With a Little Help From my Friends...

I've been working at creating some special gymnastics posters, something beyond the basic enlarged photo.  My starting point is a strong image, which I define as a photo that captures a gymnast in an elegant pose or at the peak of an impressive move.  The goal is to find something that will be flattering to the athlete, though of course this is a subjective call.  Working with the digital file for the selected photo, I carefully and precisely 'cut out' the athlete from the photo's background.  I then place that cut-out onto another background that I have created, and add design elements, such as text, logos, etc.  It's a time-consuming and tedious process that involves even more thought than time and energy.  I can find photos to work with and put in the time and energy, but I typically hit a wall somewhere along the line with the creative part of the process.  That's where some of my very talented photography buddies come into this picture.  After creating a poster that represented the height of my creative abilities, I posted it online seeking feedback.  Here's the original poster (sorry for the watermarks, but they feel like a necessity to me.  Oh, and if you want to see a slightly larger version, click on the image.):

In response to this, I received some initial feedback about the background being too busy and somewhat confusing.  Then, two incredibly creative buds chimed in with some great ideas.  Again, the busy background was at issue, as was the color scheme, which didn't seem to match the leotard colors (or Utah's colors) in any way.  Further, it was pointed out that the font/lettering did not seem to fit with the grace and beauty of the images, and that the ordering of the text did not seem right.  Finally, it was suggested that I consider adding in the school logo on a layer below the main subject.  I think that covers most of what was so astutely pointed out as being 'off' with my original creation.  So I set to work trying to address these issues.  Here are two revisions I came up with:

Consensus was that the second (right) was better given the color scheme that matched the leotard colors.  Having thus arrived at a background I could live with, I set to the task of finding a few more photos to work with.  Here' another with some minor modifications to what is basically the same design.

And here's an attempt to see if this could work with a horizontal design:

I'm pretty happy with my results thus far, and I welcome your comments.  To Paul and Tom I say thanks, my friends, for your willingness to share your exceptional vision.