Creative image request - Le Mans photoshop

[Johno]

Hi all

I'm not a photoshop possessor and all my shots from Le Mans are on the work laptop. Having recently bought a 450d I've been playing with friends lenses and shots.

I've got the two images from Le Mans, neither are great photo's for sharpness etc, but the composition I like in both. I've someone who will do stretch canvasses for cost for me and want a Le Mans shot for the racing wall at home. So rather than loose them, I'd like to convert them into images rather than blown up photo's as the sharpness/colour etc isn't the greatest.

Here's the question - does anyone fancy having a play in Photoshop for what effects/crops etc work best to create an eye catching image without loosing the essence of either picture . . .

I want to put on the canvas the Steve McQueen quote "Racing is life . . . . everything before and after, is just racing"

I've cropped both images as below, but that's the limit of my ability on the work laptop, so any suggestions gratefully received . ..





Second image . . . .





Genuinely interested to see if anyone can do something creative with them and whilst maintaining the composition make them into a meaningful image and add in the quote . . .

[AndrewW-G]

Johno, do you have larger format versions of them?

[The_Jackal]

The first basic thing is to use the rule of "two thirds". Imagine the final picture divided into 3 columns and 3 rows and try to position the focus of the picture onto one of the corners of the inner grid.
http://www.colorpilot.com/comp_rules.html#rule1

After that, create a black border around the picture and add the text below in a suitable sans serif font. And there you go, you have a classic inspirational office poster.....

Edited by The_Jackal on Friday 19th June 00:53

[Jenx]

Johno said:

I want to put on the canvas the Steve McQueen quote "Racing is life . . . . everything before and after, is just racing.

err...did you get the McQueen quote slightly wrong?

[Ray Singh]

Everything before and after is just waiting.....

[Johno]

Yes . . . Sorry . . after 6 days in Le Mans, got home Mondy evening and promptly flew to Scotland for 3 days of work and then home last night, slightly tired

Waiting is the correct word.

Andrew, I can email you the files if that's better?