DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGING TASK 1: COLLAGE & DIGITAL IMAGING

26.09.2023 - 31.10.2023 / Week 1-Week 6

Emily Goh Jin Yee / 0357722 / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Digital Photography and Imaging / GCD61204 / Section 05

Project 1- Collage & Digital Imaging

LECTURES

WEEK 1- INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING

The importance of Photoshop for the Graphic Designer:

express creativity
create graphic design
restoration of old images
integrate graphics with text artistically
make use of brushes
changes photo colour
rectify mistakes in photographs

Digital Imaging

Digital Imaging converts the printed text, artwork and photographs into digital images using a digital scanner or another imaging device.

WEEK 2- INTRODUCTION TO COMPOSITION

Introduction to basic composition

Focal point- the important pieces of a design
Scale & Hierarchy- drawing attention towards and away from certain elements
Balance the Elements- think of each element as having a 'weight' to it
White space- empty space to balance up the main focus of a composition to help your design breathe

Rule of Thirds

nine identical boxes that fit over the image are formed by the grid's three equally spaced rows and columns
composition techniques that are in line with what's naturally pleasing to the eye

Golden Ratio

creates a sense of beauty through harmony and proportion
provides a sense of artistry
a useful guideline for determining dimensions of the layout (1:1.618)

WEEK 3- INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP 2

Lasso Tool, Pen Tool & Layering

Lasso Tool

allows you to draw and pinpoint specific areas of a document
types of lasso tools: Lasso, Polygonal Lasso, Magnetic Lasso

how to use lasso tool? https://youtu.be/DKtHsFaclKo

Pen Tool

to create extremely precise shapes and paths, using manually placed anchor points
the fewer the points, the smoother the path will be

Fig 1.1 Pen Tool

Fig 1.2 Variation of Pen Tool

Layering

different images stacked on top of each other
can use each layer without affecting another one to make adjustments
won't destroy the original image

WEEK 4- INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP 3

Adjustment Layer & Filters

Adjustment Layer

a group of non-destructive image editing tools that add colour and tonal adjustments to the image without permanently changing its pixels
adjustments can be edited and discarded or original image can be restored at any time

Fig 1.3 Adjustment Layer

when an adjustment layer is added to your image, a new layer will appear over the image and properties panel specific to the type of adjustment selected will pop up
the properties panel will allow us to modify our adjustment layer which in turn will modify the image

Fig 1.4 Properties Panel

1. Brightness/Contrast

➛makes adjustments to the tonal range of the image

➛brightness slider- for adjusting the highlights

➛contrast slider- for adjusting the shadows

2. Level

➛modify the tonal values in an image by adjusting the levels of the shadows, midtones, and highlights

3. Curves

➛to make adjustments at any number of points across the complete tonal range of the picture

4. Exposure

➛make adjustments to the exposure levels with 3 sliders

➛Exposure- highlights of the image
➛Offset- mid tones
➛Gamma- dark tones

5. Selective Colour

➛selectively modifies the amount of a primary colour without modifying the other primary colours in the image

Filters

to change colour, add blur or create completely new image effects

WEEK 5- DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

The main parts of the camera:

1. Camera body

➛shutter

➛image sensor

➛LCD screen

2. Camera lens

➛aperture/iris

Fig 1.5 Main parts of a camera

Exposure setting:

1. Iris/Aperture

control the flow of light entering the lens
measured by f-stop, indicated by sequence of f-number: (refer fig1.6)
the lower the f-number, the larger the lens opening

Fig 1.6 Sequence of f-number

2. Shutter

small plastic sheet that opens and closes to allow or prevent light from reaching the film
shutter speed is measured in seconds: 1/1000 s,1/500 s,1/250 s,1/125 s,1/60 s,1/30 s,1/15 s,1/8 s,1/4 s,1/2 s,1 s, 2 s, 3 s…

Fig 1.7 Shutter speed

Fig 1.8 Shutter speed

3. ISO

originally referred to the sensitivity of film
in digital photography, ISO refers to the sensitivity of the camera's sensor
common ISO camera settings: 100, 200, 400, 640, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400….
the lower the number of ISO, the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain

Fig 1.9 ISO

Fig 1.10 ISO

Lens perspective:

types of lens: wide angle lens, standard lens and tele lens
appropriate lens provided desire framing, lens choice affects angle of view

