AN IMAGE (GIFT) FOR THE COACH

It has been a while since I have posted here as I am very busy these days. However, I found the time to make this from the images I have taken of my son’s basketball team this season. The season will end soon and I will give an 8 X 10 print of this image to the coach as a gift. It will be matted in a white matt signed by the six players and framed in a black frame. Any thoughts?

I absolutely love it! You've given me some great ideas for my own sporting club here in Australia who were already asking me to get pictures of the probable award winners for the end of the season. Can you tell me how you did it? Feel free to PM the details if it is a long description? I'd love to know how it's done. I'm assuming it's phototshop work. Hope to hear back soon! Well done

nice work can't see the face of 21 clearly tho' the previous layer seems to be overlapping it..

Hi wagon

Great minds think alike I did this a few weeks ago for the coach

its low res but looks excellent in full size. We presented a A3 version

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Hey Wagonwheel, I too would love to know your technique for doing these shots. I love the look and would like to do the same for my sons sports when he is older. The one thing I might have changed is to edit out the referee so he is not overlayed on the coach. Please let us know the details!

This image starts before I release the shutter for the first shot. I have and idea in my head of what I want in the final image and how it should look. I know I want to have a couple of great action shots in the image. I want to have the goal, ball, and if possible a referee in the image. And of course I want a shot of the coach “coaching.” Getting these shots during the season is the challenge that makes this hobby so much fun. Culling through all the images to narrow it down to the four I used is somewhat of a chore, but also fun. After I have chosen the images to be used, I do whatever post-processing is necessary to ensure they look their best. Then I create the montage. I use Photoshop Elements 3.0.

If you are using Photoshop and do not have “The Photoshop (insert the version of Photoshop you are using here) book for digital photographers” by Scott Kelby, I highly recommend you get a copy. This book has step-by-step instructions for almost everything, including a montage. I will try to paraphrase the instructions so they can be followed.

Open the image you will use as the BACKGROUND IMAGE.
Window<Images<deselect Maximize Mode.
Open the FIRST IMAGE you want to collage with the BACKGROUND IMAGE.
Press “v” (the move tool)
Click and drag the FIRST IMAGE onto the BACKGROUND IMAGE.
Resize the FIRST IMAGE as necessary (grab it by the corners).
Hold down Ctrl and click the Create a New Layer icon. This creates a layer directly beneath your current layer (you now have three layers total.)
Click on the top layer.
Press Ctrl G
Press the letter D
Press the letter G and “enter.”
You should now see the Gradient Picker. Choose the second gradient in the picker.
Click the middle (blank) layer.
Click inside the image where you want the FIRST IMAGE to be totally visible (100% opacity) and drag toward the direction you want it to fade. If you do not like what you see, press Ctrl Z and it will undo what you have done so you can try again.

Now switch to the eraser tool and erase anything that is showing that you do not want like the edges of the FIRST IMAGE. By lowering the opacity of the eraser tool in steps, you can make a smooth transition between the two images. It takes a little practice, but it is not really too hard. Once you have the FIRST IMAGE looking good, open another image and do it again.

I hope this helps.

It's a good start, but I would like to see more of #21 in the left corner. While it is a gift for the coach, he will appreciate seeing all of the players that you are showing in the gift (especially if one of them is his kid!). I've done some team shots that ended up as gifts for coaches (see accompanying link). Sometimes I include the coaching staff and sometimes not. Let me know if any of this helps.
http://usera.imagecave​.com/dshootist/Sports%​5FPosters/

Thanks for posting the process, I'll work on my daughters ski team this evening. I really like your work.
Tom

I like it, and agree if you can get #21's face a bit more in the front, if possible. Coaches appreciate it these, all I got this year from the parents was a headache - heck the school photog didn't even supply a team photo...

Can you pass along which brush you used for the eraser? Your effect is great, I can't get that nice "blend" you have.
Thanks

Just an aside to go along with the discussion of how the image was created. I want to applaud you for being thoughtful enough to come up with such a great gift for the coach. Saying thank you and showing appreciation is becoming a lost art in this country--I've seen it both as a coach and as a photographer and I'm sure that many here have volunteered their time and talents with the camera without receiving a hint of a thank you. Wagonwheel, I can tell you without a doubt that this gift will be greatly appreciated by the coach.

Frank.

dshootist,

What font did you use for the Wildcats basketball one?

Thanks,
Rob

rtrainer wrote in post #2670545
dshootist,

What font did you use for the Wildcats basketball one?

I believe it was Aachen Bold. The team name and outline inside the font was created in Illustrator and then imported into PS where I did all of the other treatments.

As an aside for the Photoshop tip on revealing layers, I would suggest using the Quick Mask option on the layers instead of the eraser so as not to permanently remove pixels.

Nice start but I would put something in the upper right hand corner and straighten the horizon on the main image.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to give me some feedback. I always appreciate an honest critique; it is the best way to improve. Again—thank you.