Photo Contest - Crop This Picture

[zoobyshoe]

This is an old snapshot I found at the swap meet:

All it says on the back is "summer 1948".

I am thinking of doing a drawing of it, and just using that scrawled note as the title of the drawing, Summer 1948, but it feels like it needs cropping to improve the composition. I've tried cropping it several different ways, but none has seemed successful and satisfying.

I'm not really proposing a contest here, but thought it might be interesting to post it for anyone who felt like it to take it to Paint or whatever photo editing program you may have, and try cropping it to a more satisfying composition.

If you look closely you may be able to make out the name Patsy painted on the front fender of the bicycle. This is probably a snapshot of Patsy taken on a hot summer day in 1948 right before she rode her bike to the local swimming hole.

 

[Cyrus]

Here you go, the bare essentials:

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/3748/untitledot4.png

I tried to make it look like a warhol...

 

[WhyIsItSo]

Do you mean like:

 

[zoobyshoe]

I tried to make it look like a warhol...

It does. It would SO never have occurred to me to do that to it. Interesting choice.

 

[Chi Meson]

Just crop only? or any other photoshopping as well? If the latter, you could end up with some serious weird submissions.

 

[DaveC426913]

No PhotoChopping except cropping (and some tinting).

 

[DaveC426913]

And one with a little more fun...

 

[Cyrus]

That last one is nice.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Do you mean like:
View attachment 7585

View attachment 7586

I'm not seeing anything here. It's probably easier if you just put the images into the thread from imageshack or photobucket.

Just crop only? or any other photoshopping as well? If the latter, you could end up with some serious weird submissions.

Anything goes if it suggests a model for a drawing called Summer 1948 from that snapshot.

No PhotoChopping except cropping (and some tinting).

This is pretty much where I went with a final crop. It seems to make the most compositional sense. Still, it didn't make me feel satisfied.

And one with a little more fun...

This is nice. It creates a needed separation of the girl and more importantly, the bicycle from the background. You, Dave, could probably take this and draw it forcing some perspective into the bike so its front end seems closer to the viewer.

This points out a problem I find with the white shirt hanging off the bike. I'm thinking it would be better if the shirt were darker with richer folds, and maybe if it were striped or had some interesting pattern on it to make it into a kind of second character, a second, more minor center of visual interest.

 

[Gokul43201]

Anything goes if it suggests a model for a drawing called Summer 1948 from that snapshot.

Hmmm, so you think "Guess who stole Percy's bike?" wouldn't make a great title?

 

[marlon]

This is an old snapshot I found at the swap meet:

All it says on the back is "summer 1948".

Hmm, this girl has very beautiful legs. They seem like a passage to paradise...HMMM i am dreaming again.

marlon

edit : she is quite tall as well , no ? If i were around in '48, she would be my sweetheart...

 

[desA]

Wonder what the subject looks like now?

 

[Gokul43201]

Wonder what the subject looks like now?

Perhaps like this:

 

[Cyrus]

Perhaps like this:

LOL

 

[GeoMike]

I played with it a bit...
Same basic crop as DaveC's (I left a little more on the right), some curve adjustments to add contrast and separate tones a bit, and finally some quick and dirty "Pleasantville"-esque coloring in Photoshop CS (again, similar to DaveC's idea):
http://www.mcschell.com/sum1948_color.jpg

-GeoMike-

 

[zoobyshoe]

Hmmm, so you think "Guess who stole Percy's bike?" wouldn't make a great title?

Are you suggesting Patsy stole Percy's bike, painted her own name on the front fender, and then sent a copy of this picture to Percy to cause her to burn with rage? What had Percy done to so provoke Patsy?

Hmm, this girl has very beautiful legs. They seem like a passage to paradise...HMMM i am dreaming again.

marlon

edit : she is quite tall as well , no ? If i were around in '48, she would be my sweetheart...

Yes, she is awfully long legged for a babe from the 1940's, ain't she? We have to suppose that a lot of small town boys were sneeking away from their chores to get to the water hole when Patsy went swimming.