Fig 1.11 Type of lenses

1. Focal Length

the shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and vice-versa

Fig 1.12 Focal length

2. Depth of field

the proportion of the image that is reasonably sharp & in focus
the smaller the aperture used, the greater the depth of field

Fig 1.13 Depth of Field

wide angle lens is useful for landscape photography or street photography

Fig 1.14 Wide angle

WEEK 6- POSTER DESIGN

Principles of poster design

Emphasis
Balance and alignment
Contrast- creates space and difference between elements in design
Repetition- unifies and strengthens a design
Proportion- visual size and weight of elements in a composition and how they relate to each other
Movement- controlling the elements so that the eye is led to move from one to the next
White Space- to give a composition more room to breathe

INSTRUCTIONS

PRACTICAL, EXERCISES

WEEK 1- 3 FAVOURITE GRAPHIC DESIGN COMPOSITION

List down 3 favourite graphic design composition work from Pinterest. Explain it on your E-portfolio blog about why you like the designs.

Since there were many types of graphic design compositions, I did research on the collage composition since we were to create our own collage in our coming exercise. I chose 3 of my favourite collage compositions and at the same time, I was looking through the other artworks as inspiration while browsing.

by Ben Lewis Giles

In this monochrome image, the vibrant and beautiful colours of the flowers caught my eyes. The flow of the flowers brought a focus to a child which appears lonely. From my point of view, the uncoloured image might be presenting the child's inner feelings. At this deserted area, the plants were mostly cactus which theyre known to be mentally strong, resembling the child's personality. In contrast, the flowers shows a more bright and positive feeling that might represent how this child shows his bright side, showing love and support during tough situations in others.

by Karen Lynch

This collage shows three young girls watching the scenery. I love the colour scheme used in this image, such as the primary colours and the complementary colours. The highlight of the view is the pastel sky and a huge hibiscus behind the mountain. This makes the image interesting and gives a dreamy feeling, an unrealistic scenery. At the same time, it gives a vibe of wizard od oz because of the place.

by Ben Lewis Giles

When I first saw this poster, I was impressed by the idea of the artist. It's a simple image where it highlights a (curious) boy using the whipping cream on the snow mountain. It is such a creative idea how the whipping cream could be expressed as the snow on the mountain. The whole image is low saturated, simple and clean yet eye-catching!

PROJECT 1A

WEEK 2- COLLAGE DESIGN ELEMENTS

Identify your collage's design elements to be cut out and compose it into your own concept & story.

We were required to find and cut out the elements from magazines, however I didn't have any magazines at home, so I used a booklet about water taps instead.

Fig W2.1 Physical Collage Composition #1, Week 2 (03/10/2023)

Fig W2.2 Physical Collage Composition #2, Week 2 (03/10/2023)

Fig W2.3 Physical Collage Composition #3, Week 2 (03/10/2023)

WEEK 3- COMPOSITING COLLAGE

Create 3 different composition of digital collages from the images downloaded on an A4 sized canvas.

Fig W3.1 Digital Collage Composition #1, Week 3 (10/10/2023)

Fig W3.2 Digital Collage Composition #2, Week 3 (10/10/2023)

Fig W3.3 Digital Collage Composition #3, Week 3 (10/10/2023)

WEEK 4- ADJUSTMENT LAYERS AND FILTERS

Attach best composition from WEEK 3 digital collage exercise, improvise the chosen collage by using Adjustment Layers & Filters on Photoshop.

I have learnt how to use the pencil tool and lasso tool in this task. Other than that, I have practiced on how to arrange the given images into making a collage. This image became my favourite composition out of the three collages. This is because it looks less complicated than the first composition with more harmony colour. It reminds me of a world where there's a tunnel through an unknown world, at least to me. However, I believe that adding something at the white space would improve the collage image better.

Fig W4.1 Chosen Digital Collage Composition, Week 4 (17/10/2023)

FINAL OUTCOME

Fig W4.2 Digital Collage(filtered), Week 4 (17/10/2023)

In this task, I have explored the colours and filters, it was a fun experience to play around the temperature and saturations, etc. I have also gained more knowledge about making adjustments and filters after watching the lecture videos. It took abit of time when I first tried but it was not as hard as I'd expected. The outcome turns out into a darker colour than the original collage image, which gives a different feel.

