DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING

September 02, 2019

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING - EXERCISES

27/8/19 - 25/9/19 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Farissa Eryna Sham (0336814)
Digital Photography and Imaging
Exercises

Lecture 1: Briefing and Introduction to Digital Photography and Imaging
Week 1 Exercise 27/08/19

For our first class, we started off by learning how to use the basics of Photoshop. Mr Jeffrey and Mr Martin taught us step by step on how use the tools and so on. These are some of the techniques we learned in class:-

Open & save image file in Photoshop
Selecting image using Quick Selection
Zoom in, out and panning images
Copy and Paste
Deselect Images
Undo and Redo
History
Layers
Deleting, duplicating, rearrange, opacity, transform layer
Adjustment > Hue and Saturation/ Match Color
Move Tool
Shadow Painting (brush tool)
Filter > Noise

For our first exercise, we were told to photoshop 'Shazam' into the given picture (Hearst Mansion).

Fig 1.1 Hearst Mansion.

Fig 1.2 Shazam's poster.

It was quite easy to do quick selection on this specific poster as the colour of Shazam's suit is really contrasting to thee background.

Fig 1.3 Edited picture.

After we completed this in class, Mr Jeffrey instructed us to take a picture of ourselves and recreate the same type of picture as Fig 1.3.

Fig 1.4 & 1.5 Pictures taken for exercise one.

I tried to use Fig 1.4 but unfortunately it is too dark and it becomes quite grainy, so I decided to take another picture (fig 1.5) with a better lighting. Both pictures were taken on an iPhone.

Fig 1. Exercise One.

Lecture 2: Ghost House
Week 2 Exercise (07/09/19)

In class, Mr Jeffrey taught us quite a number of techniques such as, masking, quick selection, match color and more. We were given a few pictures to edit in class and Fig 2.3 was the outcome. We had to photoshop the ghost and the house.

Fig 2.1 Background layer.

Fig 2.2 Ghost.

Fig 2.3 House.

First, I did a quick selection on the house. Later on, I copied the picture (CTRL+C) and pasted it on the background page (CTRL+ V). We did color matching as well as the house looks too obvious and contrasting.

Fig 2.4 Quick selection tool.

Fig 2.5 Color matching.

After doing color matching, It can be seen that the house is well blended and we had to erase some of the extra parts of the layer to make it more nicer. The last step was to add a 'GLOW' by adding another layer. During class, Mr Jeffrey would do the steps more than once just in case someone is still struggling to do it. Usually, I'd follow him while he is doing it on his laptop.

Fig 2.6 Lady ghost in an old rustic house.

Afterwards, we had to do something similar for exercise two. We were given a set of pictures and apply the techniques we had learn in class. Mr Jeffrey told us we could add in anything into the picture to make it look more interesting.

Fig 2.4 Rustic house.

Fig 2.5 Blue sky.

I decided to add a tree at the side to make it more interesting and I remember Mr Jeffrey telling us in class that we are able to add any objects to make it look more pleasant.

Fig 2.6 Outcome.

For extra marks, although optional, we were told to 'photoshop the "cat luggage" to a craziest place you can ever imagine with good finishing'. The best THREE will get the extra marks. So I decided to give it a try. Here are the some of the pictures I edited.

Fig 2.7 Bubble carrier cat

I find it quite challenging to figure out what background I wanted to use but I decided to go for movie posters just because I thought it'd be something different.

Fig 2.8 First edited picture

I made sure I did color matching on both pictures and played around with the blur filter. I also did a lot of touch up so that no white edges would be seen around the cat bubble backpack.

Fig 2.9 Guardians of the cat

Lecture 3: Recoloring Exercise
Week 3 Exercise (10/09/19)

For this week, we learned the technique 'recoloring' and 'blending'. We also learned several things which is;

RGB is an acronym for Red, Green and Blue, and it is basically a way for colours to be displayed onscreen.
CMYK is for print.
a pixel is a small box that contains colour codes and makes up an image or video
pitch black hex code is 000 because there is no colour in black
white colour code is 255 because it is a mixture of all colours

In class, we had to recolor the black and white picture given. We learned how to blend and mask the picture to achieve color. Firstly, we did a quick selection on the man's face.

Fig 3.1 Black and white portrait of a man,

Then, I clicked on 'create a new layer' but before that I filled the layer with the color I want for that area (fig 3.2).

Fig 3.2 Added layer before masking.

The challenging part was to choose a realistic color for the skin and the eyes. I had to experiment it out a couple of times before getting the right colour.

Fig 3.3 Layers.

For the other body parts, I repeated the second step. For the eyes Mr Jeffrey said we could use a brush and play around with the opacity.

Fig 3.4 Finalized picture.

