Final Exam

Proposal: For my digital arts project, I would like to do a commercial for a weight loss product. I will work on Photoshop creating before and after pictures of my friends, making them look as realistic as I can.  

Research: I will research different weigh loss commercials or infomercials making mine look as realistic as theirs. I will also research how people are constantly digitally enhanced in magazines and pictures.  

Currently can do and what I still need to figure out: I can currently work on Photoshop to manipulate photos. I need to figure out how to create a lighting area suitable to create realistic qualities to composite images.  

Production: I have researched online about Photoshop manipulation seen everyday in magazines. Not only is this a manipulation of the photo but the minds of people as well. I always thought that idea was quite interesting so instead of manipulating photos by making people skinny, I have done the reverse manipulating photos by compo-siting two images to create a realistic image to the eye. All of my friends are always discussing about wanting to be skinnier and dieting so I have done this project to make them realize how skinny they actually are and to boost their confidence. I have put there face on a picture of an overweight women who has some of the same features of them in eye color and skin color. Some of the websites I had viewed as my inspiration for this project are:
http://www.beautyredefined.net/photoshopping-altering-images-and-our-minds/ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/fashion/28RETOUCH.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaIAeUhUSvM  

Composites 

Color Corrections of After Photos

 

Post Production: I will present the photo manipulations next to each other as a before and after photo. The first photo on the left will be the before photo which consists of a composite of two images; one image that has been found on the internet of an overweight women and the other image of one of my friends that I had taken to match up with the lighting of the first image. The second image the after image will be a photo of my friend that I have color corrected to look visually better than the original photo. (If I were not in Italy studying abroad), I would print out the images for the final day for all to view and discuss.
  
Results:
 
                     Before                                       After


 
                  Before                                         After



 
                   Before                                  After


Self Evaluation:
I'm very happy with how my project came out. However, I wish I had more time to do the project because I still would have liked to made a video infomercial to go along with the photos; with the time constraints I had to alter the project to make it just about the photos and perfecting the lighting and colors to make the images look as realistic as I could. I did find difficulties with getting the coloring right on some of the images but after taking a break from them and eventually coming back to them to look at them, I figured out the color adjustments to get as close as possible to the skin tones. I have learned a lot about photo manipulation with my research and it has made me look at advertising and Photoshop in a different way. I thought my friends were great at helping me out with the photo shoot until I found a lighting area that was just right. Overall I think each one of these images is interesting because they could all have a story to go along with them. 


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Because I will be in Italy for the final…

Presentation Script:

                  I have always been interested in the knowledge of image manipulation in advertising and magazines that I thought making my final project about that, to be a great idea. I went online and researched many websites on manipulation of images and even watching videos on YouTube about it. Today every girl wants to look like the skinny celebrity on the magazine cover, but do they know that the photo is technically a lie and not the real deal? My friends are always talking about dieting and wanting to be skinnier so I decided I would use them in project.

                  My project deals with compositing two images together, like we had learned and done in the beginning of this semester. However, these images were more difficult because I had to get the lighting on the images to match. After researching and finding photos of women who are overweight online, I had to have a photo shoot with my friends. I took many photos of them using the clip light I had to adjust the lighting and shadows made on their faces for each image. With both photos, I worked on Photoshop to composite them. I adjusted the size of the faces and colors to try to match the skin tones of the prior image.

                  The after photos of my friends I had taken this year at different events. I adjusted the color of each one to what I, in my opinion look visually better.

                  If I were to present this on the final, I would have printed out the images having the before and after text typed in each photo. I also would have projected the before and after images of each photo so all could see clearly.

Rotoscope

Rotoscope

(I had trouble putting the video on the blog so instead here is the image)

Illustrator Work

Portfolio/ Midterm

Portfolio

For this image I used a picture of the sunset I had taken this past summer. I used one of the filter tools to liquefy the picture. I really liked playing around with this image and I kept experimenting with it until I felt that I was happy with the result. This new image reminds me of graffiti combined with the aesthetics of a water landscape.

 

This image is a picture I had already used for my homework to take an environment photo but now it is more worked out to create a surreal dreamlike look to it. I used many layers to create this image. I cut and resized the different pieces and also used the color adjustments to create this various color scheme. I had some trouble matching certain parts of each picture used for example the lake in the background and the path in the foreground. Overall I really like this image and the successful color coordination.              