PROJECT 1B

DIGITAL IMAGING EXERCISE 1

WEEK 5- PHOTO MANIPULATION (HEARST MANSION)

PART 1: SHAZAM

Fig W5.1 images given for the task, Week 5 (24/10/23)

FINAL OUTCOME

Fig W5.2 Digital Imaging Exercise1 pt1-Shazam, Week 5 (24/10/2023)

PART 2: MY REFLECTION

Fig W5.3 eye-level picture chosen for this task, Week 5 (24/10/23)

FINAL OUTCOME

Fig W5.4 Digital Imaging Exercise 1 pt2- My reflection, Week 5 (24/10/2023)

This was a really fun exercise and to see the outcome was satisfying. I have learnt about the new selection tool and adjusting the image's colour in more detail.

DIGITAL IMAGING EXERCISE 2

WEEK 6- RECOLOURING BLACK & WHITE

PART 1:

To turn B&W photo into COLOUR photo by following the tutorial slides and video.

Fig W6.1 B&W image, Week 6 (31/10/2023)

Firstly, I coloured the skin the colour and hair as they were the larger parts of the image. Then, applied overlay to give a more natural blend over the skin.

Fig W6.2 process, Week 6 (08/11/2023)

I continued by applying colours on the features of the face such as eyes, eyebrows and lips by repeating the steps.

Fig W6.3 process, Week 6 (31/10/2023)

Since I think that the skin colour was too yellowish, I applied another layer and coloured with purple to make the skin tone more natural and better.

Fig W6.4 process, Week 6 (31/10/2o23)

Lastly, the background colour was applied after the human recoloring was completed.

Fig W6.5 process, Week 6 (31/10/2023)

FINAL OUTCOME

Fig W6.6 Final outcome, Week 6 (31/10/2023)

PART 2:

After completing the first part of the recolouring exercise, we ought to select a B&W image from the given file: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1czJ0D44XGRTp8gVCHxqcuArBfLZqWK5-?usp=sharing

Fig W6.7 chosen image, Week 6 (08/11/2023)

Fig W6.8 reference image from google, Week 6 (08/11/2023)

By using the eyedropper tool, I picked the color of the skin, hair and shirt from the reference image and coloured at the blank space of the B&W image.

Fig W6.9 process, Week 6 (08/11/2023)

Same as the first part, I coloured the main objects first and following the face features. In this exercise, I chose to not colour the background because I prefer a greater cleanliness outcome.

Fig W6.10 process, Week 6 (08/11/2023)

FINAL OUTCOME

Fig W6.11 Final outcome, Week 6 (08/11/2023)

FEEDBACK

WEEK 2

specific feedback: you may choose composition #3 as final submission later on.

WEEK 3

specific feedback: you may choose composition #1 for the week 4(adjustment layer) exercise.

REFLECTION

In this module, I was able to learn so much more about using the Photoshop software. We have learnt that there are many tools and options to select a certain object in Photoshop. Besides that, learning that we should always name our layers to be more organized. During the second part of the recolouring exercise, I came to struggle with masking the bangs/hair of the girl. I took quite much time to figure it out and tried my best to make that part look better although it was not perfect in the end. Comparing to other modules we are taking for this Semester, Digital Photography is less stressful than the others, clear and easy to understand. However, I believe that if we had physical class for this module, I would be more organized and more focused because of the lost of network connection during online class, causing me to reconnect again and again. But still, luckily we had lecture slides and videos that made me catch up with the work when I was not clear. Overall, great module and I can still improve better on my upcoming assignments!

QUICK LINKS

TASK 1: COLLAGE & DIGITAL IMAGING

WEEK 1
WEEK 2: PHYSICAL COLLAGE

WEEK 3: COMPOSITING COLLAGE

WEEK 4: ADJUSTMENT LAYERS AND FILTERS

WEEK 5: PHOTO MANIPULATION (HEARST MANSION)

WEEK 6: RECOLORING BLACK AND WHITE

TASK 2: DOUBLE EXPOSURE & CONCEPTUAL PRODUCT PHOTOSHOOT

WEEK 7: PROJECT 2A- DOUBLE EXPOSURE

WEEK 9: PROJECT 2B- CONCEPTUAL PRODUCT PHOTOSHOOT

WEEK 10 PRACTICAL: AFTER EFFECTS EXERCISES

TASK 3: E-PORTFOLIO