which collage?

[suzyjazz]

I threw this together pretty quick tonight -- which one do you like better? I will probably add a thin white border to each pic.

The lower left image is different. The more zoomed in one is a cuter expression, but since it's more zoomed in and the rest are all the same, does that throw it off balance?

I need to decide Wednesday night so I can make the final image and order it. This is a birthday gift for my sister.

[the-beholder]

i like the first set better. and i don't think you should add the white border.

[Patti Edens]

Suzy, They are all great shots! Adorably cute kid!

As you said, the zoomed in expression on the second collage is a lot cuter than the lower left expression on the first collage.

How about if you crop the upper left shot on the second collage to match the degree of zoom on the photo below it? So, the two shots on the left would be zoomed in and the ones on the right would not. Would that work? It might just further unbalance it, but it might look okay. Maybe to get the balance, crop the upper right one. But in this one, I hate to lose the cute hand pose.
Edited examples... It looks pixelated and the aspect ratio is off some since I didn't have the original to work from, but at least it shows what I mean.

[frameworthy]

Suzy - I like the first one you did the best. I know you'd like to crop in on the cuter expression, but for balance, I would say no. However, Patti is right about cropping in the top right image for balance, if you need to crop, and in my opinion, the hand in the bottom left makes up for losing the hand in the top right. Does this make sense?

[Ropinamoment]

Suzy, I like your first one. But I also like the second one that Patti did. I agree that the white border isn't needed. He's a cutie!

[Duffy Pratt]

Suzy:

The first one is better. I don't like the mis-matched head sizes on the other. It makes me wonder why. I might consider switching the top right and the bottom right pictures.

Duffy

[suzyjazz]

Originally Posted by Duffy Pratt

I might consider switching the top right and the bottom right pictures.

Thanks for the response but why? I was trying to balance the smiles with not smiles. Tonight I will probably play with the order though. I didn't spend much time on it last night. It was late when I got the idea. I've been wanting just to enlarge one but I haven't liked any of them individually enough to do that. A couple of these are soft at full size due to low light/shutter speed, so they're only usable in a collage.

Originally Posted by Patti Edens

How about if you crop the upper left shot on the second collage to match the degree of zoom on the photo below it? So, the two shots on the left would be zoomed in and the ones on the right would not.

Thanks for the idea. It balances it more than the original with the zoomed in image but it's still too unbalanced for me. Obviously I wasn't thinking about this at all when I took the pics. I was thinking, wow there is barely enough light for me to get a usable shutter speed, I hope these turn out!

Originally Posted by the-beholder

i like the first set better. and i don't think you should add the white border.

Thanks for the response. You're probably right. I added borders to the last collage I made for her, but it was different.

Thanks everyone else who replied, too. I will probably just go with the first sample, but I will play with it tonight and make sure I didn't miss any other shots I could use.

[Duffy Pratt]

Originally Posted by suzyjazz

]Thanks for the response but why? I was trying to balance the smiles with not smiles.

Reading right to left, top to bottom, you would get a linear progression from laughing to puzzled. That's the only reason. Your balance of the smiles is probably just as good.

Duffy

[suzyjazz]

Originally Posted by Duffy Pratt

Reading right to left, top to bottom, you would get a linear progression from laughing to puzzled. That's the only reason. Your balance of the smiles is probably just as good.

Duffy

Oh, that's good, too!

[suzyjazz]

I dug up a new photo -- it's in the upper left corner. Now it's more of a progression to smile, but the bottom 2 don't face each other. I think it's better to have cuter pics. I don't like the shadows in it, but I think that's minor (I already faded them somewhat from what they were).

[onewingedangel73106]

I think your last version of it is the perfect one to me. Yes the shadow in the first one is different but it doesnt detract really from the wonderful set of pics at least to me.

[frameworthy]

I'd have to agree with Crystal. I like the progression a whole lot more. Just a quick question though...is there a reason it needs to be matted this way? How would it look either all four side by side (horizontal) or on top of each other (vertical)? The sense of progression might read a little better. Just my two cents.

[suzyjazz]

Thanks Crystal!

Originally Posted by frameworthy

I'd have to agree with Crystal. I like the progression a whole lot more. Just a quick question though...is there a reason it needs to be matted this way? How would it look either all four side by side (horizontal) or on top of each other (vertical)? The sense of progression might read a little better. Just my two cents.

Thanks Kenneth. On the framing, I did it in quadrants just so it will fit a normal frame. I ended up ordering 11x14 last night. To do them all in a row and keep it 11x14 would mean small photos and a more wasted black space. Ijsut wanted it to be an easy size/shape for my sister to place.