Midterm

Le Midterm

 I will start with the projects that I completed first, and work my way chronologically forward.

First Photo

Apple?

This photo was completed as part of my first project in this class. My goal was to get close enough that the viewer would not be sure the nature of the object. I was pleased with my results as most people assumed or thought that the object was an apple. The true identity, in fact, is a guitar that my friend painted with oil paints. She then placed a flower in the input of the electric guitar. This was one of my very first photos with a DSLR camera. It was manipulated lightly in photoshop, with some minor color corrections. No cropping was done on this photo.

Second Photo

Coffee & Vignettes

 This photo was taken and used as part of the third project for this class. I hid the measurements I took for the compositional element originally intended for this photo. I did some further and very minor color corrections. The other major change that I made for this portfolio includes a vignette. Although some describe this effect is cheap and easy, I think it really brings and holds a picture together. I did this manually by using the elliptical marquee tool with a feather, then inverting the selection and filling it. I was QUITE proud of my ingenuity. The photo has greatly improved as a result of my work.

Third Photo

Sweet & Seductive

This photo was taken for my digital photography class. I spent a lot of time altering it further to become something completely different. I chose it to be in this portfolio for several reasons. I think it displays much of what I learned thus far using Photoshop this semester. As always, there were color corrections and color alterations done. There was also lots of selection work, feathering, masking, smoothing, etc. My goal was to make her look like she was popping out of the frame. To do this, I selected everything outside of her own self, and I took out most of the saturation. This was too subtle for me. I decided to texture the background with a stained glass look. This decision was after many other versions of this photo that colorized only the mirror, then back to her, then back to the mirror, and so on. I played around with other effects but landed on this one because it strengthens the image the most.

Fourth Photo

Old 'n' Busted

  This photo was taken at a dock near my home. While taking the photo, the old timer owner came around to tell me some history on the truck, to find out that he can't remember which decade he bought it in. I wish I could give more history on this truck, but the man was not of much help. In any case, I used some HDR toning on this photo. I originally wanted to do a true High Dynamic Range photo with 5 exposures. I bought a new tripod and everything. I found that I moved too much while taking the photos. I got a similar effect from Photoshops "HDR Toning" adjustment. I also added a sepia tone throughout after some desaturation. I wanted this photo to look as old as the truck and the old man who owns the truck. I was hesitant to use a vignette, but alas, it added to the old time feel of the photo. When I look at it, it looks like how I see memories in my head.

Fifth Photo

The Broken Rainbow

 This is not a photo. This is a panorama. I originally, again, took it for my photography class. I did not use it at all as I was not pleased with the results. I decided to re appropriate the photo to be used in this class. I carefully measured the photo and cut it into sections and divided those up into new layers. I then "colorized" and changed the hue of each one. After this, I gave the photo a white border to tie it up in a neat package. I envisioned this as a type of background one might use on the computer. Black contrasting background was a must for this photo. I find this work very appealing to look at. The content within the panorama seems almost secondary to the element of color that I employed here.

Sixth Photo

Geometry

 This is also not a photo. This is a huge panorama. I took many photos in my hometown with this vision in my mind. This panorama was heavily influenced by David Hilliard's work. I put my Steve Zimbaldi spin on it, however, by putting the photo in the middle. My goal was to build a type of geometric perspective by having the two angles of the fence. I deny the viewer the perspective with the middle photo. It is very interesting to look at. I am most proud of this work. There was a lot of tweaking that went into making it line up and measure up perfectly. I had to skew and distort for hours to get everything lined up but natural looking. I had to crop and resize the photos more times than I care to admit. I am pleased with the results, so much so that I got it printed on the large format printer in the IMM building.

Self Evaluation

I did a fantastic job on this portfolio presentation. Considering I had absolutely no experience with Photoshop prior to this semester, my progress should seem very apparent here. I wanted to do many different techniques and styles of photos to demonstrate my newly learned ability. I realize that I do not do many realistic photos in photoshop. Then again, if I wanted realism in a photo, I wouldn't use photoshop. So, if one is willing to suspend disbelief, one would find my photos very enjoyable. I worked extremely hard on them. Several hours were put into this portfolio and I know that it is apparent by the quality of the photos.