Soccer in Autumn
Hi, I know this is not typically out of the box, but I also knew this would be the place to go for critique. This photo was taken in the late afternoon. I like the yellowish tint because of the autumn time of year. I had to crop about 50% off the left of the photo because the kids were running toward some junky buildings in the background. I am wondering about the sky--it looks drab. Should I crop more, into the trees? I tried a brighter version, but lost the autumn effect. Any opinions?
I wouldn't want to crop into the trees. It makes the trees look less like trees without the profile of the tops -- especially if they're lightened and further blurred. To reduce distraction, I think the background should be lightened more than the foreground (which should be lightened, as well), and it should be further blurred. I like your idea of showing the autumn color, and I really like your horizontal placement of the kids.
First, I lightened the entire image with a Curves layer. Then, I used content-aware fill to get rid of the poles on the right side and slightly desaturated and further lightened the background with a Hue/Saturation layer. Knowing that I was going to crop part of the sky and that the background had been subdued, I applied a very light blue layer above the rest of the image and used the Lighter Color blend mode. (That was a lot faster than masking it so it didn't hide the tops of the trees.) After moving the kids and field upward a good bit so the tops of the trees would still show but the players would take center stage, I cropped some from both the bottom and top. (The border was added so the sky didn't blend into the background when it was posted.)
Hazel, I like the action captured and the repost by Dennis. I also like that you captured a group of "three" boys- nicely done.
Hazel, this is very nice. I like the action and the expression. The yellowish tint works for me. Dennis's repost works well too.
Hazel, I like the boys' intensity and the action you captured. I'd either crop from the top or I like Dennis' repost.
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repost of 3 soccer players
thanks for all the good feedback. I am reposting based on your comments. Dennis, I was not totally comfortable with blurring the kids, but did work on the trees, etc. and like that effect. Thanks again for your help, everyone.
Nice job removing the light poles! I like it better with the foreground and kids lighter and the background blurrier. (I never meant that the kids should be blurred. If it looks that way in my repost, it's probably because I enlarged the jpg.)Originally Posted by Hazel Grant
It is tricky to focus on the boys with that bright background. I like either your repost or Dennis' version. What is on the lip of the center boy? Is it his tongue? If so, maybe it shouldn't be blue. The whole point of this photo is the boys, and you captured them well.
I think it is his tongue. I'll see if I can delete that....
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