Help with Poster

Alright So I am making a poster for the seniors of the school I partner with. Looking for some C&C on this and just some general help.. I usually dont do this but I figured there are others here who do much more than I do.

Thanks all..

EDIT: Attached a second option..

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Option 2.

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I prefer the first over the second, but am not keen on the cut-off bodies floating in space halfway up the page. Perhaps try moving them to the bottom where the crop will blend in with the bottom border. The text at the bottom can always be placed in another box, to make it stand out a little from the rest of the poster as well to separate it from the cutouts.

Then again, I'm far from being a graphic designer, so feel free to ignore this if you wish...

Dave,

Have you thought about buying a poster and tweaking it to your liking? I am in the middle of a creative stump for a lacrosse poster myself. I like doing my own templates, but sometimes why do we re-invent the wheel? I think I'm going to be buying a template this time. Back on topic, I'm not a fan of either, but #2 is the better of the two. I'm not a fan of floating bodies either (made that mistake myself before).

Fade the edges on the photos of the 2nd more. Also do you have a different shot of him staring up getting blocked out? Can you remove an inch or so off the bottom and top of the poster?

Thanks for the suggestion guys..

ZX- I cant remove off the top or bottom.. This is sized a specific way, I cant mess with the cropping.

Kevin- I dont know, I just havent found many templates I really like. Maybe it is just me. lol

Here is one more I mixed with.. I cleaned up some of the masking and moved the logo for the basketball team down to the lower right.

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it's too much of everything...I think you need to apply less is more rule here..I would concentrate just on one or just maybe two players but in strong pose which fill almost entire area...of course you would need to separate him or them from the background and make new one...depending on the pose of the player you would generate free space for adding text....I also find your font very unapropriate, it looks like military one...do choose another..
also do a search for basketball posters and try to copy one...look for poses, look how they blend with background, look where and how to place a text, look for fonts...
hope this helps a bit

for example:
http://www.allposters.​com …ose-Posters_i5219145_.htm

look how simple this one is and yet very effective.
- one man with the ball in his hands with strong expression on his face
- simple background
- free space for text and logo

So ... a few tips...
Even if you can't change cropping, you can change placement, so the guys that are cropped above the waist could be placed at the bottom of the poster and it wouldn't look so unnatural.

Avoid any solid color anywhere, even a two color gradient leaves you with a lot of solid.
I usually start with an image of fire, or vapor, or fabric or even something from the sport, like the ball or floor boards as a background base. You can also just use an otherwise throwaway blurry shot ... or a blurry blow-up of an area of bleachers crowd from your shoot.
Then overlay with a 4-5 color gradient (you almost always have 2-3 colors available from the uniforms ... black can also be used at the "ends" to create a dramatic vignette look)

I like to stay away from broken fonts like Stencil unless it's a special look (Army) or effect (sometimes use Crackle fonts) I'm after. Impact is something that is basic and solid and clear from far off. Varsity is also a handy font for school basketball. Again, avoid two-color gradients. You can even start with on of Photoshop's built-in multi color gradients, then tune the colors to your needs.

For the collage, use a broader feathering on your masking brush. The soft edges look .. well ... soft and a bit random. Make the photos larger so the overlap more, and use the masks to blend them together more. Don't be afraid of making some aspects of the images partially transparent.

Finally, try to do a little more with the logo. Left as is, it's pretty flat. A touch of layer styling (emboss, and drop shadow or outer glow) can go a long way to enhancing a simple logo.

This isn't really the same thing you're doing, but the example attached applies several of the concepts mentioned here. Hope this helps. Have fun!

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NickJushchyshyn wrote in post #11951319
So ... a few tips...
Even if you can't change cropping, you can change placement, so the guys that are cropped above the waist could be placed at the bottom of the poster and it wouldn't look so unnatural.

Avoid any solid color anywhere, even a two color gradient leaves you with a lot of solid.
I usually start with an image of fire, or vapor, or fabric or even something from the sport, like the ball or floor boards as a background base. You can also just use an otherwise throwaway blurry shot ... or a blurry blow-up of an area of bleachers crowd from your shoot.
Then overlay with a 4-5 color gradient (you almost always have 2-3 colors available from the uniforms ... black can also be used at the "ends" to create a dramatic vignette look)

I like to stay away from broken fonts like Stencil unless it's a special look (Army) or effect (sometimes use Crackle fonts) I'm after. Impact is something that is basic and solid and clear from far off. Varsity is also a handy font for school basketball. Again, avoid two-color gradients. You can even start with on of Photoshop's built-in multi color gradients, then tune the colors to your needs.

For the collage, use a broader feathering on your masking brush. The soft edges look .. well ... soft and a bit random. Make the photos larger so the overlap more, and use the masks to blend them together more. Don't be afraid of making some aspects of the images partially transparent.

Finally, try to do a little more with the logo. Left as is, it's pretty flat. A touch of layer styling (emboss, and drop shadow or outer glow) can go a long way to enhancing a simple logo.

This isn't really the same thing you're doing, but the example attached applies several of the concepts mentioned here. Hope this helps. Have fun!

Sweet. Seriously thanks for the help. I appreciate it. i went with the 4 color back drop and it does look better. Ill see if I have some type of "throw away shot" laying around for some sort of texture.

canonnoob wrote in post #11951208
Thanks for the suggestion guys..
Kevin- I dont know, I just havent found many templates I really like. Maybe it is just me. lol

It's not just you. I really haven't found too many templates that really knocks my socks off. The one Nick posted is great.

canonnoob wrote in post #11951618
Sweet. Seriously thanks for the help. I appreciate it. i went with the 4 color back drop and it does look better. Ill see if I have some type of "throw away shot" laying around for some sort of texture.

There are a lot of freeware textures out there for you to use. I had a few bookmarked, but since my laptop crashed, I haven't been able to find them again.

late but like # 2

Are you gonna post your final?

12Rock wrote in post #11981584
late but like # 2

yup