This is my first post in this great forum.

I'm a newbie to photography other than the usual family snapshots that everyone takes. The below before and after pictures are my first real attempt at being creative digitally.My only art training is an acrylic painting class at the local community college. My style is to jump into something and figure out the details later.

I snapped the picture on the spur of the moment while walking into a Cubs game. I think I got a bit lucky with the juxtaposition of the baseball program against the Wrigley Field sign...but I will give myself credit for instantly realizing it was a picture to take.

As for my Photoshop manipulation of the image.It was easy really.I stumbled across the tutorial on the web and pretty much followed the directions for the "Hayes Island Cafe" technique linked below.I have no real skills built up in Photoshop and would be overwhelmed to try to do something all on my own yet.

http://www.davrodigital.co.uk/tutorials/haye-island-cafe/hayes-island-cafe.htm

I have to admit I'm amazed at my results for a first attempt and I hope it inspires others newbies to just try something and see what happens.
I am truly filled with wonder at the possibilites with a digtal camera and Photoshop.

Thanks to all for this incredibly informative forum. MJ

Nice shot! The effects are really dramatic! After looking at your profile, I realized that coming from Wisconsin, you could have gone a few miles more to the south to get to a major league park!! Go Sox!! :D Welcome to RetouchPro.

Ed

I appreciate that you took the time to comment.

Once a year I go to a Cubs game with relatives in Illinois. I catch flack for it...but must admit I love Wrigley Field.

If you ever want to watch a real professional football team...come on up to Green Bay sometime. :wink:

My husband is a photographer and I work on the photoshop end of it, so the first suggestion I have for you is keeping the horizon horizontal when you shoot. This isn't a steadfast rule, and rules are meant to be broken but you will see after shooting images for awhile it is more pleasing to the eye. After saying that though, in photojournalism you will see a lot of angles, so if that's what you were going for, don't mind me. :glasses:

I constantly bring down guidelines in photoshop to help me find the horizon on shots like this. I probably couldn't take a good picture to save my life, but I can find the lines. :lol:

I guess he trained me well. :lol: I recropped it to show you and added some blue to the sky, more of an experiment on my behalf, because I'm still learning new tricks everyday.

Hope that helps. :)

I like the blue sky. It helps quite a bit.

I can't decide if I like the horizon horizontal as you suggested or not...but your comments are well taken.

I tend to be more of a rule breaker...so I would probably drive you crazy after a while. :grin:

Thanks for contributing.