Amber soft collage

[maureeno]

I've attempted an amber-type soft collage of my little girl on a parchment type background. I used selection tools with 50% feather and a pale gradient wash. I feel I may have muted the matting too far. I posted it to Photobucket to have a larger image.

Maureen

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...itcollage3.jpg

[Caitlin]

That's really lovely Maureen.

Just a couple of minor points - I find the white ribbon in your daughter's hair a little distracting, and I think her hair just above her eyes could be a bit more in focus. As to the matting, why not try it with a few different shades and colours. I think it could look nice with a darker colour.

[maureeno]

Originally Posted by Caitlin

That's really lovely Maureen.

Just a couple of minor points - I find the white ribbon in your daughter's hair a little distracting, and I think her hair just above her eyes could be a bit more in focus. As to the matting, why not try it with a few different shades and colours. I think it could look nice with a darker colour.

I was thinking a darker colour woiuld be better, as well. The "ribbon" is actually a flower garland that I could darken. I'm wondering if I should select and darken it or burn it?

I think the white bumbershoot colour is a wee bit too white, as well, the more I look at it....

BTW, my daughter's name is Caitlin, as well.

Maureen

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Maureen,

Nice job. What I find distracting about your image, is that the picture of the girl in the foreground is more blurred than the picture of the girl behind her. This is contrary to the way we see things. Distant objects are always more blurred than close ones.

[nebgranny]

To an untrained eye it is just lovely!! Go with the experts here. I think the idea is very nice and your little girl looks so sweet. Could you post how you did get the images of her into that fashion . I love collages!! Neb

[maureeno]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

Hi Maureen,

Nice job. What I find distracting about your image, is that the picture of the girl in the foreground is more blurred than the picture of the girl behind her. This is contrary to the way we see things. Distant objects are always more blurred than close ones.

Thank you, Gary. All three photos are scanned images of film photos, not done with my digital.

I wanted to achieve the effect that I'd seen done of Scully and Mulder (XFiles) and I used images of the approximate size. None of the images in the example matched in texture. Neither do the tones.

I'm still not happy with what I've done, but I have some very good starting points toward improvement that I've got you guys here!

Thanks,
Maureen

[maureeno]

Originally Posted by nebgranny

To an untrained eye it is just lovely!! Go with the experts here. I think the idea is very nice and your little girl looks so sweet. Could you post how you did get the images of her into that fashion . I love collages!! Neb

Hi Neb! How I did this was to open a new canvas (800X600) then open one of the images first. I selected a rectangle feathered about 35%, then dragged it to the new canvas. I did the same with the second image (the one with the flower garland) set to an ellipse selection, dragged that one, as well. Then the one with the umbrella, duplicated that one so I'd have 2 of them and dragged one of them into the main canvas (I believe I used multiply on that one. On the duplicate, I flipped it horizonitally and adjusted the transparency a wee bit.

When I had the images where I wanted them, I opened the background, out of lots that I have, and I dragged that to the main canvas and sent it to the back. Flattened the lot and used an amber gradient set to the upper right corner.

Hope that helps!

Maureen

[fembot]

Maureen,

There is text over her face in the big blurry picture at the front, it doesn't really look like text, and gives the impression of some weird shadows across her cheek and chin, I'd get rid of some of that. I find the green background of the little picture (with the umbrellas, cute pic!) really distracting, the rest of the collage is more of a sepia affair, so personally I'd tone down that green. Great collage, though.

Fembot.

[Kraellin]

maureen,

i think it's lovely. absolutely darling!

the ONLY thing i see that i might change is the sharpness of the larger part in the foreground, her face. such a darling picture shld be a touch sharper.

and, just as a point of being finicky, this is a montage, not a collage. they are not quite the same.

Craig