two images - wish they looked better

Made two little works out of some pictures I took. The first one was for a Photoshop "invisible world" contest. I didn't submit it because I don't think it turned out that well. The second one was for an "exxaggeration city" contest, and I really wish that one had turned out better. Guess I just need practice in Photoshop.

--1 --2

Be harsh. I need it.

tom

*edit

1--- http://trhaynes.ionichost.com/stuff/cat.jpg
2--- http://trhaynes.ionichost.com/stuff/giraffepic.jpg

Hope you can see them now. My host acts up now and then.

ok heres your hashness ::

"You do not have access to this document" lol cant veiw it bud

didnt work for me "tampoco"
fix it
quick quick!!!

I timed out on left click........but copy paste worked fine.

As to the harshness...

(you asked for it lol...but its not harsh...just pointers. I like them.....especially the 2nd one!!)

The first image:

- needs some color correcting. The planter is way too orange. Also the flash kinda killed the picture. It over exposed and made everything kinda fake looking.

-You need some soft shadows. You could paint one just beneath the planter..and with a low opacity soft brush maybe enhance the current ones.

-Also you could use other photos and give this pic texture. The floor you could use a dirty texture...the planter you could have cracks in etc. (you dont have to do this...just an idea)

- Id give it a border (maybe 10px or 15px....or more)

- I would try to lighten the corners. Select them (lasso) feather the selection (maybe 20px) and use brightness/contrast or levels.

- maybe add more contrast (not much) to the pic to give it more drama. I mean its a lonely planter that fell over and spilled....so its kinda dramatic itself.

-maybe even experiment with the pic being black and white. Or a black and white picture with and orange planter or similar.

The second image:

- needs color correcting also. The hands/arms should be brighter and have more pink/red hue to them. Use brightness/contrast....or levels and maybe color balance.

- The giraffe (sp?) should be a little bit darker. U can achieve this by giving it a little more contrast. Also you may want to use color balance again and give him a more yellow/orange/brown kind color. Dont forget you can use "channels" with the color balance...so if you select the red channel...your only going to alter the red colors (this gives you more control over the color)

-The giraffe (sp? again) should have shadows where his feet touch the hand. Right now...even though it looks good...it almost looks like he is floating. Just paint a small gray/black mark (low opacity) under each leg and it will set him down so he is actually on the hand.

Also the selection of the hand could be smoother....its kinda bumpy right now. To save time (w/ out re-selecting) just zoom in and remove the tips of those bumps. Then zoom out and it will look pretty good.

- Id crop the picture to the wrists (removing most of the arm). Id crop it so it has the "shape" of a piece of paper (shorter width....longer in length....basically an 8.5x11 kinda shape)

- Again give it a border (maybe a large black border....20px maybe)

- Id also try to give it a background. Maybe another pic...maybe just a color...just something needs to be there. Just make sure the background doesnt overpower the pic...(like imagine it with a shocking orange or green background and you'll understand what i mean)

Hopefully that wasnt too bad!

ok the first is ok... very very little detail you shoulda put more paw prints with a fade out on them.. and perhaps of broken the pot...

the second one needs alot of help... you need to readjust the colors between the giraffe and the hands. Also while you were cutting the arms our you messed up the actuall structure of the arm
it is in a wave motion like ~ not good... alot of jagges all around blur the hell out of the jaggies but your going to have to recut the arms...masking works good for stuff like that

wow me and rodder posted at like the same time lol...

for you guys that cant get it... for the first one copy and paste for the second one add www to the link

Allright I worked on them for varying amounts of time. The cat one didn't get much work because I never really liked it all that much in the first place. I added some texture and made a couple minor adjustments but it still looks pretty bad.

http://trhaynes.ionichost.com/cat2.jpg

The one with the giraffe I completely redid. I really like it now - thanks for the help, rodder. Whenever I used FTP to upload it to my trhaynes.ionichost site, there was a problem, so the URL is at freewebs.

http://www.freewebs.com/trhaynes/2.jpg

Thanks all for your input.

tom

didnt work for me !!

I cant access the first one.....but the second on is awesome! Good work. And excellent choice of background..... it just fits so well!!

Yeah...I can't see the cat one, but giraffe pic is cool. Good grassy background for it, although it seems to me that the hands maybe could blend a bit better with the background...? Maybe that's just me though in my infinite ameteurishness...(good word that is :p ).