Currently stumped on my portfolio banner

[Phantomazing]

Right now I’m making a banner for my upcoming portfolio post. Using Maya and Photoshop. I’m in the home stretch, but I could use some ideas on how to finish this off.

Two things I’m uncertain on: the background, and the text. The background is straightfoward: with or without blur. There’s a poll below.

With Blur

Without Blur

Now the tricky part is the text. It looks plain without it, but I’m not happy with how the drop shadow is coming out. Same with bevels and outlines. Might have to work my Illustrator magic; I dunno.

• With Blur
• Without Blur

[Jontizm (Jon)]

I really like the banner without the blur, however it’s too noisy for an introduction image so I’d opt for the blurred one.

I like the text too, but it could use some sort of stylization, like you mentioned, perhaps a reflection or drop shadow. So far looks awesome though!