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.