(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.