My attempt at a Joel Grimes sports portrait.

[eric-holmes]

Inspiration... http://www.picksflix.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/552009102614PM_Rico20Football2.jpg

 

[brianT]

I like it! It's definitely in the right direction. There a few things I think should be done:

1. Remove the halos around the kid and the tree line.
2. Reduce the contrast of the grass (mostly in the foreground).
3. Brighten the sky and the grass field midground and background.

I hope you don't mind I did a quick edit to illustrate points 2 & 3 (I didn't remove the halos because, well, it's time consuming -- but I think it will help to make the kid appear more seamless to the environment.

 

[pbelarge]

Wow, very good, pretty close. Since it was inspiration, I am not sure how close you actually want to be to his work...having your own signature is good too.

All I would think of doing, is to take the emphasis and focus it on the player, and away from the background.

 

[eric-holmes]

I like it! It's definitely in the right direction. There a few things I think should be done:

1. Remove the halos around the kid and the tree line.
2. Reduce the contrast of the grass (mostly in the foreground).
3. Brighten the sky and the grass field midground and background.

I hope you don't mind I did a quick edit to illustrate points 2 & 3 (I didn't remove the halos because, well, it's time consuming -- but I think it will help to make the kid appear more seamless to the environment.

I like your edit a lot. I isn't even noticeable unless you are comparing the two images side by side. I just really like what you did with the background grass. Care to share how you did it?

All I would think of doing, is to take the emphasis and focus it on the player, and away from the background.

Are you saying I put too much emphasis on the background? I tried to keep it dark and just light the subject.

 

[eric-holmes]

Another attempt but I like the first one the best.

 

[pbelarge]

Are you saying I put too much emphasis on the background? I tried to keep it dark and just light the subject.

Eric
I do not know what your image looked like from the start, so I am not saying you put too much emphasis on the background. I was comparing it to the link you posted.

 

[eric-holmes]

Are you saying I put too much emphasis on the background? I tried to keep it dark and just light the subject.

Eric
I do not know what your image looked like from the start, so I am not saying you put too much emphasis on the background. I was comparing it to the link you posted.

Ah, I see what you are saying. Yeah, he definitely knows how to isolate his subject.

 

[brianT]

I like your edit a lot. I isn't even noticeable unless you are comparing the two images side by side. I just really like what you did with the background grass. Care to share how you did it?

It was a real quick edit, but what I did was create a white gradient from the horizon line to the just under the kid's knees. Mask out the area where the gradient covered the kid (you want the gradient on the BG only). Set the gradient to Soft Light blend mode, then adjust the opacity until it looks right. Also duplicate the gradient layer, set the blend mode to saturation and adjust the opacity to bring down the saturation a little.

I also did some noise reduction in the sky. And I also reduced contrast in the foreground grass a little, just made a selection and adjusted with brightness/contrast.

With the original files you would achieve the same result differently though because assuming you already darkened the BG, you don't want to re-lighten it. Basically, work from the original image information.

 

[Derrel]

Not too bad. This shows just how much of his work is post processing. A lot.

 

[N E Williams]

I really like these photos, good job :thumbup: