Digital Photography and Imaging : Exercises

23.8.2021-22.11.2021 (Week 1 - Week 14)
Chung Yi Ki / 0345014 / BDCM
Digital Photography and Imaging
Exercises

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Quick links

1. Week 1
2. Week 4
3. Week 5
4. Week 6

5. Week 7

6. Week 10

Tasks 

Week 1 (23/8/2021)

The Bezier Game 

We were given some exercises at the end of our class. The first one being playing a game called "The Bezier Game", which is a game that lets you practice using the pen tool and this was my results when playing the game:

I did a few tries when completing each stage, and I found that pen tool is not that easy to master, especially when it comes to tracing curve angles. Sometimes I wish I'm allowed to use more nodes but I guess when there's a large number of unnecessary nodes, it'll make the tracing to look more angular than smooth. But all in all, this game was a great practice in using the pen tool. 

3 Favourite Graphic Design Work from Pinterest

For this exercise, we were tasked to create a Pinterest account and find 3 graphic design work that we like from the website and write a description explaining why we like it. These are my 3 choices and their descriptions: 

Design work #1

Artwork by Tessa Barton

For this artwork, I like that each element is arranged in a way that they relate to each other and doesn’t look messy although they are clustered together. They each tell a part of the personality or story of the subject (the woman) and together with the choice of words, the narrative ties in together. The choice of colours also provided enough contrast for each element to stand out and creates space for viewers to read in the clustered arrangement. The imperfect cutout of each element also gave the collage a journal art style to it. 

Design work #2

Artwork by Martin Hadrovic

Firstly, I really like the composition in this digital collage. How the planets on the table are arranged in a way to purposely show that the astronaut will miss the shot, the strong leading line from the astronaut’s arm to the corner of the table, and the light shining on the astronaut and the signboard at the back while having dark shadows to create a suspenseful mood. 

Secondly, I like how everything is edited to look very realistic, it’s like the artwork is not edited at all. And the red light shining on the sign board at the back brings focus to it which tells the narrative of the artwork (astronaut is giving a warning shot). Unlike design work #1, every element in here are isolated perfectly with no extra edges to be seen, which adds to the realism the artwork is going for, making something surreal to be real. 

Design work #3

Artwork by Magdiel Lopez

A combination of illustrations and real life photos, which is what I find interesting about this artwork. The real life and illustrated elements in this piece are arranged and edited in a way to seamlessly integrate with each other so all of them will look like a unified object to the viewers, in other words, they all look like they belong in a world rather than two different worlds. The bright and contrasting colour choice as well as the pattern on the mountain shapes definitely creates the surrealism of the artwork, which also gives an expressive feeling to it. 

Week 4 (13/9/2021) 

Adjustment layers and filters

For our practical class activity this week, we are tasked to choose the best composition out of the 3 compositions we did for our digital collage and edit it using adjustment layers and filter in Photoshop.

Fig 1.1 Adjustment layers and filters outcome

Fig 1.2 Adjustment layers used
Noise filter is also added to the gradient fill layer to create a grainy texture

When doing this activity, I had a dark to light concept in mind. I made the bottom part of the composition black and white, which contrast with the orange part of the background and made it look ominous. I then used the brush and masking tool to create a smooth gradient change from black and white to the vivid colour upper part of the composition. I also used it to create a vignette effect on the colour portion so the centre area of focus would be brighter and has a more dramatic look to it. 

Week 5 (20/9/2021)

Digital imaging: Shazam in Hearst Mansion

In this week's tutorial and practical activity, we are shown the method on how to digitally insert a subject from a picture to another picture and make the inserted subject believable with the background. We are given two photos, the first one is a poster of Shazam and the other one is a photo of the interior of Hearst Mansion. 

Fig 2.1 Poster of Shazam

Fig 2.2 Photo of Hearst Mansion

Fig 2.3 Isolated Shazam

I first used quick selection tool to select shazam and mask the selection to remove the background. Later on I used the brush tool to do some clean up and restoration.

Fig 2.4 Shazam inserted in Hearst Mansion

After that, Shazam is dragged and dropped to the Hearst Mansion photo and is resized and positioned to create a realistic sense of scale.

Fig 2.5 Match colour and shadow

Match colour function is used to match Shazam's colour with the background. Brightness and contrast is also adjusted to match the lighting and a shadow is created using brush tool in black colour, gaussian blur and lowered opacity.

