Critique wanted on photoshopped poster

mercphoto · January 18, 2005

Iron Rock Raceway (Austin) had its grand opening Saturday, and I photographed the event. I'm putting together a 16x20 poster for the event. I'd really like suggestions. In particular, should I have a background color? Notice the logo in the middle, which has white in it. This makes me shy away from a background color.

Thanks for any advice.

wxwax · January 18, 2005

Bill, since everyone was kind enough to comment on my first poster effort, please allow me to return the favor.

I like your basic concept - logo surrounded by racing shots. I like the asymmetry you're using for the shots. And most of the shots themselves look good.

Here are some thoughts (that's all, just immediate reactions.) The overall poster looks flat and one-dimensional. Drop shadows, gradients, shadings or other effects might give it more depth. Is the logo large enough or postioned in a dominant enough place? And I actually missed the type the first time. After all, the pics are only there to support the message of the track and its grand opening. Can you maybe play with the idea of a checker flag in the background - have it blurring as it wipes across the poster? The images don't all have to be square and lined up. They don't have to have four sides or be symmetrical, either. With a collage, you can have tons of fun. Maybe even remove the hard-edged borders, give them soft "dissolves" onto the background? Maybe even overlay one over the other.

Anyway, just a bunch of thoughts. My basic reaction is: you have a concept, now it's time to give it some punch.

mercphoto · January 18, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Bill, since everyone was kind enough to comment on my first poster effort, please allow me to return the favor.

I like your basic concept - logo surrounded by racing shots. I like the asymmetry you're using for the shots. And most of the shots themselves look good.

Here are some thoughts (that's all, just immediate reactions.) The overall poster looks flat and one-dimensional. Drop shadows, gradients, shadings or other effects might give it more depth. Is the logo large enough or postioned in a dominant enough place? And I actually missed the type the first time. After all, the pics are only there to support the message of the track and its grand opening. Can you maybe play with the idea of a checker flag in the background - have it blurring as it wipes across the poster? The images don't all have to be square and lined up. They don't have to have four sides or be symmetrical, either. With a collage, you can have tons of fun. Maybe even remove the hard-edged borders, give them soft "dissolves" onto the background? Maybe even overlay one over the other.

Anyway, just a bunch of thoughts. My basic reaction is: you have a concept, now it's time to give it some punch.

Thanks for the critique. I was at a friend's house, and we changed a few things. Cropped the top picture with the airplane to remove some dead space under the kart. Changed the photo middle-left to contrast more. A few more items. The idea for drop shadows is a great one. I'll have to figure that out. Feel free to email me with directions.

wxwax · January 18, 2005

Do you have Photoshop?

mercphoto · January 18, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Do you have Photoshop?

Yes. And I've figured it out. Need to add more shadow though. And looking for a checkered flag to make an opaque background. Will need to learn how to do that too...

wxwax · January 18, 2005

Yeah, I can't really make out the shadow. Can't wait to see where this goes!

mercphoto · January 18, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Yeah, I can't really make out the shadow. Can't wait to see where this goes!

Me too! Here are larger drop shadows, plus a checkered flag background at 50% opacity. I purposefully made the checkered flag not as wide or tall as the images. Should I extend it to the edge of the poster? Also, I know there is a way to make the background show through the white portions of the logo. How do I do that? I think its simple.

Thanks.

wxwax · January 18, 2005

One way might be to use the magic wand to select all the white on the logo layer, then delete what you've selected. Should be a nice clean selection. If the logo layer's above the flag laer, the flag will show through.

Something about the flag isn't working.

Too busy and confusing. You feel the same way?

mercphoto · January 18, 2005

wxwax wrote:

One way might be to use the magic wand to select all the white on the logo layer, then delete what you've selected. Should be a nice clean selection. If the logo layer's above the flag laer, the flag will show through.

Something about the flag isn't working. Too busy and confusing. You feel the same way?

I'm trying magic wand, manual selection, etc. Its really hard due to the simple fact that PORTIONS of the white you want to keep, but most the white you want to remove. And, those pesky feathered colored areas makes for a lot of manual selection.

I like the idea of the flag. I think it needs to extend to the edges. But, a different flag picture might be needed. The black and white blocks are maybe too large?

mercphoto · January 18, 2005

Ok, I've figured out how to get the background through the logo in an attractive manner! First version and second version differ only in the background checkered flag. One goes to the image edge, the other is tucked in some.

wxwax · January 19, 2005

Much better with the flag going to the edge. You might be right - smaller blocks would be better on the flag.

