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  1. #1
    Member SenorNikonMan's Avatar
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    Looking for "WOW" factor in my photos.

    I'm looking for something that I can do to my sports photographs that will help them to stand out over the competition's. I have PS Element 6. Preferably something that can be done in a few steps. Any suggestions? If possible, I'd like to see examples of the finished product. Thanks!

  2. #2
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    Re: Looking for "WOW" factor in my photos.

    What exactly do you consider WOW? Can you give some examples.

    I'm not being trite.....my Wow & yours are probably very different.

    Len

  3. #3
    Member SenorNikonMan's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for "WOW" factor in my photos.

    I'm open to different ideas but as an example I remember seeing a photo where a streaking effect was placed behind a runner to make it look as if he was running really fast. Another possibility is anything that will make one player in a football game stand out from among the rest. Such as is done when most of the photograph is in B & W but the main subject is in color.

    What I'm looking for are special effects that I can post examples of on my website and then offer to include in prints I am selling for an added cost. I am in a very competitive area when it comes to local sports photography and I am hoping that with these effects, I will be able to offer something that the competition is not offering.

    Does anybody know of a website I can go to to see examples of such effects?

  4. #4
    Senior Member jetrim's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for "WOW" factor in my photos.

    Quote Originally Posted by SenorNikonMan
    Another possibility is anything that will make one player in a football game stand out from among the rest. Such as is done when most of the photograph is in B & W but the main subject is in color.
    Here's a really simple technique which may or may not be what you had in mind. Add a selective burn layer. You can do it by either making a point to point selection around the player and then inverting the selection and use flood fill in burn mode, or simply add a whole burn layer and then use the eraser to expose the player leaving the background burnt, or create a mask over the player. I stole a photo from your website to illustrate the result at different percent opacities ( :hand: hey - you asked for examples!)

    This took about 3 minutes, including the text.

  5. #5
    Member byjamesderuvoDHQ's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for "WOW" factor in my photos.

    Well, making a runner looking to run really fast is a simple technique of panning with him with a wide aperture setting which will not only blur the background, but make it look as if it's swooshing by and you froze him in time. You could also use Photoshop to pull him out of the frame and then sepia everything else, making the color subject really pop out.
    Just off the top of my head.

  6. #6
    drg
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    la recherche de trolls drg's Avatar
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    Finding WOW

    Much of what you are possibly looking for may be technique driven as well as post production. Whether bokeh or stop motion blurs, these are often easier to do in the flow of shooting a sporting event than trying to add later.

    Some selective brightening and darkening of the appropriate areas of the photograph can make a particular player or team 'pop'.

    Selective de-saturation (part b/w and part color) is an overused and misused technique to visually isolate a particular individual or portion of a photograph. Closeups (tele or actually getting up close and personal) are far more effective to bring out some portion of the imagery.

    Special effects added to a photograph often can be cheesy or not work at all scales of printing. If you really are interested and think the market will bear the cost, invest in a few Photoshop classes or at least in some manuals describing techniques.

    Have you been to the the Sports Forum here at Photography Review? Lots of talented sports photographer whose images are hard to challenge or find better. Just looking at some of the work here might give you an idea of what works. Remember, many great sports photos and posters are the result of lots of photos to sort through and then there always a sheer luck factor regarding timing and what happens on the field of play to 'Find the WOW'!

    Have you checked out Sportsshooters website?
    CDPrice 'drg'
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  7. #7
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    Re: Looking for "WOW" factor in my photos.

    Hmmm, after reading such all this, i ll suggest you to use blur/Clone tool, to have some extra ordinary look into your picture and for this ou can use adobe Photoshop, its a best photo editor, also used at on industrial level.

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