Best Portraits

I didn't have a hard time deciding which were my best portraits, as I didn't care for many of the ones that I had done. I chose the portrait of Zac purely because of the work that it took to make it. I had taken multiple pictures of him swimming, and I didn't care that much for any of them, so I figured if I combined a few they would turn out alright. In the original picture, Zac has his head turned away, but I found a picture of him looking almost directly at the camera, yet half of his body was gone. So I did a bit of snipping from that picture and overlaid it onto the picture of him turned away. It actually wasn't that hard to do, just a bit of masking using a soft brush with a low flow. The hard part was trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the portrait. I wanted Zac to be the main focus of the portrait (as he should be) and the water just there because it needed to be, so I tried to gray out much of it or change it in some way so that Zac would stand out much more. But because of the overlaying from another picture, the water just wouldn't turn out right. So, I finally just decided to gray out everything but his lane and separator and used the cutout filter to take detail away from the side of the pool even more. I I upped the saturation on the lane separator and left it at that. I thought about adding words to the picture, but couldn't decide if that enhanced it our not, so I just left them out.
I like the position of Zac in the picture (one of the reasons I chose it as the main image) as he is off to the side, yet pointed to the middle, making him seem to move toward the center (esp. because he actually is). As he is really the only object in the picture, one's eye is drawn directly to him and to little else, as there is little else for detail in the photo besides him.

This may be my favorite portrait and not just because it is Justine. I really like the simplicity of it. I took out everything else that wasn't Justine, added a darkening red layer over her. I then erased symbols out using my Lady Gaga brushes, as she likes Lady Gaga.
I really like the lighting in this picture. There was a lot of brightness coming from the sun through the window behind her, which made her hair really bright. There's not much to say about this, it's a very simple picture.
These pictures are very different from each other, as one was pretty difficult to do and the other was really easy. Zac's picture, though I tried to minimize some of it, has quite a bit of detail, while Justine's has almost none besides her. Also, Justine is looking at the camera and very aware that a picture is being taken of her, while Zac is in activity and most likely isn't really aware that the camera is focused on him.

Filtering Photo

I love the cutout filter that Photoshop uses. I think I've used it in almost all of my filtering pictures, this being the first. Besides that filter, the only other filter used in this picture is the watercolor filter. The use of the water color filter made the tree and plant background of the image too dark and almost dreary. It was not bright at all. So, to bring the saturation up to some nice colors, I placed a red saturation layer on top, bringing the greens out quite vividly and throwing in a few bright colors which, though they are merely leaves, look like they might be flowers in the bush. Though the area behind the young Buddha in actuality isn't that heavily planted, the use of the two filters makes it seem almost as though it is in the middle of a forest or thick garden. The use of a few more filters brought the bleak gray Buddha a hint of green, making it almost a buffer between the gray of the walkway and the green of the plants.
There are essentially two objects in this photo: the sleeping baby Buddha and the tree to the left of it. Whether one's eye looks first to the tree or the Buddha, the eye is inevitably drawn to the Buddha with the barely distinguishable rat on its shoulder. It's brightness compared to the darker colors of the plants and rock in the negative around it draws the eye very quickly, as well as the line that follows the rock in the background, down the tree, and along the rock next to the Buddha to the object it's head rest upon.

I feel I am progressing well in this class. I have yet to discover all of the tools Photoshop offers, nor have I discovered all of the uses of the tools I do use, but I use what I do know well. I feel I could discover more ways to add more layers to my pictures to make them that much better. I think I have sufficient skill at this point for most of the ideas I have. Though many ideas of things I'd like to take pictures of are hard to find in this area.

Other photo

I stumbled upon this photo while looking for my most successful photo and remembered how much I loved it. I had completely forgotten about it and I'm glad I've revisited it. Feel free to tell me what you think of it.

Successful-est Photograph

I'm unsure if this is my most successful photograph, as I have taken so many over the years, but among those that I have easily available, I'd say this is my best.
The objects of the picture are the waterfall and pool that lays beneath it. The negative space is filled with detail like the leaves of the large fern plants in the foreground and the crevasses in the rocks in the background. The photo is balanced equally on both sides, with the waterfall on the right side in of the background and the large fern on the left side of the foreground.
Another aspect of the photo that I think makes it great is the line in it. The ferns on the left of the photo are one of the first things that catches your eye and point, along with the ferns on the opposing side, towards the waterfall. This, in turn, points the eye down to the bottom pool and walkway that leads up to it. The eye is then brought around through the plants along the path and drawn back up the photo, past the fern, and along the top: again to the waterfall.
Besides these, it is a truly beautiful waterfall. Ironically, the water in this waterfall and pool carries a bacteria that, if ingested, causes nausea, indigestion, and diarrhea.

Wordle

Digital Art?

Digital Art, in my opinion, is any artwork that is used or enhanced using a computer. Whether one takes a picture and uses a computer program to enhance it, just touching it up or altering it complete, or one uses purely a computer to make the image. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) and other computer imagery created completely on the computer are the most common forms of digital art.


Another popular form of digital art is enhanced photographs using a program such as Photoshop. These can range from just touch ups:


to complete photo changing: