Forced Perspective

technique description.
For these photos, we created forced perspective. In the first one, I took a picture of Emma crawling on the floor in the commons and rotated the picture to make it look like she was climbing up a wall. For the second, Sydney laid on the ground far away from the camera and I set up one person close to the camera pretending to stomp their foot down. It looks like there's a giant shoe about to step on Sydney. For both photos, I made adjustments to the curves and levels and then duplicated the background layer and used a blending mode on it.

reflection.
I think these photos worked pretty well to create the illusion of a different perspective. We found it a bit difficult to come up with ideas for pictures, though, and kept running into the problem of depth of field; the objects farther back were blurred out. I fixed this by increasing the aperture setting to create great depth of field.

Selective Color

technique description.

For this assignment, we worked on altering the color schemes of photos. To do this, you add a new fill layer of the color you want to change something to. Use a layer mask to block out any area where you dont want to change the color, and pick a blending mode that blends it in realistically. For the first picture, the darkest flower used to be purple. It distracted from the complimentary color scheme so I made it red. In the second picture, I changed the background- which had a lot of brown woodchips distracting from the subject. I made it all green to look more like the flower was just in a field of grass.

reflection.

I think I did a good job using the selection tool to change the color of the first photo. The edits look pretty realistic. However, the second one could be a bit better. I'm not sure I like the background to be all one color.

Color: Meaning and Mood

technique description.
For this assignment, I used color to create a mood in my photo. I used complimentary colors (red and green). I enhanced the colors and added contrast by using the curves and hue/saturation adjustments. Then I adjusted the colors slightly using the selective color. I also added a vignette and lens flare.

reflection.
I like the way this photo turned out, especially the lighting and the texture in it. The flower seems to be reaching up towards the sky. The colors help to set the mood; red portrays a sense of boldness, determined, energetic, lively, and triumphant. The green is aspiring, fresh, natural, safe, and free. The flower seems full of energy and wonder, reaching up towards the sun and the whole setting feels very natural and free.

Gradient Maps

blue/red/yellow gradient map;
color dodge blending mode

blue/yellow gradient map;

opacity

browns gradient map;
linear light blending mode

gradient tool

gradient tool

technique description.

Today we learned about using Gradient Maps (found under the adjustments tab). Using the Gradient Maps, you can do a lot of fun things with color in your photos. In addition, you can work with the blending mode of the gradient map. To make the effect more subtle, you can take down the opacity.

reflection.

I really like this effect because there are a lot of different things you can do with it to change your photos. I thought the colors in my first photo were really pretty.

Solarization

negative solarization, layer mask


positive solarization


negative solarization, black&white


positive solarization, hue blending mode


technique description.

For this assignment, we learned how to use Solarization. To create this effect, you work with the curves adjustment. For negative solarization, you drag the curves to make an ark, or rainbow shape. For positive, it should look like a 'U'. I made some of the edits more interesting by putting them in black&white, changing the blending mode, or using a layer mask to make only part of the photo solarized and leaving part of it original.

reflection.
Overall, I like the way these turned out. I think the solarization is a fun way to edit photos, especially when mixed with blending modes or other edits. I especially like the way my last one turned out because the colors in the tree are really fun. I also thought it was cool how the solarization just touched the tips of the petals in the first photo.

Creative Colors

Pictorialism

Vintage

High Color Contrast

technique description.
For this assignment, we worked with different ways to edit our photos using creative colors. To create a Pictorialism effect, I made the photo darker and added a vignette. I also added some grain and blurred the edges of the photo. For the vintage-looking photo, I adjusted the color curves to make the colors look different- more like aged film. I also applied a yellowish filter and lightened the colors a bit. Finally, to create high color contrast, I used curves to add a lot of contrast to the photo and upped the saturation. I duplicated the layer and used the Hard Light blending mode.

reflection.
I think these photos turned out pretty well, it was fun to edit them in a different way! One thing that was a bit difficult was that this particular photo only really has two main colors in it so there wasn't a lot I could do to drastically change it.

Typography

technique description.

For this photo, I first edited it using some adjustments (color balance, curves, levels). I also sharpened the picture just a little bit using the high pass filter. Then, I added text in Illustrator. To do this, I used the pencil tool to draw a curve circling the knothole and down following a crack in the bark. Then I used Type-on-a-Path to type along the line. I made the text white to stand out on the dark tree and picked a font that was simple and natural, but kind of bold so it was easier to read.

reflection.

I think this photo turned out well. I really like the way that the text circles the knothole and blends well into the photo. One thing that was difficult was making the text stand out because it wasn't showing up very well. To fix this I had to find a bolder font. It was also difficult to find a good quote but I finally found this one I liked by John Muir.