Raccoon Valley Swim Team 2005

The Logo Mosaic features Raccoon Valley's smiling raccoon logo made up of swimmers, parents, officials, and scenery. The actual raccoon is black-and-white, but note how in-water shots were used for the light gray of the raccoon's face, and out-of-water shots dominate the dark gray of the background, eyes and mouth. Every tile in the mosaic is unique! This version contains 800 tiles and is designed for smaller print sizes (up to 12x18). We also have a larger version containing almost 1400 unique tiles, and which was on display in 2006 at Raccoon Valley in a laminated 19x28 poster.   [Show Details]

Raccoon Valley's seven graduating seniors were honored as per tradition at the Masked Bandits' final home swim meet. Creating a mosaic out of people and faces rarely works well, no matter what you may read elsewhere. You either must use such a heavy overlay of the original photo that the tiles are washed out, or you end up with a boxy mosaic from which the original is at best slightly recognizable and only at a distance. (Alternatives like "pre-colorizing" each tile provide you in our opinion with the worst of both worlds, not the best.)

A better approach is to use a cutout of the foreground subjects superimposed over a mosaic of the background. That's how the left mosaic was created; if you look closely, you'll see the pool water in the lower right-hand corner and the lane flags visible not far above it. The right design has a simple lighting effect and RV spelled out in light blue. Both mosaics contain about 500 visible tiles, no duplicates.
[Left Design ~ Larger] [Right Design ~ Larger]

Mosaics:

Prices do not include sales tax or shipping. All prints and posters are photo-quality on professional glossy paper. Poster prices include lamination. Dimensions are approximate.

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