Wonder what the subject looks like now?

Perhaps like this:

ROFLMAO!

 

[zoobyshoe]

I played with it a bit...
Same basic crop as DaveC's (I left a little more on the right), some curve adjustments to add contrast and separate tones a bit, and finally some quick and dirty "Pleasantville"-esque coloring in Photoshop CS (again, similar to DaveC's idea):
http://www.mcschell.com/sum1948_color.jpg

-GeoMike-

AH! This is really nice. I'd been wondering what she'd look like in color. This is a definite possibility for a drawing: her in color and the background in geyscale.

 

[WhyIsItSo]

I played with it a bit...
Same basic crop as DaveC's (I left a little more on the right), some curve adjustments to add contrast and separate tones a bit, and finally some quick and dirty "Pleasantville"-esque coloring in Photoshop CS (again, similar to DaveC's idea):
http://www.mcschell.com/sum1948_color.jpg

-GeoMike-

Oh, I like that!

 

[rocketboy]

I played with it a bit...
Same basic crop as DaveC's (I left a little more on the right), some curve adjustments to add contrast and separate tones a bit, and finally some quick and dirty "Pleasantville"-esque coloring in Photoshop CS (again, similar to DaveC's idea):
http://www.mcschell.com/sum1948_color.jpg

-GeoMike-

That is really impressive photoshop work. Makes me think the original was color and was turned to black and white for this thread!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Do you mean like:
View attachment 7585

View attachment 7586

I can see one of your attachments now.

You did something I wouldn't have done, which is to crop the top of the pic very close to the top of her hair, and to make the final image more square than rectangular.

This is pretty interesting and provides me with alternatives to unexamined assumptions I'm making about what is "right".

Edit: I can see your second attachment now. It's very like one version I cropped, the one that seemed the most balanced to me, though I hate losing the front of the bike. There's just not enough photo to her right to keep all the bike and still have her as the center of focus.

Here it is, larger sized:

 

[heman]

i also did something with the pic killing some time...

 

[zoobyshoe]

i also did something with the pic killing some time...

That's kinda interesting. I like the golden tint against the blue sky.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Percy's dream

http://www.geocities.com/thesquarerootoftwo/percydream_sm.jpg

or maybe "Percy's Trip"

 

[dmoravec]

Gokul's post reminded me of a joke I heard a while ago (forgive me if this has been posted before or you know it).

Two engineers were walking, one with a bike.
The first engineer commented "Thats a nice bike, where'd you get it?"
The second one responded "It was quite odd. Yesterday a woman came riding up to me on this bike and stopped. She proceeded to strip and say 'take what you want'."
The first engineer nodded in approval "Good choice, the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."

 

[heman]

http://www.geocities.com/thesquarerootoftwo/percydream_sm.jpg

or maybe "Percy's Trip"

This looks cool MIH...

 

[Math Is Hard]

This looks cool MIH...

Thanks. I like yours, too. What effects did you use to make it?

 

[heman]

no sweats for me..i used a software Picasso..very easy to use...it took like around 5 minute...
but i guess you used Photoshop

 

[Math Is Hard]

no sweats for me..i used a software Picasso..very easy to use...it took like around 5 minute...
but i guess you used Photoshop

yeah, just good old Photoshop. someone sent me a bunch of really cool photos this morning and I thought that particular one might make an interesting background for "Patsy". I layered her on top and then erased out the background to reveal the field. It was a quick and dirty job - maybe about 15 minutes work. I was a bit sloppy erasing around her hair and shoulder.

 

[heman]

I was a bit sloppy erasing around her hair and shoulder.

Yup ...that was bit sensitive..but you did well..only reason i was afraid to cut her out was because i aint always good at cutting around boundaries..


By the way guys try this Freeware for Cropping,you guys going to love it..in case if you haven't tried!
http://picasa.google.com/

 

[Cyrus]

I used MS paint, but you don't hear me braggin.....

