Midterm Proposal

Midterm Proposal

For my midterm, I propose that I put together a portfolio based on my best work from many different areas this semester. Some of it will include photography I have done for my own pleasure, some of it will focus on the work I have completed in post-prossessing via photoshop, and most of it will include work or works that I have completed or otherwise worked on for this class. In any case, there will not be any main theme or focus for the portfolio, rather just a compilation of my work thus far.

My Experience with Color Correction

  These are the first photos I color corrected. I took longer on this image than on the other sets as many steps were involved in this process. First, I played with the curves, which took quite some time to get them where I wanted them. I then adjusted the contrast to up it a little, and the brightness as well (only slightly). The last and final step was a very interesting one -- I used what is called HDR Toning. I have a basic understanding of what HDR is and how it works. I am not sure that this is true HDR, but I assume that with the raw image, it is somehow able to emulate such things. In any case, I am pleased with the way that it came out.

 

      The above photos were taken at Sandy Hook, NJ. The original is on the left, and the corrected photo on the right. I gave the photo on the right a bit more contrast and a bit more saturation. I played with some levels and moved the bars for red, blue, and green to their "correct" locations. I feel the second photo looks a little less realistic, but more appealing and attractive in terms of color.

    These two photos were taken at Shadow Lake near my house. The original photo was taken to be part of a stitched landscape photo. I felt this needed color correction so I decided to do so for this project. The left photo is pretty accurate as to what the lake actually looked like that day. Although it was sunny, it was very cold and dead outside. The color corrected photo brings out some of the green in the dirt that was otherwise invisible that day. the blue from the lake is also improved immensely. I started playing with curves at this point. I found it actually much easier to get the color I wanted, although it did take quite a while. The overall appeal of this photo has been improved now that the colors seem to stand on their own.

Compositions

After looking at the post on SOCS, I made my own compositions utilizing the "Invisible Geometry." It was a very interesting concept which actually does help your art with its balance and appeal. Here are my examples.

Composites

These photos are composites. Each of mine are two images combined in some way.

 The photo above is the first composite I have ever done on photoshop. As you can see, it is a bit rough around the edges--literally. This was our assigned abstract composite. The sign and the guitar are both part of my first photo assignment.

 This was the second composite I completed. I cut out the hydrant from a different picture and pasted it on the "NO BALL PLAYING" wall. The biggest issue I ran into here was lighting. Since both pictures had alternate light sources, it was difficult to make the hydrant look natural. In any case, I flipped the image and burned the wall to do my best to combine these images in the most natural way possible.

The above photo was my third and most convincing composite. I cropped the bricks from a different photo I had previously taken. After I pasted it, I had to scale, skew, and distort it to make it take the curve of the artillery shell naturally. I then burned around the edges to make it seem like this was a sunken part of the photo. I like this one the best of the three.

All in all, this was a very good exercise. As you can tell, my images got better as they went along. It helps when you learn the keyboard shortcuts and you become more used to the tools available.