Afterwards, Mr Jeffrey told us to try this exercise using the techniques we learned at home using our own chosen black and white picture. He told us we could get some really high resolution pictures at 'BBC black and white archive pictures'. We were told to only use a picture that isn't blurry or pixelated.

Fig 3.5 & 3.6 These were the two pictures I chose.

After being indecisive for about an hour, I decided to go with the picture on the right as the picture focuses on the appearance more. First, I did the same exact step as Fig 3.1 which is doing a quick selection.

Fig 3.7 Layers.

The second layer is for the SKIN. I wanted the lips to be a dark berry/wine colour and it turned out quite decent.

Fig 3.8 Process.

Fig 3.9 Finalized picture.

Lecture 4: Changing One's Stripes.
Week 4 Exercise (24/09/19)

For today's class, we did two exercises, displacement and how to make a displacement map. The objective of the class was to place the flag on the fabric but it has to follow the flow of it. Techniques learned are;

Displacement

Making a displacement map

Blending

These are the pictures that we had to use during class.

Fig 4.1 Flag.

Fig 4.2 Fabric.

First, we had to save the file as a displacement map to distort the graphic to conform to the shape of the map. Then we had to desaturate the flag and save it as a 'PSD' file.

Fig 4.3 Desaturate.

The next step is to displace the colored flag by going to filter and then press distort and lastly displace.

Fig 4.4 Steps to do displacement.

Fig 4.5 Added displacement.

Then we had to blend it to 'multiply'. After doing so, it looks much better and we also had to adjust the opacity. We added a new layer and blended it to 'screen'.

Fig 4.6 Final outcome.

The next exercise is to displace the man's skin with a snake's scaly skin. The techniques required are the same as fig 4.6. We used a picture that we had used in a previous exercise.

Fig 4.7 Black and white portrait.

Fig 4.8 Snake's skin texture.

Since the picture of the portrait is already in black and white, we didn't have to desaturate it. Then I saved it as a displacement file.

Fig 4.9 Process.

We had to adjust the size of the snake texture to the size of the face and use eraser to remove the unwanted parts that dont belong to the skin.

Fig 4.10 Final outcome.

For our own exercise, we had to do something really similar to these exercises but change an appearance of an animal with another animal's skin/fur/scale and so on. I chose to change an alligator's body to a leopard's fur. So the tricky part is to make it blend really well.

Fig 4.11 & fig 4.12 Alligator and Leopard's fur.

So I added the leopard's picture and blended it with 'vivid light' but at first it looked too contrasting and harsh. So I did my own touch up by erasing some of the lighter parts of it and made sure the eyes of the alligator can be seen.

Fig 4.13 Process.

Mr Jeffrey helped me out by adjusting the settings for the blending mode. It made it look much more realistic and smooth.

Fig 4.14 Final outcome.

I made sure there are no unwanted edges at the alligator's body. It turned out better than I expected it to so I submitted this.

Lecture 5: Castle of Pyrenees
Week 5 Exercise (24/09/19)

In week 5, we had to re-create our own version of a picture by Rene Magritte. We didn't learn any new techniques so we had to use our own set of skills to produce a picture of our own version.

Fig 5.1 Example picture.

We have to use a rock and a sky/beach background for this exercise and place a castle on top of the rock. I wanted to go for a fantasy themed picture. So these are the pictures I chose as the main object.

Fig 5.2 Blue sky.

Fig 5.3 Rock.

Fig 5.4 Japanese castle.

First, I did a quick selection on the CASTLE, ROCK, and paste it on the blue sky's page. I decided to add multiple rocks to look like all of are floating lands. I matched the color of the rock to the sky and made sure the rock at the back is darker than the ones in front.

Fig 5.5 Multiple rocks and a cliff.

I also decided to add a cliff at the edge of the photo so It doesn't look too empty and boring. But to balance it out, I felt that I need to add something else too at the other edge of the picture. So, I added a bonsai tree and also a few birds in black and white. I added them in by doing a quick selection.

Fig 5.6 Bonsai tree.

Fig 5.7 Black and white birds.

I had to match the bonsai tree as well.

Fig 5.8 Added objects.

I added the hanging vines to make the rocks more connected to each other. To create the mist/fog, I used the brush and placed some white strokes all over the place. Then, I adjusted the opacity of it and erased some of the white with a soft brush to produce a soft cloudy look. I had to sharpen the bonsai tree as it was quite blurry at first.

Fig 5.9 Sharpen.

For the main rock with the castle on it, I wanted to make it seem like there's a waterfall.

Fig 5.10 Waterfall.

Fig 5.11 Added waterfall on to the rock.

I didn't forget to blend the waterfall to the rock and erased unwanted areas of the waterfall. I matched the color to the rock as well because at first it was too bright and contrasting. I remember Mr Jeffrey said that the picture must have a 'wow' factor to it so I wanted to add more objects.