 

[heman]

Man,,sharing something which you know can ease out the work for others is not bragging...

I also used photoshop until,Some guy on other forum told me abt. it..and lately i haven't used photoshop again..

 

[Mk]

http://www.mcschell.com/sum1948_color.jpg

-GeoMike-

How did you do that?

 

[GeoMike]

How did you do that?

By stacking layers of paint in photoshop using various blend/transfer modes (mostly soft light, multiply, and color) at varying opacities.

This gif shows each layer as it gets stacked:
http://www.mcschell.com/color_1948.gif

-GeoMike-

 

[edward]

Being an old geezer I haven't cropped anything since I sold my old photo enlarging equipment. Since this is from 1948 I think it would be good to go just high enough to get the old phone line in the pic. Ya got to keep the "Patsy" on the bikes fender in the picture though.

What the girl is wearing is a bathing suit from the 40' era, and that shirt on the bike is most probably a terry cloth robe.

 

[zoobyshoe]

http://www.geocities.com/thesquarerootoftwo/percydream_sm.jpg

Trippy colors aside, this strikes me as the best composition: putting more landscape over to the right where Patsy is gazing. This allows keeping the front of the bike and the shirt. We could also keep more summer sky (minus telephone wires).

The picture that's forming in my mind now is one where there's quite a bit more realistic yard to the right. Over there, there might be seen part of a car appropriate to the period, a sleeping dog or cat, a push lawnmover, or whatever, in keeping with the "summer" atmosphere.

I also like having Patsy colorized as per GeoMike, and I like Heman's golden tint for the rest against a blue sky. If someone's clever enough to darken the shirt or even put some kind of pattern on it, it would be more to my taste. It is too white and I find the drapery details to be too washed out in the sunlight.

I'm not asking anyone to make a version putting all that together, I'm just summarizing what ideas everyone's efforts have given me.

It's neat to see people experimenting with this, and the unusual decisions are turning out to be more inspirational than the straightforward crops.

 

[hypatia]

This thread has been fantastic! I have really enjoyed everyones views of this photo.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

http://www.geocities.com/thesquarerootoftwo/percydream_sm.jpg

or maybe "Percy's Trip"

MIH, that is absolutely wonderful!


...reminds me of Moses.

 

[Math Is Hard]

The picture that's forming in my mind now is one where there's quite a bit more realistic yard to the right. Over there, there might be seen part of a car appropriate to the period, a sleeping dog or cat, a push lawnmover, or whatever, in keeping with the "summer" atmosphere.

I think that would make an excellent picture. You find so many cool "slice of life" photos, Zooby. I think the photos and drawings you do from them would make a very interesting book if you ever decided to make a project out of it. You could even write stories about the pictures - that would be neat!

This thread has been fantastic! I have really enjoyed everyones views of this photo.

I agree. Fun stuff! And I really love that animation GeoMike made showing the layering of the colors.

MIH, that is absolutely wonderful!

...reminds me of Moses.

ha ha! thanks.

 

[DaveC426913]

So, when does the contest close and go to vote?

 

[zoobyshoe]

So, when does the contest close and go to vote?

I'm not really proposing a contest here, but thought it might be interesting to post it for anyone who felt like it to take it to Paint or whatever photo editing program you may have, and try cropping it to a more satisfying composition.

However, if you insist on voting on something, then here you go:

What's The Girl's Name?

A. Patsy
B. Percy
C. Other (Please specify.)

 

[DaveC426913]

However, if you insist on voting on something, then

Oh. I thought this was an entry in the ongoing photo contest.


This was the first one I actually felt I could participate in. Doh.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Oh. I thought this was an entry in the ongoing photo contest.


This was the first one I actually felt I could participate in. Doh.

Well, as far as the purpose of the thread goes, you are a winner. I got a lot of insight into how Patsy and the bike could be separated from the background from seeing the higher contrast on her and the bike in your tinted version.