Digital Photography & Imaging // Tasks (Mr Martin)
13/04/20 - 20/07/20 / Week 1 - Week 14
Ibrahim Fazal Ahmad / 0337423
Digital Photography & Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylors University / Tasks (Mr Martin)
WEEK 1: Intro
Today we met our new lecturers, Mr Martin and Mr Fauzi. Since we cannot leave our houses due to COVID-19 we had an online lecture and will be having classes online for 7 weeks. Mr Martin just gave us a very brief overview of Adobe Photoshop and what it is used for (such a making graphic content and photo editing).
TASK:
WEEK 1:
- Present 3 of my most liked Photoshop works here on the blog.
- Play the Bezier Game: https://bezier.method.ac/
- Try the Hearst Mansion Exercise
Figure 1: @jonfototurko on Instagram
This work is one of my favourite Photoshops I had seen, I feel like it takes something that it seen as typically harmless and disregarded (Goldfish) into a very intimidating figure. Normally they're just the size of our palms yet this one has been edited to be much larger than the car in the picture. I feel like the lighting and atmosphere was very nicely done and gives the person looking at this a slight anxiousness. Overall I really do like this edit, I think if the fins had a bit more transparency it could feel a bit realistic in terms of the fish itself.
Figure 1.1: Max Asabin @asabinart on Instagram
This photoshop was very simple and I also like how you can see the assets of the picture before they've been edited together. You can see how different the original pictures were in terms of lighting. The couple have very dull lighting due to the picture being taken on a cloudy day during winter at the beach. Meanwhile the background was taken at sunset, however the colours were made much richer and deeper in the edited version. Also a lens flare that wasn't there was added to make it feel a bit more realistic. I think this is amazing and I wouldn't have questioned if this was a photoshop or not if I had seen this without the first reference picture.
Figure 1.2: Dani Diamond @danidiamondphotography on Instragram
I really love the simplicity of this photoshop. She is floating very gracefully in the air and it looks very realistic. There wasn't much editing done to this picture in terms of lighting as both shots were of the same shot and therefore had the same lighting and backdrop. I chose this picture I really love the gracefulness and how her skirt is flowing, it feels very mythical to me. There is also a blue tinted filter over the picture and the overall tone of the picture is very cool. Which coincides with the calming yet eerie nature of the photograph. Overall I really like this picture, though its obviously not real it could be passed off as real due to the editing.
BEZIER GAME
This game takes the pen tool from Photoshop according to Mr Martin and makes you follow the shape on the specific object that is given at each level. You are given a certain amount of "nodes' and you're supposed to finish each level using them. It's best if you don't use all of them and there's a given amount at the end of each round called the ideal number of nodes. You can redo it if you aren't satisfied with the results.
Honestly it looks so easy but it's surprisingly difficult and the tool broke for some reason when I left the page and came back so I had to redo it. I finished the game with 22 nodes remaining. It helped me understand the tool and how to manipulate the nodes to become the shape that I wanted it to be, such as a circle or a curved line.
Figure 1.4: Shazam Pen Tool Exercise
Figure 1.5: House after the sky was removed.
Figure 1.8: Background removed
Figure 1.9: Cowboy added with blur & noise
Figure 2: Finished picture.
Figure 2.9: Black and white cloth
Figure 3: Malaysian flag on cloth
Figure 3.1: Displacement applied to flag
Figure 3.2: Blending mode applied to flag
Figure 3.7: Liverpool distorted using pinch tool
Figure 3.8: Displacement applied
Figure 4.5: Cyborg Bora after editing
'
Findings: I found that some amazing Photoshop work I would see on my social media was actually very easy to replicate myself now. I just did not understand the tool given to me and with the knowledge I gained over this semester I can hopefully be a better Photoshop user.
Figure 1.3: Bezier Game
WEEK 2:
For this week, we had to remove shazam from the background using the pen tool, which I have done below:
Figure 1.4: Shazam Pen Tool Exercise
WEEK 3:
This week we had to edit together a few pictures, a sunset sky, house and a cowboy into a cohesive picture. We had to figure this out on our own and use the things we've learned from our previous exercises to do this. Firstly I took the picture of house and removed the sky using the Quick Selection Tool. Next I added the picture of the sky and resized it to fit better. After which I used the Match Colour on the house to make it fit in with the sky. Then I opened the picture of cowboy and I tried using a blending mode but it didn't work, so I used the Quick Selection Tool to removed the white background. Lastly I resized the cowboy and put him near the house, erased a little of his legs to make him look like he's behind grass. Then I added some noise and little bit of blur on the cowboy.
Figure 1.6: New image of sky added.
Figure 1.7: Match colour settings.
This week for in our class exercise we worked with different blending modes in photoshop and edited the following three pictures. In this first image, we added some steam above her coffee and used the blending mode screen to remove the black background from it. We also added a gradient from black to white above the whole picture and used the blending mode Screen as well.
Figure 2.1: Girl with coffee and steam added
For this picture, we added the birds into the sky. We used multiply on the birds and also added a vignette effect with the Multiply blending mode on a gradient layer of white to black.
Figure 2.2: Sunset with birds added
For this picture, we just increased the contrast since it was quite low and added a gradient of white to black starting from the centre. To which we put the multiply blending mode to give a vignette effect as well.
