Football Poster (C&C)

drode

This is my first post here and my try at a sports poster. I'm not thrilled with my results so far. The cutouts still need some touch-up, but otherwise, how could I improve this poster? Team colors are navy and white.



The intention is to print 18x24, but my images are typically 10MP shots cropped by 30-50%, so resolution is an issue as well.


I'd be grateful for any advice.

austinado16

Go with your gut feeling. If you're not happy with it, there's a reason, so continue to brainstorm and play with it.

I think it's an excellent start and here's why:
-The background mascot image is important in team sports and I like that you show it respect, but you don't let it own your poster.

-Typography is super important and yours is not only behind your images (something that many people don't do), but it's down low and follows the "clockwise rule" (my own term) of how the human eye looks at an image. We scan from the lower left, up and over, clockwise, to the lower right. Both of your words take advantage of that, and you end the viewing arch with the main shot of Aaron.......very good.

-Colors. I like what you're doing because it flows and makes sense. Also, you're letting Aaron's uniform be the most important piece of color. Great choice, because this is about him, not about you getting all fancy in Photoshop.

So here's what I'd suggest:
-Set this poster aside and build one completely different using what you've learned and what you've done well
-Push your use of the software if you can, in order to get in a few more photos. 5 is usually a good amount, and odd numbers keep the poster asymetrical which gives the poster some dynamic tension......that makes it interesting to look at and keeps the viewer looking it over and over.
-Consider 16x20 vertical format. That's plenty big when put in a frame.
-If you've got a team shot, whether posed or candid, include it. Same goes with candids of Aaron with teammates or coaches. This gives you more of an overall "day-in-the-life" type poster. Same goes for overall shots of the statdium, or a shot of an interesting banner, or the cheer squad, or them breaking through a banner at the start of the game, etc.
-Lastly, if you want to push the envelope, what does Aaron inspire you to. Is there something about him. Sometimes you can get a "feeling" and let that steer how the poster is built.

Looking forward to seeing your next attempts

RogersDA

Is it me or do those photos look a bit OOF?

austinado16

I always assume that in real life the photos look much better than how they show up in online forums after being resized by whatever photo hosting website, and ISP's and whatever else they grind through.

RogersDA

austinado16 wrote: »

I always assume that in real life the photos look much better than how they show up in online forums after being resized by whatever photo hosting website, and ISP's and whatever else they grind through.

That is generally true, but the photos above are heavily pixelated even at X2-size. You are shooting/saving the jpgs with a reatively low jpg quality and/or the faces are OOF since what you are uploading to SmugMug is of low quality - there is no way that the original-sized images can improve that much over what the X2 size is showing. But, I may be wrong. No matter - I think you can present the images a lot better as discussed supra.

drode

RogersDA wrote: »

Is it me or do those photos look a bit OOF?

The focus is good on both of these but they do have other issues. Friday night football = high ISO, so some detail and crispness is lost. Secondly a 70-200 (on APS-C) is a bit short for football and my technique needs to improve to get tighter shots. As a result, they are cropped, (losing resolution) and then upsized some to help them fit into an 18x24 poster.

It's a lot to ask from a cropped high ISO picture.

The final prints will look better than what you see here, but not the kind of quality I could get from low ISO and a tightly framed shot.

drode

Thanks for taking the time to critique this. I need to ponder this a bit and go back at it. It really helps to get a feel for which elements are working and why.

austinado16 wrote: »

Go with your gut feeling. If you're not happy with it, there's a reason, so continue to brainstorm and play with it.

I think it's an excellent start and here's why:
-The background mascot image is important in team sports and I like that you show it respect, but you don't let it own your poster.

-Typography is super important and yours is not only behind your images (something that many people don't do), but it's down low and follows the "clockwise rule" (my own term) of how the human eye looks at an image. We scan from the lower left, up and over, clockwise, to the lower right. Both of your words take advantage of that, and you end the viewing arch with the main shot of Aaron.......very good.

-Colors. I like what you're doing because it flows and makes sense. Also, you're letting Aaron's uniform be the most important piece of color. Great choice, because this is about him, not about you getting all fancy in Photoshop.

So here's what I'd suggest:
-Set this poster aside and build one completely different using what you've learned and what you've done well
-Push your use of the software if you can, in order to get in a few more photos. 5 is usually a good amount, and odd numbers keep the poster asymetrical which gives the poster some dynamic tension......that makes it interesting to look at and keeps the viewer looking it over and over.
-Consider 16x20 vertical format. That's plenty big when put in a frame.
-If you've got a team shot, whether posed or candid, include it. Same goes with candids of Aaron with teammates or coaches. This gives you more of an overall "day-in-the-life" type poster. Same goes for overall shots of the statdium, or a shot of an interesting banner, or the cheer squad, or them breaking through a banner at the start of the game, etc.
-Lastly, if you want to push the envelope, what does Aaron inspire you to. Is there something about him. Sometimes you can get a "feeling" and let that steer how the poster is built.

Looking forward to seeing your next attempts

clemensphoto's

Ok..first since this is a large poster, I'd recommend adding a few more action photos or even a team photo if you have one. The background image of the tiger I really like but maybe make if just a little more visible (not much). The name just doesn't do it for me. The color of the player's first name seems like it doesn't belong with the poster and the last name - the fourth letter - E? Try to make sure the name is legible to read in what ever position or type font - the player's leg gets in the way of the fourth letter and I'm have guess what it is. Just food for thought.