Fig 2.6 Final edited picture of Shazam in Hearst Mansion

Reflection is added by duplicating Shazam, rotating and positioning him right below the original picture. Brightness is lowered and contrast is increased, hue is adjusted to be bluer and saturation lower. Gaussian blur and ripple effect is used to create a more realistic effect of a reflection. further adjustment on the on the original Shazam is also done to match the lighting of the background more. 

Week 6 (27/9/2021)

Recoloring black and white: Part 1

In this week's practical activity, we are given a video demonstration of how to recolor a black and white image in Photoshop. We are given a black and white image of a woman to recolor.

Fig 3.1 Given black and white photo

Fig 3.2 Colouring the skin using brush tool

Fig 3.3 Change the skin colour layer blending mode to soft light and adjust hue/saturation

The first step is to pick a colour and use brush tool to place the colour over the whole skin. Then we can either use overlay or soft light blending mode for the colour layer. I choose soft light as the result of overlay is too harsh. Then, the hue/saturation of the color layer is edited to adjust the skin colour to a more fitting tone. The same steps are repeated in colouring the lip, hair, eyes and coat. 

Fig 3.4 Filling in the background colour using edit>fill

Fig 3.5 Selecting the woman

Fig 3.6 Set layer mode to soft light and adjust hue/saturation

After that, a new layer is created with the colour for the background filled in. A selection is made from all the other colour layers and lasso tool is used to select any parts that are left off. The selection is then made to a mask in the background colour layer and the layer blending mode is changed to soft light. Hue/saturation of the layer is edited to adjust the colour. 

Fig 3.7 Final recolored picture

Some refinements are made using the eraser tool and hue/saturation of the hair, skin, eyes and lips are also further adjusted to make them more fitting. Opacity of the eye and lips colour layers are decreased too to make the colour match and a little less harsh. 

Week 7 (4/10/2021)

Recoloring black and white: Part 2

For this week's practical activity, it's also a recolouring task but using a different technique. We are given a video demonstration of the task and is then asked to recolouring a given black and white picture. 

Fig 4.1 Given black and white picture

Fig 4.2 Given reference image for skin colour

Fig 4.3 Given reference image for hair colour

Fig 4.4 Extracting skin colour from reference

Fig 4.4 Extracting hair colour from reference

Besides the black and white picture, we are also given two pictures as reference for skin and hair colour to use for recolouring the black and white model. Highlight, midtone and shadow colours are extracted using the eyedropper tool. Brush tool is used to place the colours on a different layer.

Fig 4.5 Quick selection tool to select the hair

Fig 4.6 Refine brush tool to refine the selection

Fig 4.7 Applying the mask on a solid colour adjustment layer

 
The first thing to recolour is the hair. Quick selection tool is used to create a base selction for the hair and a mask is created. "Select and mask" option is clicked in the mask panel which gives access to refine the mask. Refine brush tool is used to create a more precise masking and a solid colour adjustment layer is created with the midtone of the hair colour picked. The hair mask is then applied to the solid colour layer and the blending mode is changed to soft light to recolour the hair. The same steps are repeated for recolouring the skin, eyes, lip, earring and coat.

Fig 4.8 Making selection from each masks

Fig 4.9 Refining the inverted selection

Fig 4.10 Applying the background mask to a solid colour layer

Selection is then made from each masks done and then the selection is inverted and refined. The background mask is then applied to a solid colour adjustment layer filled with the background colour with the blending mode on soft light. 

Fig 4.11 Final recoloured picture

Some adjustments are made to the colour of the skin by using hue/saturation adjustment layer. Opacity of the hair colour is lowered so the colour won't be too harsh. 

Week 10 (25/10/2021)

After Effects animation exercise

For this week's practical activity, we are tasked to animate a given Photoshop file composition using Adobe After Effects. The animation needs to be 15 seconds long and the layers have to be animated using the position, scale and masking path keyframes. 

Fig 5.1 Image of the given composition

Fig 5.2 Screenshot of keyframes used in After Effects

The layers available in the Photoshop file are the typewriter, the shark, the fencer, the projector and the background. Besides from the position, scale and masking path keyframes, I also used the rotation keyframes since Mr. Martin demonstrated it in this week's class. I also used the easy ease option for some keyframes so the motion will be smoother. 

Fig 5.3 Final video animation

The video is animated with the fencer engaging in a battle with the shark and the projector slowly appearing to face them both in mind. The typewriter bouncing animation is to set up the opening. 

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Reflection

Through doing these exercises, I was able to try out my understanding in them before I start my projects. This is really helpful as after getting an initial experience in trying out the tools needed in Photoshop for the exercises, I get to experiment more and produce a better outcome for my final product in my projects.