsettling and poetic.