ok guys this is were im at, thanks for all the support, i used the ramp, which definatly adds to the model to look more 3d, however i wos struggling to get the brightness n contrast i wonted so i put the eccentricity to about 3 and took the spec roll off right down to give and also added a bit of glow like magicsy suggested, which brought the white out a bit more, I also used thePFX for clouds to create a fog effect were all the tenticles join the shell, cos i thought this looked kinda cool + i have no idea what is really there, i still have to add in some detail were the tenticles join (orange circle kinda things).
I also redid all the tenticles any applied some forces on em to make em flow up and around like the referece pic rather than down.
Also added a bit more detial in the shell. i saw some sort of spine in the ref pic n also some feathers comin down from the arches inside the shell. also some random twists n stray tenticles.
Im just gonna keep on workin on it and working so all c&c would be good, and helpful.