(P25) Using Layers

I enjoyed this project, as I practice photoshop techniques like this fairly often. The photos I combined were not taken exactly from the same position, as I did not use a tripod. I've isolated Eva painstakingly using the quick select tool. I am still pleased with the results, had I not known the origins of this photo I would have believed a tripod was involved. I increased the vibrance, saturation, and sharpness of the image as well.

Warm Ups

Warm Up 55: What jobs can photography experts hold?

Photographers tend to be good directors of photography in the realm of video, film and television. They also make good graphic designers. Photographers can work in journalism as well. Photographers can work in advertising. Pursuing photography independently, on commission can be difficult but also profitable.

warm Up 56: What publication (magazine) would you want to take photos and write for? Why? What do you like about that publication?

Given the choice, I would love to be a photographer and/or writer for National Geographic. The photos of Nat Geo are gorgeous and capture unforgettable natural and human stories. I'd be able to travel to get photos of the most beautiful locations on earth. Being able to capture the human experience will be eye opening. The spread of unique and exotic animal an plant species I could capture would be better than any sum of money I would receive for the job.

Warm Up 57: Happy Friday! What are your plans for the weekend?

Tomorrow, I will be competing in the CIF  swimming finals in the 50 and 100 freestyle. For these I am seeded 7th and 5th, respectively. I was able to reduce my time in the 100 free to 47.5 seconds, which was a near-second drop from my previous best. Hopefully I will be able to match that tomorrow. I'll spend Sunday with my family most likely, seeing as it is mother's day.

Warm Up 58: Take a look at these easy "photo hacks." What do you think? Which one would you try first, and why?

These are some neat photography tricks. I found all of them to be interesting, maybe I will try some. I particularly  liked the instant studio with the laptop and pane of glass, very creative. I also enjoyed the creation of colored gels to affect coloration of the image. Honorable mention: The CD lens flare trick.

Warm Up 59: Take a look at this site.

In portraits, ensuring that the model is dynamic is very important. This guide addresses this issue in detail. The involvement of a subject in any shot is paramount. Even in landscape photography there should be some central figure that stands out in the composition. This is an important guide, which I agree with.

Warm Up 60: What are your plans for the summer?

I will mostly be working and swimming this summer. Tuition is not cheap, and I will need to be able to pay it and have some disposable income throughout my freshman year. I will socialize as much as I can however, as many of my friends will be leaving for far away  come fall. A friend of mine from Michigan will be visiting me later on, and I might travel to Michigan myself. I also plan to compete in some swim meets.

(P24) Green Screen

I've always been interested in modifying images in photoshop, so this has been a fun project for me. I wanted to achieve a higher degree of realism in these images. For this, I made adjustments such as modifying colors and making subjects interact with the background. I used the color range selector in conjunction with the quick-select tool to isolate my subjects. You may need to look a little bit in the last image for Karina.

(P21) Personality Portraits

A note: I had some images of Karina in our studio in the classroom, however I lost possession of them when my SD card disappeared.  This was the major challenge of completing this project. I took these photos of my girlfriend at La Jolla Cove. This is a favorite shooting place of mine due to the natural beauty and range of positions to shoot from. I tried shooting closer to sunset, however I was a bit early. I adjusted the temperature of the image slightly to compensate for this. I felt that these three photos went together nicely. I tried to compose them in a triptych, as I felt this would well suit the nature of the project.

(P23) Photoshop Filters

Original:

The filters photoshop offers are fun to use, and I have explored them a bit on my own. Most are fairly simple to use. The blur effects were a bit more difficult as I had to carefully select myself and Eva in order to keep us in clarity. The flames involved more steps than the others as well. I experimented with the oil paint effect, however it was not much to my liking.

(P22) Photoshop

I chose to try color isolation for this project. I've dabbled in this trick before, but never achieved the results I really wanted before now. I'll explain how I achieved this effect.

1.) Once your desired image is open in Photoshop, duplicate it once.

2.) Select your top layer. In the toolbar, click Select > Color Range. Use the dropper tool to select the color you'd like to isolate.*

3.) Adjust "fuzziness" to impact the area of your selection.

4.) Confirm your selection. Right click inside your selection and click "select inverse."

5.) Delete the selection.

6.) Select your bottom layer. In the toolbar, select Image > Adjustments > Black and White. Adjust color balances as you'd like and confirm your edit.

*You can use the Quick Selection Tool to improve the accuracy of your selection.

Before:

 After:

Something I'd also like to try is cosmetic modifications in Photoshop, such as skin smoothing and tooth whitening. Some consider this unethical, but I believe that in small doses cosmetic enhancements in Photoshop are harmless. I would also like to learn other special effects, such as removing items from an image and replacing a background. I enjoy color isolation, and it is a good looking effect. I am fairly familiar with Photoshop so these skills shouldn't be extremely hard to learn.

(P19) Light Painting

This was personally among my favorite projects, as long exposure photography has been an interest of mine for a while now. I've always wanted to use steel wool for light painting, and I finally got the opportunity to try it. Lighting the steel wool was difficult at first, as the wind was strong and the wool was packed too densely to light. After a few tries, we managed to capture a couple good takes. I'd definitely like to explore light painting more in the future.