Open Battle : New vs Pro

[Eagle123123]

Its getting late , I'm going to sleep man.I'm looking forward for the images I'm gonna see tomorrow.

Goodnight lefteyewilly
Goodnight DaVulf
Goodnight Natsia
Goodnight Gerbick
Goodnight everyone

ZZZzzzzZZZzzzZZZ...

[DaVulf]

Eagle, I think the first one looks like it had a little more time spent touching it up. I like where you were going with this one, but somehow it feels 'filtered' to me. I feel almost like the fire was made with render -> clouds or something. Additionally, I don't know what to make of the greenish, greyish rectangle thing in the upper left hand side of the page.

Again, I think that if you put more time into this image (as you clearly did the first one), then you can come out with a result that really shows off your skills.

[DaVulf]

Alright, I've been going through some stock and I've got an idea for a great manip... Unfortunately, this might take me a little bit more time than my last one. As such, I'd like to call the water 'response' to your fire, although it may only be up tommorow night, or the next day.

[gerbick]

eagle... work on making that look more like fire as opposed to difference cloud with a reddish-overlay (not saying that's how you did it, but it could be one way)...

also, work on the type a bit. It got "swallowed" up by your flames and didn't really pop out as well as it could. Same for your small things in there... such as the "dragon" on the far right bottom... as well as the eyes... you could have pulled that in and integrated it into the design better.

There seems to be a couple of other overlays involved; however they're not as defined as you'd probably like, nor do they seem to add to the overall texture. In fact, the image seems a bit over-saturated and not clearly defined. I would have pulled back on the layers and made sure that my fire looked like fire and worked in the details quite a bit better.

It's a good attempt; however it could have been better pulled off.

just my "critique"... feel free to disregard. DaVulf... to be a "non-artistic" person, you're pulling some pretty good images. Can't wait to see what's next guys... but have to say that this battle is bordering on the "abstract" side of things... which is damn cool.

[Eagle123123]

Yea , I had to put more time in it. (I wanted to finish it before I went to sleep.)
When DaVulf responds , who's going to make a new pair then ?

Edit : I made my image brighter.

[DaVulf]

Alright, this is what I came up with. It didn't come out exactly how I wanted it to, and I fear it might not be quite 'abstract' enough, but overall I like the image.



I can't wait to see what others come up with.

Eagle: I'm sorry if this isn't quite abstract enough for what you were thinking of, I might sit back and watch for a little until I can get back to that 'abstract' mindset.

[Eagle123123]

Its good enough for me .
Okay the new I've chosen as a new pair : Outer Space <-> Earth

[Eagle123123]

YAY ! I'm so happy ! I just made the best image I ever made in photoshop.I'm sure you guys will like it this time.
Its in outer space and all asteroids get sucked in the warp hole.

Here it is !!

[DaVulf]

Eagle, it's looking to me like this is a battle between you and I. If it's okay, we could continue like this. I'll work on an 'Earth' image after dinner.

[DaVulf]

Okay, here is Earth. I think I accomplished what I set out for, although I'm not entirely satisfied with the way my roots and my field go together. This took me a few hours to get done, lots of the masking was really time-consuming.



Comments/Crits?

[gerbick]

Eagle... trim down on the filters/effects and let's see some photo-manipulations and layer masks. You're staying abstract and they're all starting to look a bit too much the same.

Also, look at using some straight-forward text and text-placement as opposed to using drop shadows, glows, and other layer effects. You'll have a much more powerful image with text that's legible.

DaVulf... the diagonals are a bit too pronouced - Overlay or Soft Light with a layer mask attached to them fading down (fill the layer mask with a gradient) would have brought focus where you wanted it... towards the middle and downwards.

The text though, I'd like to have seen a more aggressive/bold or slightly better placed without the diagonals around it close enough to the same color to cause the text to have a jagged edge... drop the white glow to assist with that look.

It's a good balanced image, but it has no tension... my eyes naturally go down, but they're not forced down - you can direct that a bit better by using small details to make it go downward a bit... see above about the diagonals.. and I have to ask. Where's the prior image? Or are you guys just going off theme alone?

[DaVulf]

Thanks for the comments Gerbs, I'm gonna check into those and make some changes.

As far as the element is concerned, it didn't look like he was using any from my previous volley's so I just assumed we were to work off theme alone.

[gerbick]

dang. now you're making me look like I'm talking to myself!

cool changes. I like the new placement - Earth text a bit darker perhaps? But the diagonals definitely fit in better. and the placement of the text being a bit more asymmetric pulls balance into the bottom heavy - eyes goes down and the tree pulls it into balance.

[DaVulf]

The text is actually the same colour, but without the glow I think it feels darker.

Don't worry about talking to yourself anyways, I'm sure its healthy in some circles.

[Eagle123123]

Ok then I will make a non - abstract image. (I don't understand why gerbick says my images look like each other.I used other effects.)I warn you I'm not good at foto manipulation so it will take some time to get it right.

I guess I'm starting a new pair?... Hmm let me think... Old times <-> modern times ? You will see what I mean..

[Eagle123123]

OK ! Its finished . I'm pretty happy with the result . I think its pretty realistic.
Hope you like it a bit ! It wasn't really a quick made image , I've put some time in it .



My first foto manipulation ! The explosion quality got bad I think , but its not that bad I hope

Can you find all easter eggs ?

[DaVulf]

I'm guessing that's modern times, since it's got Bin Laden? Although the date is a little off for that.

If you were going for olden times, then maybe adding an off-white paper and wear the edges with some grunge might have made for an older looking effect.

[gerbick]

Definitely would have grunged it up... I love doing newspaper images too... have one in my gallery that I had a lot of fun with. removed all of the text, made the paper fold in a few places, and made it look a bit more... real and less flat.

Your image looks good, Eagle, but it's definitely a bit on the flat side. Also, it's blurry when there's no need to. You can draw focus using other methods.

[pea3698]

For your first photo manip, I think it looks good. I love where it was going visually but the right side blur killed it for me. And I aggree about the conflicting imagery the date and then bin laden. When it comes to the look and feel I think you could have gone grundge, but I also think grunge (and I am also guilty of this) is overdone. If you had played with the lighting a bit I think you could have pulled of an older black and white film look. The redish hue is pushing it toward a sepia look which could have worked but the hue is off.

[Eagle123123]

Gerbick , can I see that image in your gallery ? I would like to see how an old newspaper looks like . I wish you guys didn't see that it was bin laden on the picture.By the way I blurred the text because I typed sometimes things like :
"iubdifscbi" "odhfviokp" just random.I think the image isn't bad at all.

The easter eggs :

-OMFG.
-EAGLE 1 2 3 1 2 3.

Hope you found them

R.R.