Photo editing with Photoshop

30/5/2014(week 9)
Imani Najwa Binti Nordin(0319405)
Photo Editing and Photoshop
Selfie (non graded exercise)

Lecture:

For todays lecture mr Vinod decided for us to have a group discussion.The topic for todays discussion was photo editing using photoshop.When we all told him that we didn't manage to do our research and which we basically had no idea what so ever about photoshop Mr Vinod got a little disappointed.(sorry sir :/).However ,despite the little knowledge we had regarding the topic some of us knew a bit more than others.When Mr Vinod told us that he was grading our participation, some of us(including me)took a stab at it.Not long after Mr Vinod decided to pull our attention away from the conversation and gave us a brief lecture about photoshop.Mr Vinod explained that different settings such as red filter,saturation,desaturated and ect all have their own specific function.He showed us a few tools that are commonly used by photoshop users.He explained that not all the tools are needed to be used because it depends on what effects you are trying to achieve.After the who talk he asked us students to edit our self portrait in such way that it would be interestingly questionable,something absolutely different and creative.Once we did that we were told to upload the photos as our profile picture on Facebook for the whole semester.

Instructions to exercise:
1.Photoshop your selfie if necessary.
2.Post the selfie on the Intro2Photography Facebook wall
3.Replace your Display picture to your current selfie until the end of the semester.
4.Record and keep tract of the reactions among's the likes and comments until the end of semester.

Exercise Selfie (non graded)

I started with a full body shot ,apparently Tia's foot seems to disrupt the shot, so I cropped it out 

Here as you can see I was editing my photo on photoshop.I manage to mirrored it.The blue grid line serves as a mark in order for me to know where the centre of the photo was.

Finished product 

* I did not edit to such an extend since I think we will have another edit exercise which could be the "double exposure "just like the ones our seniors did.

 Proof of my work on my  Facebook page

The number of Likes I've gotten :

Hardcopy:

Feedback:

Genreal feedback:

Soon

Specific Feedback:

Soon

Reflection:

Experience:

Experience wise I must say this is all very challenging for me as Im not a total computer nerd pro.It took me quit some time just for me to learn the basic tools.I've done my readings and fiddled with the tools and can so far understand and work their functions.I used trusty old google to help me with my research.Reading is a no problem I actually find it very helpful and informative.I've experienced that having photoshop skills puts you to a certain advantage.Whiles editing my photos it took me a while to learn the mirror effect,I ended up going through youtube tutorials to lean.I then tried to make it look more realistic by using the eraser tool to soften the edges around.This technique is similar to feathering.

We are then expected to change our Facebook photos to our pre-edited selfies that we took.I find this brilliant at the same time gosh how am i going to face this picture with my horrible selfie kind of thing.

I've checked other students photos and my their photos are simply unique.I've decided that maybe I will take another selfie,since this isn't a graded exercise I might be able to experiment with it.

Observation:

Today I've learned that there are many different types of black & white photos.Some have higher contrast whiles others look more settled and vintage looking with a bit of noise added to the photos intentionally.I've observed that there are a few ways to getting a good black and white photo.I've learned that you can first go to (image > adjustments> black & white) .I observed and realised that this black and white feature can actually give you more sense of control since there is a control panel that has a few colour ranges that you can adjust to help create different black and white photo effects.Another good black & white photo edit is by going to (image> adjustments > levels).I've observed that the level enables you to adjust the whiter,middled tones and darker shades area.It is best to help adjust tonality after the photo is taken.

I've also observed that the red filter is also useful.When you have two colours of the same red colour intensity (same shades) it can become white.However certain areas will reman its tonality.

In addition to that,I've also observed that canvas size is actually important and should be taken under consideration when wanting to print out a photo.This is because,the machine(printer) will end up cropping the pictures you've taken.This is because the formate of the computer does not match the printer.Therefor,to avoid this is it best to sat a border around your picture.It is also helpful to increase the canvas size .

Lastly something that Mr Vinod talked about in class was how you should never remove a permanent mark for instance a beauty mark because by all means it should be kept real.However it is an exception to remove semi permanent marks such as a blemish.

Findings:

I've also been experimenting on different photo editing technique aside from what Mr Vinod is teaching us.I tried editing my photos in a double exposure way.I refereed to youtube on how I can make this edit possible.Basically from what I've understood was that the Lasson tool is a very useful tool to help cut out the outlines of my portrait.The eraser tool is also very helpful in order to clear the background.I made the background white.Sometimes more than 1 pictures can be used to create a whole different effect simply by layering them together.I ended up using 2 photos one of my previous selfie and the other was  a simple nature picture.I first did my cut and begin to make the second photo( nature picture ) have a white background. What I did was under [image >adjustments>replace colour > result (white) >saturation (100%) .Brightness (100%) ]If the sky or the background is white then your doing it right.

I then place the photo together above each other and used the Blend Mode to lighten.Then your done,now it is just how to move and set the picture around to your liking.Lastly,since I've been fooling around with my photoshop,I've found that it is helpful to have the blue grid in the centre of your picture ever time you will want to do a mirrored effect as it give you a sense of where the centre is located.

Photo of my work 




Here are the tools used in photoshop