Final? You can talk about technique in Photoshop, investigating your Big
Idea, creating a meaningful artwork, etc.
The most significant accomplishment in my midterm was using quick masks. Instead of using a mask to mask out an entire portion of an image in my work, I was able to explore the easiness and speed of using a mask to select a certain part of an image. I then inverse selected the quick masked portion in order to give it color in a a black and white background. specifically, on the left side of my diptych, I quick masked my lips and feathered the area around it to give my lips a "burst" color as the cup touched my lips. I also used this technique to bring back the color that was previously changed to black and white.
Another important accomplishment that really helped me grow in producing artwork was gathering my own photos to use in my projects. I worked especially hard for my final to collect all of the material for my final diptych. I spent time with my friend to use him as the main subject in part of my final project which also helped me develop a better sense of knowledge in photography. Although I did not know much more, I learned a little bit more on the concept of focus on an object when taking pictures and how important certain focal points and perspective were to my project. For example, in my final project, the images of my friend were focused the hearts in the picture and how they fit in with his hands and feet. When collecting the sources, I thought of different perspectives of where the hearts should be to give more interest instead of just focusing on the face.
2. Choose a project in the class and discuss your most challenging learning
experience in Photoshop. Focus on a technique or concept from
Photoshop that was difficult at first, but that you mastered by the end of
the quarter
My most challenging learning experience in Photoshop was learning how to use masks. Adjustment masks were proved to be very useful for altering certain parts of an image while keep the rest of the image unaffected. I was amazed by the ability of the mask to turn on and off and show that it only changed the image when you wanted it to. It was hard for me to at first grasp the concept of what it was supposed to do, because I often would work on altering the mask but was confused by the lack of change. This was because I often was on the wrong layer, or was changing the image that the mask was covering. I got a better understanding of the way masks work when I discovered the use of quick masking in my midterm project to change color on a certain part of the image. I found that instead of creating a new layer for the mask, I could easily use the painting method to change a small part of the image without affecting the rest of the picture. With regular masks, my quiz three was a good example of learning how to use a mask to change the background that I was in. The self portrait I was retouching had the background of my study room, and I used a mask to edit only my face, unaffecting the background, and then placed myself on a beach background with the mask. The beach bg masked the background of my study room.
3. Compare two projects from the quarter to compare and contrast how you
achieved making meaning in the work. Try to showcase in your examples
an improved capacity to making visual images that mean something as
opposed to being a showcase of technique.
In quiz four, I attempted to bring a completely different meaning to the movie poster for "The Princess Bride". The target audience was originally intended for adolescents to be interested in the movie. The movie poster showed a young boy listening to his grandfather tell him a bedtime story with a fairytale type background. Toys, coloring, and the relationship between the young male and the older male were all visual cues to bring meaning to the movie. To change the meaning, I incorporated several images of the couple that the story was focused on. The faces and figures that I placed on the poster were serious-faced images and also very romantic images. I wanted to bring a different meaning to what the movie was about, and focus on the love story part of the movie instead of the adolescent view of simple storytelling. Instead of centering my thoughts on advancing my photoshop techniques, I attempted to think of the best ways in which I could bring new images to the poster. I thought it would be best to achieve a simple meaning of love in the poster through clean cutting of images into the document. Opacity was also used to bring a subtle serious feeling because of the facial expressions of the actor/actress.
In my final, I portrayed love and its purpose in a different way, but also through simplicity. Instead of incorporating several new images into my work, I changed the meaning of an ordinary couple picture through the use of lighting. the original picture was altered so that the brightness of the picture was significantly lower than a "normal" picture. By overlaying this picture over the original, brightened photo, I was able to show the light underneath through erasing carefully with several opacities. The glow that the hearts created on my parents illustrated the light in their life as a result of their love. Through simple retouching and clone stamping, I was able to provide a straightforward, clean focus on my parents and their love. The light shining on their smiling faces and hands displays the symbolisms of happiness and commitment. Although the technique was not very complicated, the contrast between light and dark signifies deep meaning between true love and darkness without it.
(this picture is on the right side above, right above the question number 2.)
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