Cover Page for the Occult

Here is a cover page I put together with the supernatural kept in mind. I would like to think it would catch its targeted audience with its composition. Noise filters, invert mode and the type tool were the main tools used to put this together. Everything was taken off the web and put together as a collage (eye ball, mouth, head silhouette, bar code, skeleton, and blood splatter).

Type Tool Mask

The most fun part of this tutorial was experimenting with color under color balance. Changing the colors of the shadows, mid-tones, and highlights made this picture really interesting. First step in this tutorial is to clone your layer image and put a directional (horizontal or vertical) type mask tool on the copy. Change the color of the original image under image>adjustments>color balance and have fun mixing up colors. The picture of windows was taken from here.

Gradient Mask

Having some fun with the gradient tool to create a polka dot effect with my flying squirrel friend found on this site. Tutorial is straightforward. First step is to have a background color (in my case I used white), the layer image, and a cutout. Next determine the direction of the gradient on the layer image then go filters>filter gallery>sketch>halftone pattern and mess around with the size and contrast to get a customizable size of dots. End results will be similar to my squirrel image.

Calculation Tool

My absolute favorite tool of Photoshop has to be the calculation tool. It leaves specific parts of an image in its initial shape without any jagged cutouts or any background image remaining. I took this black bear from this website and added it to this background found here to create this image. The tool has its limitations since it can't distinguish similar colors of a background and foreground, but a little tinkering around can fix that. The image is converted into a black background and white foreground. The dodge and burn tool are perfect for whitening highlights (foreground) and darkening shadows (background).

Sign construction

Just a little messing around with the tools in photoshop to create my own street sign. Straightforward sign that says do not cross flammable area ahead with a red "X" to further the purpose.

Comic Book Tutorial

I did a tutorial to give a comic book effect to images from this website
My image came out like so:

I like the dot effect because it blended in so well with the shading without completely overpowering the skin tones as one solid color/

Surreal Lemon

Imagine if lemons could fight back. My advice is to hide your assault rifles.
Design Log
Images put together were mostly cut out by using the pen tool. The dream cloud, tear drops, and explosion clip art were all taken from the custom shape tool.

Small Touch Up

Before

After

Design Log
Sponge tool was used to bleach the teeth followed by the dodge tool to brighten them. The lips got bleach out a little bit so I used the sponge tool to saturate and return the color. Cant really see any splotches in this resolution, but if you maximize the image a few red spots pop up. I used the spot healing tool brush to even out the skin and cover some of those spots.

Working with the tpye tool

Design log
Experimenting with the type tool in Photoshop. I did not know that by simply using the rasterize tool would open up all of the available tools Photoshop has to offer. In this case I used mainly the distort and skew tool for the text.
Source image
Source poem

Visual Culture Remix

Design Log
  
     It's painfully obvious that Photoshop has altered our visual culture. Potentially every  magazine picked up in a store demonstrates this. Humans are far from perfect, some of us have blotchy skin, uneven skin tones, or perhaps pimples and zits. On these magazine cover pages, a human is portrayed as perfection, yet in real life, most of these people look like your everyday average Joe (watch TMZ for proof). Photoshop does not limit it self to celebrities. Take a look at Facebook. Profile pictures are often edited to enhance oneself. For example, a fat person edits them self to look skinnier. A flat chested teen may enhance her breast. A scrawny man may try to give himself more muscle mass. All in all, these altered images give the illusion that these editors are fake. Here's what America is truly about : hamburgers, hotdogs, football, freedom, tax, and hope. I have combined all of these elements into one collage with the statue of liberty's lamp shinning bright as a central focus. The images are divided into three paths to show what they represent. The football player represents entertainment, statue of liberty represents freedom, and uncle same represents tax (yuck).

Source images
Football player
Burger
Hot Dog
Uncle Sam
Bright Light
Statue of liberty
Shattered Glass
Flag

Aged Photo

Before

Source

After

Design Log

Overall goal was to edit a photo so that it looked like the worlds first photograph in terms of composition. I experimented with the levels and exposure to reduce the light and amount of shades presented in the image. I also added noise to give it a grainy look and a blur so that the image would not look so crisp.

I love the calculation function of Photoshop. It was beyond easy to cut and paste together crisp images.
Photos were all taken from these websites:

Background

Moon

2nd tree

Woman standing

Feathers

Photo Edge Transfer Effect

Photo transfer effects onto a previously used photo to give it a sense of aging.

Blurs and Depth Perception

Photograph of (from left to right) my great aunt linda, aunt beamie (sherbeam) and new edition to the family, my cousin siri. I used an iris blur on the image to add emphasis to my family.

Using the same photo I applied another blue, but this time it only applies to the background. The buildings and everything presented above my aunts have been given a blur to add to a sense of depth.

Here is the original photograph which was taken by my aunt Peung.

Dutotones:

Title: Left Out Play Toy
Design Log
Green is my favorite color, so it was the obvious choice as a tint for my duotone. Creating a duotone is straightforward. All you need to do is turn the image into a grey scale and then add a tint.

Color Correction and Contrast

Before

After

Design Log
The original image seems to have a yellow tint placed over it so I played around with the color balance mid-tones. I took a large portion of the red out of the photo which in turn made the ocean a tad bit green. I removed the green and strengthen the blue. My final adjustments were -35, -20, 20. My next move was to brighten the highlights and darken the shadows through contrast. The values were both placed around 30 which made the photo seem less murky.

Analogous Color Scheme

Before

After

Design Log
I decided to pick an analogous color scheme starting with a light lime green as my starting point point. The next direction of colors I picked moved more to a warm setting on the color line. I thought it be more appropriate to move towards yellow-green and a light orange-brown color to represent autumn.