This photo I had taken at a park near my house. I go there often because the setting is so calm and peaceful; therefore I wanted to change the colors to something that is very calming to me, like a sunset.  I used the color adjustments of hue/saturation, brightness/contrast, and curves to get this final result. I really like this photo and the color combination with the black to make the photo seem like a silhouette.

This is a photo I had recently taken the last time I visited home. After losing our dog of fourteen years we had gotten this little puppy a week ago; we named her Lucy. She is very photogenic so after taken many pictures of her, I decided I wanted to experiment with one of the photos to make it look more artistic like a painting rather than a photo. I used the curves tool to play with the colors until I found a combination that I was happy with. I think the red color goes great with my puppy’s fur color of black and white.

This image I created reminds me of an album cover one might find on a cd. I took this picture after a snowstorm this year. The playfulness of the four people walking made me want to make the image just as fun so I used a color effect to get the bright color scheme with the right amount of balance of darkness in the composition. I also cut the people out and put them at different sizes and angles throughout the image; however after looking at both images I came to the decision that this final image was more successful.

This photo was taken on my friend’s twentieth birthday. My housemate and I had made the cake for her to celebrate that night with a group of friends. After taking the picture, I realized how much the photo could not capture the beauty of all the candles lit on the cake that you see when you experience the moment in real life. Since the color was off in the original photo I used the tool, curves in Photoshop to adjust the colors. I played with the curves until the background of the cake was dark enough to emphasize the bright lights from the candles on the cake. The after effect of this picture represents the perfect birthday cake and the moment right before the birthday girl blows out her candles and makes a wish. This picture captures that moment more realistically than the photo before worked on in Photoshop.

Self Evaluation

Overall I am very happy with these different photos I have in my portfolio. At the beginning of this class I knew absolutely nothing and although it is only half way through this semester, I already feel like I have learned a lot so far. From the start I had some trouble with the concept of the different layers and cutting things out using the magnetic lasso but after playing around and just experimenting I began to learn how to use it more. Unlike the saying practice makes perfect, I think with Photoshop playing around and experimenting makes perfect, or what I as the artist thinks looks perfect and I am happy with in the end. Therefore, my portfolio is full of experimentation which I think is very exciting as an artist.

Adjustments

Adjustments

Before

After

 For this image I adjusted the color of the photo using color balance. I adjusted it until I was happy with the color of the sky and the brightness of the yellow lines on the road. This adjustment, however changed the color of the navy pants of each person to a navy color with a tint of some purple. Overall I decided that the pants in the picture did not bother me at all.

Before

After

For this adjustment I changed the color of the photo by playing with the hue and saturation tool. I liked how it made the darks in the photo much more profound. The photo looks more artisitc and like a painting which I really enjoy.

Before

After



The adjustments I used for this photo was the color adjustments of color balnce and brightness/contrast. After using these adjustments, it changed the color of the sky to make this photo more aesthetic. The change of color also seemed to change the time of day the photo was taken.

Portfolio

 Portfolio

The first image I used a picture of the sunset I had taken this past summer in Long Beach Island. I used one of the filter tools to liquefy the picture. I really liked playing around with this image and I kept experimenting with it until I felt that I was happy with the result. This new image reminds me of graffiti combined with the aesthetics of a water landscape.

The second image I created reminds me of an album cover that one might find on a cd. I took this picture after a snowstorm this year. The playfulness of the four people walking made me want to make the image just as fun so I used a color effect to get the bright color scheme with the right amount of balance of darkness in the composition. I also cut the people out and put them at different sizes and angles throughout the image, however after looking at both images I came to the decision that this final image with just the four people was more successful.

The third image is a picture I had already used for my environment but now was more worked out to create a surreal dreamlike look to it. I used many layers to create this image. I cut and resized the different pieces and also used the color adjustments to create this various color scheme. I had some trouble matching certain parts of each picture used for example the lake in the background and the path in the foreground. Overall I really like this image and the successful color coordination.                                                                                        

Internal and External Grids

Throughout the internal grid are different lines that connect certain items in this image. The angles of the truck point to the sign in the snow and the person walking.  The top of the person’s head is directly parallel to the jeep in the road. And the jeep is diagonal to the bird in the tree that was put into the image.  

       

The external grid I cut the image into thirds placing objects where I thought best fit visually. For this image I had some trouble fixing the color of the fire hydrant to make it look more realistic that the object actually exists there.