He was actually out. Playing with Painter IX and trying to work with the background. Any thoughts?
http://www.pbase.com/image/42566787.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/carriea/image/42566336.jpg
Hopefully I am doing this right.

Greetings, Carrie:

Glad you joined us. Your talent and creativity will be a breath of fresh air to this venue.

re: "Do this right?"
As a general rule, the preferred method is to attach (upload pics) rather than use links. Links eventually break and that's a hassle.

The trick on attachments in this forum is to use Photoshop's File > Save for Web feature and adjust the Quality setting until the file size is > 100 KB (site max limit). For work of this nature, the quality setting value doesn't significantly affect display quality.

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I *really* like the technique you're developing (Painter + Trimoon AHB) and would like to see it applied to an image other than this one. (Your other examples I've seen are marvelous.)

The angle of this shot + the ackward positions of the players & umpire make it difficult to decipher what's going on, so the strokes and artwork are lost.

Of the two pics you posted I prefer the second one.

I hope you'll try some of the "Creative Portrait" manipulations (there's never an expiration date on trying). Your method would look outstanding on some of those.

Again, welcome to RetouchPRO.

~Danny~

Thank you Danny. I really appreciate your advice. You have such a wonderful grasp on this stuff.
Carrie

I agree with Danny about the subject matter, but having said that I also think the second is the better.

The first has too much detail in the BG, fence posts quite clear, chain links clear, etc - this draws attention from the abstractness of the foreground.

The second loses all detail in the BG (I do like the way the fence has gone to white lines that could be anything) and thus concentrates your mind on the foreground.

The picture is a very ambiguous though - if the subject was not made clear with a picture title (as you've done) it could even be a picture of something nasty like a gangland attack (the guy on the far right could be shot, for eg). The black hat could be a weapon, etc.

The first picture has less ambiguity about it, but I still prefer the second.

I'd like to see other subjects done in the same way - how about the old cliche of a rusty tractor in a field (LOL!!)?

Thank you Meeow for the constructive criticsism. I like that because it helps me to hopefully improve ans see things differently.