Figure 2.3: Low contrast after editing
WEEK 4:
This week we had to try recolouring an old black and white photo using blending modes. Here is the original picture of Norman Lindsay:
Figure 2.4: Original picture
Firstly, I chose skintone I thought was appropriate and painted over the face on a new layer following the structure roughly, next I added a blending mode I thought was appropriate for this being an Overlay. I repeated this with each part of the face that required colour. Next I added a new layer of just colour and used the Quick Selection Tool to select the background, after which I added a layer mask to remove the unwanted parts.
Figure 2.5: Painted face, no blending mode
Figure 2.6: Blending mode (Overlay) applied.
Figure 2.7: Background selected.
Figure 2.8: Final Recolouring.
WEEK 5:
This week our class exercise was to do Image Displacement in Photoshop. The first set of pictures to edit was a piece of flowy cloth and the Malaysian flag. Firstly we took the picture of the cloth, changed it to black and white and saved it as a photoshop file separate from the original picture.
Next we opened the original picture of the cloth and copy and pasted the picture of Malaysian flag on top of it. After which you turn the Malaysian flag into a smart image.
Next we go to Filter > Distort > Displace and select the file of the black and white cloth we saved earlier.
Next we added a blending mode to the flag, one of them being screen. Next duplicate the flag and choose the blending mode multiply.
Lastly, using the Quick Selection Tool remove the excess of the cloth outside the flag and add a gradient on a new layer below the flags layer.
Figure 3.3: Flag after all editing has been done
Figure 3.5: Picture of woman, no edits
Figure 3.6: Liverpool photo on the picture of the woman
Figure 3.4: Finished edit
Next we had to displace a flag from the Liverpool football team onto a womans face. Firstly we do the first step of turning the image black and white and then saving as a separate photoshop file. Then we open up the original picture of the woman and paste the Liverpool photo onto it, then turn the Liverpool photo into a smart object.
Before adding the displacement, we used the Pinch filter in distort to make the flag look a bit more blown up.
After which we used the displacement tool on the Liverpool photo and select the black and white photoshop file of the woman.
Lastly we had add the blending modes the same way we did on the Malaysian flag, with two images one having multiply and one having screen.
Figure 3.9: Blending modes applied.
Figure 4: Final edited image
We also did a class exercise of using the healing brush tool to remove some blemishes of a womans face. The brush was really easy to use and made it look very natural, almost as though there was nothing done at all. We also used the patch tool to remove some watermarks from a picture of the ground and a leopard print.
Figure 4.1: Before and After
Figure 4.2: Before and After
Figure 4.3: Before and After
WEEK 6: Bora Cyborg
This weeks exercise was turning this woman (Bora) into a cyborg. This week I dont have progress pictures for the whole process but I'll just explain it.
Figure 4.4: Bora, no editing
WEEK 7: Geisha Cyborg
For this weeks exercise we had to turn a geisha into a cyborg using the same techniques as the Bora picture. Here is the original photo of the geisha:
Figure 4.6: Geisha
Firstly, duplicate the layer:
Figure 4.7
Mask out her skin, apply surface blur and level adjustments. After which you merge with the geisha layer below.
Figure 4.8
Using the pen tool to mask out the face, make the selection and cut it into a new layer. Use the blending options to adjust: Bevel & Emboss and Drop Shadow.
Figure 4.9
Put the machinery imagine below the geisha layer. Add edges on the skin of the geisha by the machinery
Figure 5
Using the pen tool (I used the brush) make the cyborg like edges on the skin.
'
Figure 5.1
Load the selection and apply mask.
Figure 5.2
Put the computer parts below the skin layer.
Figure 5.3
Lastly, just add a gradient and put the blending mode to screen.
Figure 5.4 :Final Product
After this exercise, we focused on our cyborg assignment: Cyborg Assignment
WEEK 12:
After we had finished our assignment, we could focus on doing some other exercises that were not going to be marked but just for our own knowledge and practice. This week we did some colour balancing using a raw photos.
Figure 5.5: Photo before editing
Figure 5.6: Photo after editing
WEEK 13:
This week we did some simple animation in photoshop using the timeline. We could make a keyframe at the beginning with a specific sized image and change the size of the image on the last keyframe to create a motion tween very easily.
Figure 5.7: Original image
For this image, we firstly selected the background using the Quick Selection Tool, next we used "Select and Mask" to refine the selection more. After which we removed her from the background and put her on another layer alone. Next we used the Content Aware Fill to fill in the hole left by where her body was. Lastly, we animated it it using the Timeline in Photoshop.
Figure 5.8: Girl selected from background
5.9: Refining the selection
Figure 6: Removed from background
Figure 6.1: Timeline
Figure 6.2: Animated version
We were then told to try and do another one on our own using the techniques we just learned.
Figure 6.3: Original image
Figure 6.4: Animated version
REFLECTION:
Experience: Overall doing these exercises allowed to learn many things about Photoshop I had previously not known about such as blending modes and adjustment layers. All the exercises allowed for me to grow and learn a lot and has made me much better at using Photoshop. None of the exercises were difficult for me.
Observation: I realise all of the exercises actually are not difficult at all, but learning the program is what many people were struggling with. Being unfamiliar with a program causes you to slow down significantly.
Findings: I found that some amazing Photoshop work I would see on my social media was actually very easy to replicate myself now. I just did not understand the tool given to me and with the knowledge I gained over this semester I can hopefully be a better Photoshop user.
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