Final Assignment - Magazine Cover

This is my final project, a magazine cover. The graphic is a composite of my husband's hand holding some carrots from the farmer's marked and some farm land on Hawaii. I used a variety of selection and masking techniques to combine the images, and used a very subtle blur/gradient for the background (depth of field). I had fun deciding where to place the cover lines and how to color them so they were legible.

Assignment 14 - Pop Dots

Here is a graphic using the pop dot technique. The photo was taken during the Tour of California in 2010 when they passed through the area on Sierra Road.

Assignment 13 - Depth of Field

Here is a simple image I edited to make the bird appear in-focus while the rest is out of focus, to create depth.

Assignment 12 - Masks

These two of the tutorials on masks, using the book's graphics. Click on them to view the detail.

Assignment 11 - Plugins

I used Extract plugin from the Adobe website to take the zebra from a photo I took at the Oakland Zoo. I like that you can trace part of the image and have the freedom to stop, erase, and start adding to the 'selection' more easily than with other selection tools because it is simply highlighting parts of the image you want to include. It feels a lot like using a paintbrush/fill tool in a mask but allows you to skip the actual masking process. For this assignment, I also attempted to download other plugins from the internet. The one I chose (http://www.cybia.co.uk/theworks.html) had an .exe installer (which I wasn't thrilled about) but it passed my antivirus software and everything seems to work great. To finish my graphic, I adjusted the levels, used the burn and dodge tools, and made some other adjustments. I painted the grass in with one of the brushes.

Assignment 10 - Surreal

This is an image I made in an attempt at creating something surreal. My original stars had wings, and I even tried putting wings on my frog but in the end I liked the way it came out this way. I used the pen tool to trace my frog, and created a custom shape out of him. I also created the original star using the pen tool and defining it as a custom shape.

Here is my original photo that I traced with the pen tool:

Assignment 8 - Photo Retouch

This is a picture of my girls from 2009. The quality and lighting of the photo weren't very good, so I adjusted the levels, used the burn, dodge, sponge, red eye and heal tools, and painted a little.

Mid-term Assignment

The topic I have chosen for my mid-term montage assignment is Thomas Jefferson and his contribution to the independence of the United States. Jefferson was born in 1743 and studied at the College of William and Mary. He practiced law and served in local governments, and served in the House of Burgesses and Continental Congress. He later became governor of Virginia, a member of Congress and the Secretary of State. He was elected vice president in 1796, president in 1801 and re-elected president in 1804.

In 1776 Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted July 4th. Despite having inherited slaves, he was promoter of equality and the ability of people to govern themselves. I believe this topic is important because although the United States sometimes receives criticism for international politics, the fundamental principles on which is was founded -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- are very relevant today around the world. The news is filled with turmoil around the globe of people fighting for freedom from oppressive governments, from the Arab world as in Egypt and Lybia, to the military stand-offs with oppressive governments like North Korea. Just this year, the people of southern Sudan voted for their own freedom with an overwhelming 99% majority. Although the circumstances were different and times have changed, our country was once at the heart of a war for freedom and Thomas Jefferson was the voice of inspiration.

Given the plight of the oppressed today, and Jefferson’s belief that “all men are created equal” I hoped to create a montage that highlights aspects of his life while also bringing a mix of modern-day photography of global political uprisings. The background of the image contains his hand-written draft of the Declaration of Independence and a letter to Washington DC. My goal is to inspire others to realize that although some people – foreign and US citizens alike – criticize our government, domination from the government in other countries is still much more strict than what we are accustomed to and other countries are in need of their own “founding fathers.”

The portrait I edited of Jefferson can be found here: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/ppmsca/19800/19880u.tif

Assignment 6 - Typography

For this assignment I added the teacher image to the chalkboard image, added a gradient to the chalkboard, and added the text. The most challenging part of the composite was the teacher's hair in front of her face -- the background of the original image was a much different color than the background I chose, so I had to play with it quite a bit. I really enjoyed editing the typography, but in the end I decided the best look for the image was clean and crisp and didn't end up using and filters or other effects.

Assignment 4 - Color Scheme

For this project, I chose a photograph of a parrot I took while in Costa Rica. I loved the beautiful contrast of the blues and cyan with the yellows and oranges. I adjusted the levels, saturation, exposure, etc. For the background, I used a photograph of a forest that was also from Costa Rica. I adjusted the levels, brightened it, changed the tint with Variations, etc. Based on the color wheel, by adding the green background with the complimentary blue and yellow, the scheme I used is in the middle between a triad or analogic (as described on colorschemedesigner.com, because the angle is 90 degrees). Although the colors are bright, they all come from nature and bring out the tropical spirit of the photographs.

Here versions of the original photographs:

Assignment 3 - Duotone

For assignment 3 I decided to place a couple of Canadian soliders on the rim of a Colorado River canyon. The images for the composite were the soldiers, the canyon, and the sky. I chose a dreary color rather than vibrant colors because for me, the soldiers evoke thoughts of the hardships of war, despite the breathtaking view they would have in this fictional scene.