Exercise One
I wanted to keep the feel of the photo as an old family photo but with removing the damage. I know if this was my photo I would not want to change the meaning behind the photo and keep the integrity of the family members in it. I think there is a need to keep some of the damage to maintain that old historic feel and make the viewer realize the age of the photo.
I worked on various layers first on the dresses then on the trees and bushes. I then worked on the house. The hardest part for me was the faces. I created several layers that I had to remove because i wasn't getting the correction I wanted or overdid some of the corrections. I used mainly the healing tool and the spot healing tool. I also adjusted the contrast to darken the trees and the darker colors overall.
I think my photo is an improvement from the before, but I can see so many areas for improvement. I think I needed to work more on the faces and maybe do it at a higher zoom. I can also see the sky above the house, where I need to work on that more. I realize now how much more time I need to spend on the photo to really make it look better and more professional.
Exercise Two
For this photo, I wanted to have some fun and work with some pictures I have taken here in Colorado. I decided to try to take a picture of one of our cats and combine it with a hiking trip as if we brought the cat along. The photo is geared towards friends and family and I was hoping to really express some humor with it.
I originally had another two photos I had hoped to use for the photo combination, but really could not find a good way to combine them. I found this photo of my partner and with the way he was looking decided to impose the cat photo. I originally had to flip the photos to make use of the cat due to original photo having the legs cut off. I worked on the cat in layers to cut and then impose the cat into the photo adjusting size and proportion. I also had difficulty blending the cat photo in and blending the edges so it was not as cut out looking. I also tried to clean up my partner's shirt and remove some of the sweat on the shirt.
Overall I had fun doing the exercise, but I feel I really need to work more in combining photos and feathering the edges to better incorporate. I want to work more on this and try to add some more effects. I had bigger visions for this photo exercise but realize I need more practice in more of the effects and processes.
Exercise 4
For this poster, I was not sure what I would do at first for a music genre. I was leaving a play this week at DCPA when on the way out a brass band was playing in the courtyard. I decided to imagine what the poster might look like for them.
I used the yellow/golden color to represent the brass instruments and also give a bright feel to it. Originally I had used darker gold/brown color but it did not give a sense of excitement or a fun concert. For the title of the band, I used the rising arch for the font to create a sense of movement forward and also to represent the rising music.
I tried to add some graphics to the poster by using the notes and stars from the webdings. I would have liked to have used a photo or something to represent the instruments, but using just the webdings/fonts was a good practice at what one can do with limited resources.
Overall I had fun with this exercise and hope to improve upon what I've learned in this exercise. I think a little more experimentation with fonts and effects with a future project would be useful.
Exercise 5
For this exercise, I wasn't sure what I wanted the cover to be. I threw around some ideas. I decided since I was running the half marathon this coming weekend, this might be a fun idea. I realize there is no way I would ever win, so that is what makes this fun.
It was interesting using the difference techniques in the class and putting them all together. I tried to vary the font but keep them complimentary. I still need some practice on the dropping a pic in and work on the edges. I think I want to try adding a back drop photo to this to give it some more oomph.