Let's see what you can do with this Photo

[alfredo]

Fire up Photoshop or whatever you have and see what you can do with this image. You can retouch it, or let your imagination go wild.



African Cup Games in Asmara Ethiopia late 60's.

[F.Gordon]

1. Quick Change

[alfredo]

2. LoL You know that you are close to the truth

After this photo a fight broke out. One official had to be escorted out of the stadium for his own protection.

All those light things on the ground are pieces of paper with text exhorting the friendship and good will being generated by the games.

The lightning is such a nice touch. It is like they are being lifted off the ground by it.

BTW, that is Ghana (white) and either Senegal or Congo Kinshasha. I'm leaning to Senegal.

[intheflow]

3. How about this interpretation?

[RagingInMiami]

4. I like that one

[alfredo]

5. For once I can clearly see the ball.

That damn tower hides the ball.

[intheflow]

12. That's what I was going for.

It took me a few beats to figure out what was going on in the picture because the ball was obscured.

[GOPFighter]

9. Nice!

You used PhotoShop?

[intheflow]

11. Yes.

I just noodled around with the select tool, the fill tool, and some filters. I don't actually know anything about Photoshop. I've just been goofing around with it for about 10 years. I'm a free-style kind of artist, not a technical one. :shrug:

[Blue_In_AK]

6. You guys are so clever. n/t

[alfredo]

7. Let's see what you can do.

You are a good photographer, let's see your editing skills.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. Thank you for the compliment...

...but I really don't know much about my fix-it program. I have PaintShop, not PhotoShop, but I assume it does the same sorts of things. All I've been using it for so far is just to brighten up the colors and fix the contrast if I'm not happy with the original. If I didn't have to work all the time :(, I'd have more time to play with this stuff.

[alfredo]

17. Download GIMP.

it is an open source graphics program. The user interface is a bit different from what you are used to, but once you play with it for a bit it will come to you. It is a very good, very powerful tool. It will give you a lot of the same tools you will find in Photoshop, but it is no replacement for PS. Hey, the price is right. Free

http://gimp.org

[alfredo]

8. I might as well post something

Soccer Riot

[intheflow]

10. That's AWESOME!

I love it! How'd you do that? Do you have a stylus that you traced the bodies with? You couldn't have done that with just a mouse! Could you?

[alfredo]

13. Thanks. Yes I do have a stylus.

I find that quick back and forth erasing motion works better than tracing around. The zoom feature is your friend. I also use the lasso for large areas.

I used the gradient and lighting effects.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. That's fabulous. I love it. n/t

[alfredo]

15. thank you. It is all

trial and error.

[Richard Steele]

18. I don't know if this is an improvement or not...

I wanted to emphasize the ball and players, but keep that great B&W look, and enough blur to suggest the motion.

Created a dupe layer, gave it a 2-pixel Gaussian blur, then erased through it to reveal the players.

Then, to blend the whole thing, I flattened the image, created a dupe layer at 25% opacity, and gave that just a TOUCH of the 'emboss' filter.

So waddaya think? 'Artistic', or just 'messed-with'?

[alfredo]

19. I like it.

It feels deep and somewhat surreal. Good job.

[Richard Steele]

20. Thank you Alfredo, you see it the way I do.

I know that many MILLIONS of people buy Photoshop just to SHARPEN images...

But I'm an oddball; I really feel I 'get my money's worth' when I am BLURRING things!

It's not about the CLARITY of the image, it's about the FEEL.

I tried to pSHOP that Pic from the PLAYERS point of view;
to portray 'The Moment' from THEIR perspective.

THAT MOMENT:...The ball is up there, so high...waiting for someone to claim it....
others, as skilled as you, are going UP for it...Up, UP...
and TIME STANDS STILL.

ALL that exists is YOU, the BALL, and those 3 other Players.
The ENTIRE world is just 'backround noise'.
That MOMENT is just YOU and the BALL.

Yes, "SURREAL" is the word!

You know that "Surrealism" is defined as "a static, VISUAL depiction of THOUGHT itself", right?


And, (rant over), I just wanna give CREDIT where it's DUE:

So let me say: That was an AMAZINGLY AWESOME photo from the get-go!

Subject+composition+timing...so good!

[alfredo]

21. Thanks for the praise. The picture took some

deception. First the specs on the picture. It was taken with a Pentax Spotmatic with a Tamron 80~250 zoom. TriX film was used.

Now the deception.

I was not supposed to be on the field but I was able to bluff my way there. I burdened myself with all the equipment I could so I would look like a pro. I just walked onto the field and started to snap images. Nobody challenged me. If you pretend you have every right to be there, people will not challenge you.

For me it was the way the two on the ground were carbon copies, and the men in the air were mirror images. Soccer is very geometric. While watching soccer look at the patterns. It is a beautiful sport on so many levels.

Notice how high they are off the ground. I am sure there are plenty basketball players who would envy their ability.