Kitties, Masks, and Filters

Today in class we learned about masks, and how they're used to change certain parts of an image but leave the rest untouched. I used the Quick Mask tool to select my cat, Cuddles, then inversed the selection so I could change the background. I added a filter (dark strokes) then reselected the background (under the Select toolbar) and added a warming filter from the adjustments palette. THEN I re-selected once more, inversed the selection so that my cat was the part of the image that would be changed....and made him neon. Because that's what he would want. :)

From My Midterm Project

http://www.tyler-brown.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Fast-Food-Advertisement-Vs-Reality.jpg

This image was pretty hard to see on our powerpoint because of the sheer size of the image, so I wanted to re-post it here. This is a classic example of the powers and deception of digital manipulation in the media. The difference between the image in the advertisement and the real product is striking. In class, Michelle had mentioned certain laws set to limit and restrict false advertising. The discussion made me curious, because it seems impossible that anything real was used in these images!

 I decided to look up these laws to see exactly what limitations advertisers had to work with...or work around, as the case may be. According to one article, "portion controlled products, such as a hamburger, must be the same in advertisements as the actual product for sale." In addition, the main product being sold must BE the actual product, though everything else can be completely fake. But the law pretty much ends there; "advertisers can cut and manipulate the burger, bun, lettuce, etc. to look fuller and prettier than what a consumer will generally get, or they can play with camera angles and sets to make portions appear larger than they are." (http://www.ehow.com/facts_7466829_law-fake-food-advertisements.html)

Advertisements in general tend to make me pretty angry. I don't like being told what I need and why i need it, especially from money-grabbing companies. But this project was interesting - it's nice to research and reveal the truth in the matter.

My Dreams, PhotoShop Style

To be honest, this is a pretty accurate interpretation of what my dreams look like on any given night. I started creating this strange, abstract concoction by taking a couple pictures of Scotland's beautiful sky, making them black and white, playing with the contrast, and pasting them on top of each other to make the neat shadows in the clouds. I rotated one of the pictures so they would align, and really like how it worked out. I then selected pieces of a few other pictures - myself mid-jump, fireworks, a bear from a zoo in Guatemala, and a stop sign on a street in Antigua - and moved them onto the background. I played with each piece separately as a new layer, and as I was satisfied with the outcome I merged layers together to simplify what I was working with. I placed different effects on each piece as well, making it look like I'm fading into the stop sign and background.

Here are some of the pictures I used to make the montage:

Playing With Colors

My original idea for this photo, as often happens, was nothing like how it turned out. I wanted to brighten the image a bit and maybe play with the colors of the sky to make them a bit more iridescent. Instead, I ended up finding the "invert color" button. I had been changing the hue and saturation of different areas of the sky using the quick selection tool, but wanted something a bit more drastic...and I got it. I played with the hue and saturation of different areas of the beach to make the red-white color a bit less monotone, then called it a day. I really like how the lady walking on the beach is much more noticeable in my final work. Maybe I should call it "Nighttime on Extraterrestrial Beach".

My Very First Manipulated Image




Before ^



After ^

 Look at me go! Though the picture of my sweet Icelandic is cute and adorable and all, the background is pretty uninteresting. So I took another picture of mine, one that I thought would make a nice background without taking away from the subject, and put them together. I used the brush tool to uncover the new background - the only really tricky part was making sure that it blended in enough. I had to zoom in to make sure I didn't chop off any of the pony in the process. I ended up giving him a bit of a haircut, but to be honest he kinda needed it anyway.

Composition Assignment

This picture of Bjorn, a little Icelandic pony, captures his personality quite well. Though he was not much over 14 hands, "legal" pony height, he always acted twice his size. The viewpoint of this image is deceptive - he could be a pony, or he could be a giant. And if you asked Bjorn himself, he would definitely be the latter. Bjorn's left eye (looking at him, it's the right eye) was blue, which is typical of Icelandics. From this viewpoint, however, it seems like the whites of his eyes are showing, making him look either scared or, well, crazy. Which he kinda was.

I wish I could remember her name. Something Romance, I believe it was. Endearing Romance? Yes, that's it! We called her Ramona. I remember her being spirited, sweet, and thoughtful, though I never saw much of her spirit under saddle. The heart, however, is the essence of this photo. I tried for so long to capture her famous heart - though never to my satisfaction- until one perfect day birthed one perfect photo. I couldn't believe how her mark was framed nearly in the exact center of the image. In addition, the background of the photo adds a story without getting in the way of the main subject. 

Though this shot is fairly simple, it would probably be pretty aesthetically pleasing under a different lighting. A shot of horses grazing during winter in the middle of the day, for example, would still be nice to look at. The sunset, however, creates a distinct mood for the photo. It makes the scene seem calmer, as the color of the trees and the horses' coats are dimmed under the yellow ring of the setting sun. It also creates more of a contrast between the horses and the frost on the ground, emphasizing the wintry setting.

Chad, a 22 year old thoroughbred, was always one of my favorite horses. I leased him for a while, and during that time we formed a pretty special bond. When I first started to ride Chad, he would always run circles around me for at least twenty minutes every time I would venture out to the pasture to bring him in. Though it was frustrating, I never hated him for it because I figured that if I were a horse I would probably do the same thing. Over time, however, we became so close that all I had to do was walk into the pasture and whistle, and he would stop what he was doing and walk straight to me. This photo captures one of those moments - he always perked his ears and stared straight at me with that intent look in his eyes. I used the rule of thirds, placing his head and body in the two left thirds of the photo. This utilizes the rest of the space in the image to make his eyes, ears, and markings the point of interest in the photo.

Two things make this photo interesting to me - the space and the color. The subject, my horse trainer Catherine, is placed slightly outside the center of the photo and is surrounded by a simple, spacious setting. There is nothing distracting about the background, and since it was about midday there are no shadows that disrupt the image. In addition, the entire photo consists of only a few different colors, all of the same basic tone. Catherine's jeans almost blend in with the tree trunks - her sweater is the only object that sticks out, and it is really just a few shades darker than the leaves. In that sense, it both sticks out and blends in at the same time, creating a new dynamic while keeping in with the color theme of the photo.