Week 3 Flexible Edits

1. Yellow flower: 9-20-2011, 7:28pm; Outside Clark building Rexburg ID, f 1/5.6; 1/20; Panasonic DMC-LZ8
2. Plants: 9-23-2011, 7:51am; outside Spori building in Rexburg ID, f 1/8; 1/30; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

For the first picture I started by copying the bottom layer, than I converted it so I could use a smart filter. On the first filter I used the smart sharpen one. I than added another filter, the Gaussian blur, and masked it out over the flower so the flower would look sharper than the rest of the picture. I than used an adjustment layer to change the hue and saturation, I only changed it a little, than masked the flower out so that it would be brighter than the rest of the picture. I also used an adjustment layer to change the levels in the picture. Than I saved it like that, then flattened it and saved again.

The second picture I made a copy of the background, than added an adjustment layer to change the levels, and another layer to change the coloring, I made the oppasity very low so the coloring wasn't changed to much. Than I masked out the red flowers so they would be brighter than the rest. Than I changed the copied layer (the one I got from copying the background) so I could use smart filters, I added a textured filter mainly because I thought it looked cool. I masked out the filter on the leaves in the front of the picture so they are more clear and look closer to the front than the rest of the plants in the picture.

Week Two, Color Study

1. Road: 9-24-2011, 7:50am; Rexburg Idaho 2nd South; f/8; 1/60; Panasonic DMC-LZ8
2. Yellow Flower: 9-17-2011, 1:12pm; BYU-I garden; f/3.3; 1/160; Panasonic DMC-LZ8
3. Bike seat: 9-20-2011, 5:54pm; outside BYU-I library; f/3.3; 1/60; Panasonic DMC-LZ8
4. Binder: 9-20-2011, 9:14pm; American Manor; f/4.0; 1/8; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

I choose the color yellow because it catches my eye more than almost any other color (although my favorite color is blue) and I think it is always a happy color, other colors you can make look sad, but yellow that's pretty much impossible.
I didn't do much editing on any of these pictures, I just adjusted the curves to make the lighting better. The first picture I took from a low angel in the middle of the road, it was early in the morning so I didn't get hit by any cars. The second picture I took from a garden, I wanted to have the flower in focus and the leaves out of focus, so I used a very low aperture. With the picture of the bike I just wanted to get an interesting angel, the whole bike was yellow. The last picture I chose was my binder, I liked it because it didn't have much yellow on it, but that is still what your eyes go to first.

Week two; Blends and Type

1. Brick Wall: 9-21-2011, 6:26pm; Rexburg Idaho; f/4.0; 1/500; Panasonic DMC-LZ8
2. Light post: 9-20-2011, 7:32pm; Rexburg Idaho; f/5.7; 1/80; Panasonic DMC-LZ8
3. Blend of Light post and Brick Wall
4. Grow: 9-24-2011, 7:53am; Rexburg Idaho; f/8; 1/30; Panasonic DMC-LZ8
5. Grow, with type

For the light post blend I started with the picture of the light posts, I copied the picture and adjusted the levels so the sky would be darker with more detail. I then used a mask and black paint to uncover the trees so they would be lighter and have more color. To blend the brick wall onto it I just made sure that picture was the same size as the light post one, then copied it over. I then adjusted the opacity till it looked good. Then using another mask I uncovered the front lamp post to make it look like it was in front of the wall.
For the tree picture with type I started with the tree picture and adjusted the levels so it was a little lighter.  Than I added type that was a similar color to the berries in the tree. I copied the type, changed the size, made it italic and a lighter color. I used a mask and black paint to erase the type where the tree is. Then I added the title.

Cutouts

1. White flower: 8-11-09 12:11pm; Salt Lake City; f/5.9; 1/160 sec; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

2. little girl: 8-11-09 12:09pm; Salt Lake City; f/5.9; 1/160 sec; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

In order to do the full cutout I selected the flower and leaf using the direct select tool, I than used the lasso tool to make the selection more precise. I than reversed the selection, and erased everything but the flower. I than used the paintbrush to add a black background. For the little girl I did the same thing only I did a partial cutout. I also made the edge softer by lowering the hardness of the eraser.

Old Photos

1.     Leafs: 8-11-2009; 12:07pm; Salt Lake City; f/5.7; 1/400; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

2.     Rainy day: 9-12-2011 7:50pm; Rexburg; f/5.4; 1/8; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

3.     Pink: 4-30-2011 4:11pm; Rexburg; f/2.8; 1/45; Samsung KENOX-S860

4.     Tree: 9-12-2011 7:50pm; Rexburg; f/5.7; 1/8; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

5.     Sunset: 9-12-2011 7:48pm; Rexburg; f/3.5; 1/30; Panasonic DMC-LZ8

Most of these pictures I wasn’t trying to do anything fancy, I just wanted to make it look good. On pictures 2, 4 and 5 I was trying different shutter speeds. On picture one I was able to focus on the leaf and blur the background a little, it was on accident but I really liked how it turned out. I didn’t do much editing on any of these, just adjusted the levels and curves a little.