HEre's the deal: I have no training and frankly a shitload of none-existing experience with Photoshop CS2 but this is what i came up with as my
first serious wallpaper in terms for Stargate Atlantis.

Please feel free to pick it apart, rant, scream and bitch all you want :)

Please just remember i'm a n00b :p

Erik

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j275/AerandirA/Comp%20Graphics/Completed%20Wallpapers/Stargate/?action=view&current=73aabc66.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

For overall concept, I'll give you an A, but I'd like to see you bump up the saturation and contrast on the head shots. They seem kind of Flat.

aerandira, personally, this doesnt bother me, but, being that this is a 'family' site the use of profanity is monitored.

as for your pic, i agree with swampy and would add two things. first, a tighter crop would work better here. you've got a lot of more or less dead space at the bottom and sides and two, the stargate symbol used in the text is fine, but wouldnt you use it everywhere there was an 'A' if you used it once that way?

i do like the background and the texture treatment in the portraits.

i'm also a little curious. you posted this on photobucket so i'm wondering, what's this for? a fan site later on or something?

craig

:wavey: G'day Erik,
Just a few little things I noticed straight off; the text looks a bit misalligned with those large and uneven spaces on both sides of the 'A' makes it not so much stand out as look out place... look at the original title graphic I pulled from Stargate's website. Many other compositional allignment issues here with the sizes and placement of the 'button' headshots and the border effects on them(looks like you resized etc after you added effects, best to add effects last for uniformity). Guides and rulers are a must here. Maybe a little more interest in the background, I like the repeated code thing but the plain white background lets it down a bit, perhaps incorporate that water theme they have got going in there instead... that's just my perception, you can take it or leave it.
Cheers for now :happy:

What hits me most, is that all the head shots seem to be "deformed" slightly in some way. (Hard to describe, but they don't look right). Most noticeable in the top left figure and bottom right figure.

Was this due to the original shots, or have you altered them when trying to fit them into the vignettes?

aerandira, personally, this doesnt bother me, but, being that this is a 'family' site the use of profanity is monitored.

*blushes* Right...got'cha.


i'm also a little curious. you posted this on photobucket so i'm wondering, what's this for? a fan site later on or something?

I'm using Photobucket as a storage medium only. The wallpaper was made for some friends, though it started out as a momentary flash of 'inspiration' for something new in photoshop that i'd like to try.

Might send it in to fansites though i still feel it's not quite there just yet :)

Littlecoo, Not sure where to start with your comment. I'm gonna break it down into sections then have a go at it in photoshop. Will post the new wallpaper ASAP.


Was this due to the original shots, or have you altered them when trying to fit them into the vignettes?

I first added the vignettes, then used images of different sizes (800x600, 1024x786 and higher), using circular lasso tool to copy out facial parts and pasting it into wallpaper then resizing it to fit in. The photos doesnt have water affect, as that was actually added on the circles but then as i used lower opacity on the images it came through pretty nicely.

Thanks for your suggestions people :)

Fair winds,

Erik

:wavey: G'day Erik,
Just a few little things I noticed straight off; the text looks a bit misalligned with those large and uneven spaces on both sides of the 'A' makes it not so much stand out as look out place... look at the original title graphic I pulled from Stargate's website. Many other compositional allignment issues here with the sizes and placement of the 'button' headshots and the border effects on them(looks like you resized etc after you added effects, best to add effects last for uniformity). Guides and rulers are a must here. Maybe a little more interest in the background, I like the repeated code thing but the plain white background lets it down a bit, perhaps incorporate that water theme they have got going in there instead... that's just my perception, you can take it or leave it.
Cheers for now :happy:

Please forgive me for what might be seen as an exceptionally stupid question from my part, but how did you get those rulers/grids? Not sure what english word is as english isnt my primary language.

Erik

Guides get pulled down or out from the rulers (which you musht "show" first). In CS2 there are also smart guides which "snap" when objects are centered or aligned top/bottom, left/right.

I'm using Photobucket as a storage medium only. The wallpaper was made for some friends, though it started out as a momentary flash of 'inspiration' for something new in photoshop that i'd like to try.

Might send it in to fansites though i still feel it's not quite there just yet ah, ok. thank you. was just curious :)

craig