Hello everyone,
I had a session with a local hockey player today and here is my favorites from the shoot. I mocked it up as a poster to show him and his parents what it would look like and they loved it. Thought I'd share it with y'all here and see if you had any ideas on how to improve on the design or the photography. I have a handful of hockey portrait sessions coming up and am always looking for new / interesting ways to pose the athletes in the studio.
Thanks for looking!
Billy-
Damn, Billy, that's a sweet poster. Wonderful photo. I'm already on record as loving that background. The only things I can think of, and these are real nit-picks:
For some reason I'd like the blade of the stick to have a bit more breathing room from the left edge of the poster. Also, the light gray filler for the number and name just don't seem ideal to me. I can't think how they could or would be better, but that gray color just doesn't seem to blend with the rest of the poster. Beyond that, it's awesome. I like how you've reduced the opacity of the logo to make it look like it's part of the background ice. Really nice work.
Thanks Russ. I was thinking the same thing regarding the breathing room on each side of the stick and without wanting to downsize the portrait any more, I chose to keep it closer than I would normally like. I guess my only other option would be to go with a 2:3 aspect ratio, as opposed to a 2:2.5.
In regards to the grey used for the text, I chose that so as to highlight or bring out the grey stroke around ALTON in the sweater. I knew that white, red and grey would be the colors I could use, and I didn't want to overdo it with the reds, which is easy to do. I guess I could try changing the text to red and use the grey as a stroke. I can also mess with the opacity, as I do want it to appear to be a logo on the ice.
Billy... it's good. Like Russ, I'm feeling like a little breathing room is needed on both the left side especially, but also the right. It's a little cramped. I might not have felt the same way, had the player been justified a little more to the right of the frame. But since he's angled three quarter facing left, I'm thinking that a little more breathing room on the left is needed as Russ hinted.
The second thing I'm seeing and I don't know if anything can be done about it is that there is just too much white. I think that's why the name is getting a little lost. Since you have a white jersey and white ice background, I might try the name in a muted red just to see what it looks like. Another thing worth a try might be a heavier outer black glow just to separate the white player from the white BG.
A bit of breathing room might be good, but I'm good with most everything else. It's hockey and the white ice looks great. Yeah, look at the name in a mute red (to match the logo) and see if you like that, but if not, I wouldn't argue with you. Well done and thanks for sharing.
Billy, I agree with Russ and Paul on this. It's a good looking poster to start, but needs some tweaking to improve the impact factor. While the red is popping, there's so much white and light gray that the overall first impression is one of overexposure. The other thing they mentioned is it being too tight to the stick on the framing. Due to the pose, it's kind of screaming for a wider aspect ratio, as the feel is that you weren't quite sure whether to go vert or horiz, so you ended up with a frame that's too close to square. Some ideas to try:
- Burn out the top third (or more) of the ice to really dark, or full black (large feathering), and slightly around the perimeter of the remaining ice. You'd add some much needed depth and make the light gray text work, all in one step.
- Change the aspect ratio, and play with positioning of all the elements to fit correctly. I'd move him to the right side of the frame. (I can show you what I mean with your permission). And don't be afraid of cutting off the handle end of the stick-- we often stick to imaginary rules that work better when broken.
- I'm not a fan of small logos. If I stick them in, I think they look best when enlarged as big as possible in the bg, as long as there's enough showing that you can figure out what it is.
- Thin down the gray border a little (maybe try changing to a skinny black stroke?)
- Add the full name on the autograph (if an autograph is the intention, that is)-- my reasoning is that 90% of the time, a player would sign his/her full name. If it were me, I wouldn't use it in conjunction with the poster's text to indicate the player's full name. But that's just me.
Anyway, these are things I'd try if it were my poster. Everyone's taste is different.
Billy, that is a nice poster, and I agree with an above comment to make the signature transparent.
I have been toying around with a similar poster and found that placing the signature under the ice layer works great..... it makes the whole thing look like a sheet of ice....
I agree with the other posters that this is a very nice poster, but that there's a little too much white in it.
One suggestion is to tint the background ice (which, BTW, is a nice texture).
A quickie version of what I'm talking about is shown below.
It's funny cause I didn't notice the changes right away and I figured out why. Right away you are drawn to the player (and that didn't change) so well done there since that is the point to something like this. I had to read and scroll back up to see the changes, they are subtle but I like the new design a lot.
Tim, I have made every effort to have a logo or branding name on all of my posters because I am positive these will always be displayed somewhere and people will see them a lot more than the T&I stuff that might go on the fridge, be handed out to Grandma, or just might stay in the bag for a while. The only thing I brand from a T&I shoot is my custom memory mates and trading cards. While I do think it is important to have your company name represented on posters and other items, it is equally important that the name/logo not to be obtrusive and a major focal point. Thanks for the feedback!
I brand everything... a lot less of a chance of the customer making dupes at wal-mart and the like. Those stores WILL protect your copyright if a customer tries to copy the photos without a signed release. If they don't, they are subject to a heavy fine if caught.
I do agree with Billy that the logo on a poster is more for exposure purposes and less for copyright reasons.
Paul, excellent point. Everything I print has copyright information printed on the back and I have had a few calls from Walgreens and Wal-Mart with customers trying to duplicate photos. However, it won't stop anyone from scanning the photos at home and putting them on a disc and taking them in. We do what we can and realize you can't stop everyone from making unauthorized copies.
Oh those Reds and blacks are the most difficult colours to work with for print quality works. ...(our local hockey team colours along with white.) I have to be very careful to use bright or rich reds to point to something significant or to dramatize.
Red is different from any other colour when mixed. It does not become lighter or muted; it always becomes "pink".
Have you considered offering any 2:3 ratio sizes (18x24, etc)? On your template here, I'm seeing maybe 6 or 7 layers. That should be a snap to re-shape. The reason I ask is that I have way better luck with composition using 2:3, not to mention that I think a wider aspect adds a certain 'posterish' feel all by itself.
