My former entry dealt with my Advanced Lighting class and all its challenges. This entry will be centered around my Digital Illustration class, which is heavily Photoshop intensive course of study.
The first assignment was to create a panorama using six or more images stitched together in Photoshop that held some visual interest. I had three different panoramas that I created (and have blogged about them in past entries) but entered the one below as my final for the first assignment.
I added the extra bubbles to the left because the bubbles blown by the model wouldn't fly to the left. They had this strong desire to follow the breeze to the right and wouldn't listen to creative reason. Sad, really, that we can't bend soap bubbles to our will. But I guess that's the ultimate joy of being a free spirit.
Our next assignment was to take an old photo and restore it to a more digitally, and printed beauty that it may not have possessed when it was first taken, or would enhance the image to make it even better than the original. The image below was the final product of that assignment. I did write an entry for the entire process for the image below, so if you want to read about what I did to create it (even though I got my port and starboard backwards...), please do! It was a very interesting process that required quite a bit of patience and dedicated effort.
Assignment Three was to take a color photograph of our own capture (the more color the better) and transform it into a black and white image that would be appealing to the viewer. To do that colors would have to be altered away from their compliments, shades, hues, brightness and chroma in order to create the varying shades of grey necessary to allow the photo to be visually appealing.
The following image was taken in color and then manipulated to make it the black and white image you see here. The swordsman to the far right is wearing red and black. The lass next to him was in green, as was the young rogue with the machete-like blade. I had to change the lass' tunic from green to blue in order to separate the couple from each other, but make the color not so blue and to be the same value as the red of the swordsman. The 'take' of a knight to the far left was easier to deal with since the biggest color saturation was in his cape/cloak. Tweaking in 10 different color palates was a bit of a challenge, but it yielded some great results. The biggest complaint for this piece was that the 'tank's' metal legging was 'blown out' and lost the detail of individual plates where the lines were lost to the bright lights. Also, they weren't 'dirty' enough for their positions as fighters and medieval characters. Personally, I thought they looked pretty awesome... :D
Taking what we had learned so far with color manipulation and selection techniques and our growing Photoshop skills, our next assignment was to produce a high dynamic range (HDR) image.
Desiring to expand on my 'Black Balloon' theme, I took my model armed with three black balloons into the light link rail stops beneath the streets of Seattle, WA. We started at the International/Chinatown station, and worked our way, one station at a time, to the Westlake Station, the last stop in the line so far. Though we were approached by the security guards at a couple of the stations, we were mostly left alone and allowed to take the images necessary to satisfy the creative assignment I wanted to capture.
It wasn't altogether easy.
The balloons, not unlike the free-spirited bubbles of my first assignment, didn't want to stay still very well, and swayed desperately with every pass of a bus or light train. The image above was one capture of at least a dozen or more different settings with the balloons in different areas and different positions and different lighting scenarios. Honestly, it was a 'happy accident' that I was able to stop the bus that is zooming by at the exact instant that a clear area could be viewed and my model could be seen through that clear spot. Sadly, the balloons are not able to be seen, and he looks a little lost as he holds strings that go seemingly nowhere, and looks to me on the other side of the station for direction, though the bus cut us off to each other's viewpoint. Only the camera's eye was fast enough to 'blink' us together.
I used a faux HDR effect on this image in order to bring out the lights and darks of the image to make it not only grittier, but more visually correct - since our eyes see more than the camera 'sees.'
Because we had so much 'fun' with HDR, our assignments changed to encompass more of them, and to expand on them. We were to go and start taking images that actually *meant* something to us and had visual story-telling in the mix. Attempting to gather images that fit the criteria asked for in class, I went on a small photo walk with my son and we took some shots around town. It was tough to find any sort of 'muse' in the mix of images, and I didn't really have a 'focus' as far as finding a theme or meaning in what I was capturing. The following HDR image was created as a result of putting more into the photo than was really there. By that I mean I gave it meaning when it really didn't have much other than visual appeal to me, and gave me a very small sense of a reminder of my time in the navy. I was exposed to quite a bit of nautical flora and fauna, and never truly appreciating it for its beauty and complexity. It was a stretch, and I knew it gave off a scent of cheese, but I went with it. I really liked the vibrance of the colors and the depth of blue sky.
The major complaint for this piece was the lollipop looking shadows in front and behind the couple walking together to the right. The moon could have been enlarged as well for a dramatic effect... I guess the main thing I took away from all of this was to keep looking at the world around me with a different eye. I walk around with an attitude of more meaningful observations of situations around me. I look around and inject meaning into meaningless situations, areas of disinteresting scenes, sad and worn out places or human interactions. Doing that makes what I see be a little more meaningful, for me, but doesn't mean that what I capture in the future will carry any more weight or hold any more interest than the stuff I created or captured in the past...
Lastly, we were to create an HDR panorama. The ultimate in both panorama skills and HDR skills. The image was to be the afore mentioned interesting creation that had some sort of personal meaning and theme. This is what I came up with:
In this image I tried to tell a story that was not only a bit complex, but a bit themed. I titled it "Color Theory" and told the story that as a rule I don't tell others what I was "thinking" when I create a shot like this. I allow the image itself to do the talking to each person and to allow it to manifest itself within them as a personal "conversation."
So here's my thought process behind this image: First, I wanted it to be colorful. With that in mind, and with the added difficulty of balloons outside in a breeze (due to the previously epiphany of bubble's and balloon's free-spirited nature...), I set off to do a color theory piece where the shirt and balloon were compliments of each other. That turned into a bit of a statement of creativity and I orchestrated the piece to be a little more interactive. The gist of it is that we're all different, and we all have our talents, imperfections and quirks. From the red shirt with the green balloon talking to the orange shirt with the blue balloon who is paying more attention to the yellow shirt with the purple balloon - that's a bit of a statement about cliques and the way they work. Also about how sometimes those we are interested in are more interested in something/someone else who are seemingly more attractive or outwardly vibrant, even though they are not altogether different than either ourselves, or the other(s) we ignore...
The green shirt with the red balloon is being consoled by the blue shirt with the orange balloon while the purple shirt with the yellow ballon is walking away, looking down the road. In this set I wanted to show that the creative is always available and happiness is for the taking - even looking to see who else can be taken in by a sunny disposition (yellow balloon). And finally, there are those who "have it all" (grey shirt with all the balloons) and pass us by every day while we are aloof (man with no balloons, hat & glasses) to their potential and awesomeness as people. That was my little story with the colors and such... :D
And yes, I put the Needle on the yellow shirt's head on purpose - I knew the tangency has been and will be a point of contention, remark, and observation. It also stands for the imperfection of the creator of the piece who (seemingly) didn't take this into account. (I have a few images of yellow shirt without the Needle above his head, and chose this for statement's sake.)
So, with all that said, the six assignments allowed me to touch on even more creativity within myself, and draw upon the creativity of others as we all walked along the same road, though not necessarily together, or at the same time. I can't say I didn't totally enjoy the process of bringing these images to life and to the eyes of others who both enjoyed them and critiqued them to be better.
I'm looking forward to the next installment of this class - Digital Illustration III, in the fall.
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