Friday, December 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Portrait Reflection
One of the first assignment in Digital Media was to take professional portraits of ourselves using digital cameras, a white back drop and lights. We worked in groups of three and I traded off taking pictures and having pictures taken of me. I took pictures of Kevin and I shot the pictures from on top of a table in order to get an interesting perspective. This position was effective because i got his whole body and the whole white background. Charlie took pictures of me, and I sat in the chair with my hood on because I thought I would look good in this position. I was very neutral with the results.
The next step we took in order to complete this project was to use Photoshop to touch up and add borders to our portraits. But first we had to choose an image that would work best. I chose an image that had good colors and was properly exposed. I chose an image where I was sitting in the chair. Using the canvas tool I made the canvas a perfect square by adding to the top of the image, I also matched the shade of white by using the color chooser. I then used the Dodge tool to blend the White background with the new canvas. Then I used the levels tool to enhance the colors. Finally, we used the canvas tool again to create a black border. Which framed the finished image.
I feel the portrait is amazing.
Silhouette Reflection
In Paul’s Digital Media class I created a silhouette collage with images that represent what makes me happy. The assignment required that I take a silhouette picture of myself using a white backdrop and lights that were behind me to make the background really bright and the actual picture of me darker. I used safari to find images that represent what makes me happy, and I used photoshop to edit the all the pictures together. I intended to use this project to show what makes me happy.
The first thing I did was to have Paul to take a picture of me in front of a white backdrop. The lights had to be behind me to have a bright background a darkened silhouette of my body. I chose to just stand there with my hands in my pockets because I couldn’t think of any other position to be in. I was only able to take two pictures because I didn’t have enough time to take more.
To get a perfect silhouette I had to use photoshop to make some adjustments. First, I used the levels tool to darken my body, and lighten the background to make it easier to for the magic wand tool to select the body and make it completely black. After I blackened my body I colored the background green because I liked the way it looked. Then I selected the green background then copied and pasted it into another layer so I can start inserting images. To put the images I copied and pasted them into the silhouette, but I had to make sure that the layer the image was in was beneath the layer that had the green background so the image would be inside the silhouette. To blend the pictures, I used a soft eraser to fade out the edges of the image. For one of the pictures I didn’t blend them the way I stated above, instead I put one on top off the other and made it look like the two images were one. I used the dissolve paint brush to spray the outside the silhouette and emphasize the silhouette. Finally, I found quotes that I thought were good representations of can bring happiness to a person. I used Apple Chancery font because I liked the way it looked with the silhouette.
In the silhouette I used images that both explicitly and implicitly represented what made me happy. The images that explicitly represents what makes me happy are the photos of my friends, the Mexican flag, the forest, a dog, and a plane. I put my friends and family on it for obvious reasons and I put the Mexican flag on it to show that I am happy to be Mexican. The forest is there to show that I enjoy being in nature and I put the dog in the forest because dogs are part of nature and I really like dogs, especially mine. The plane is supposed to show that I like to travel, but it is in the very corner of the silhouette because I can’t travel too often.The more implicit ones are the smile, the fire and the person sleeping in the bed. The person sleeping in the bed represents that I like to sleep, but it’s on my foot because I don’t really care about it too much and would give it up if I had to. The fire is there because it is so mesmerizing and I can stare at it for a long time, making me forget many of my problems. It also represents, as it does in certain cultures, life, which is why my family, friends and the Mexican flag are in the fire; they are the most important parts of my life.Finally, the smile represents the joy I get knowing that I can bring happiness to anybody.
I think the silhouette overall was done well. I liked the quotes that I chose and all the images I chose. I probably wouldn’t have done anything different because I am very proud of the work I did and the result I got. In the future I may have a job that includes me to use photoshop for something. From the project I learned, more specifically, what makes me happy.