How did you remove the white from the logo? It looks good.

mercphoto · January 19, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Much better with the flag going to the edge. You might be right - smaller blocks would be better on the flag.

How did you remove the white from the logo? It looks good.

And yet I make an 8x10 test print, and I like the flag tucked in better! Oh well. One way on screen looks good, but on paper the other way does.

I used magic wand to select much of what I wanted. I think I selected the white, and then made a layer mask that excluded that. You get the idea. Then you select the layer mask on the layer pallette and you grab a brush tool. If you paint white you remove part of the mask, and if you paint black you add to the mask. Or maybe the other way around. A little playing around and it becomes obvious. But, it was much easier than I feared!

wxwax · January 19, 2005

Interesting about the print.

Right after I asked the question about removing the white, I figured a mask would be a good way to solve the problem.

So, are you done? Or will you play with it some more?

mercphoto · January 19, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Interesting about the print.

Right after I asked the question about removing the white, I figured a mask would be a good way to solve the problem.

So, are you done? Or will you play with it some more?

Done for now. Late.

Going to get feedback from the track owner and PR person. Thinking about dropping the opacity of the checkered flag, tone it down just a touch. Possibly shoot a new picture for the background as well. Thanks for the advice and tips!

mercphoto · January 19, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Interesting about the print... So, are you done? Or will you play with it some more?

Based on input from a few people who saw actual prints, I think the white background, and the tucked-in background, are a tie. I like the idea of going to the edge, but what I think distracts me about that is the fact the edge is not a consistent color -- parts of it are black, parts of it are white. With the tucked-in background I think it maybe adds a bit of depth.

The other comment was to knock down the opacity further, from 50% to 33%, to make the background less "present".

Dee · January 19, 2005

A graphic designer's point of view
The title is totally lost in the poster. A more prominent position and an easier to read font would work better. A bold sans serif italic font would go along with "racing" and speed.

What would work better for me as a subliminal background would be a faded back "crowd" shot -- people cheering, something like that. Since it's a grand opening, it's all about the people attending this special event.

The photos are fine, bright, colorful and work well.

Following the rule of thirds, I'd suggest photos on the top third, a strip of color with the Text reversed out of it (grand opening, etc.) with the logo centered and breaking out of the bar at the bottom. Then the crowd shot starts, with the rest of your photos.

Kind of hard to describe but hope you can make out my intent.

The way the poster is set up now it's all about your photos -- not about the grand opening with your photos supporting the event. Does that make sense?

Drop shadows, believe it or not, are on their way out in the design world. They were so overdone in past years they became a cliche. Now the drop shadows strive to appear natural and very light -- a suggestion of shadow, just enough to help the photo pop from the background.

If your photos are against a crowd scene, I'd drop the drop shadows. Now how's that conflicting suggestions? :-) You could add a thin border around each photo instead, but a thin one... :-)

Hope this helps....

mercphoto · January 19, 2005

Dee wrote:

Hope this helps....

Yes! Thanks.

Can't seem to find a sans serif bold italic font in Photoshop. I would have guessed Helvetica, but I can only get it in a bold. Oh well. And I'm changing the text color to the blue of the logo. Will probably remove the bottom three photos altogether, leave the logo in the center, and put the text centered, larger, at the bottom.

mercphoto · January 19, 2005

Final version!
Here's the final version! Thanks for all the advice.

wxwax · January 19, 2005

Ah, a dramatic change. Looks good!

Great feedback, Dee.

Dee · January 19, 2005

Glad to help!

wxwax wrote:

Ah, a dramatic change. Looks good!

Great feedback, Dee.

It's difficult being a photographer, then finding yourself having to become a photoshop artist, and then you're expected to know graphic design!

My motto, keep it simple, keep it timeless...

mercphoto · January 24, 2005

Dee wrote:

It's difficult being a photographer, then finding yourself having to become a photoshop artist, and then you're expected to know graphic design!

My motto, keep it simple, keep it timeless...

Simpler, still. Better?

wxwax · January 25, 2005

Yes indeed!

DavidTO · January 25, 2005

mercphoto wrote:

Simpler, still. Better?

I saw this when you first posted it, and I really had no idea how to help you, so I just stepped back. Days later I came back to catch up on the thread, and wow, what a story in pictures. I love seeing how you got to this, your final. The end result is very nice and seeing the process along the way...who'da thunk you'd end up here by looking at the previous steps! Nice job.

Nee7x7 · January 25, 2005

I can second that!

This last version is a winner!!!

~Nee

Critique wanted on photoshopped poster

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