Star Diffusion Effect

The Star Diffusion effect can be created to every photo using Photoshop. The Star Diffusion is a technique used to focus on the main subject of the photo. It creates a four point star blur in the background of the main focus. In our photo of the student parading down the hallway, we used it to create a main focus on the student and less focus on the background or the rest of the hallway. These are the steps to create a Star Diffusion:

1.       Open an image on photoshop

2.       Go to the layer and click duplicate layer

a.       When a box pops up press ok

3.       Repeat step two again

4.       Click on top layer

5.       Click on filter

6.       Choose blur

7.       Then motion blur

8.       Change the angle to 45 degrees

9.       Change the distance to the 200 or whenever you can start to see stars forming in the background

10.   Press ok

11.   Turn off first layer (press the eye ball)

12.   Go to the second layer

13.   Go filter

14.   Choose blur

15.   Then choose motion blur

16.   Change the angle to -45 degrees

17.   Change distance to 200 or whenever you can start to see stars forming in the background

18.   Press ok

19.   Choose top layer

20.   Go to the blend mode Change  it to screen

21.   Go to layer

22.   Press merge down

23.   Change the blend mode to screen

24.   Go to image

25.   Then adjustment

26.   Then levels

27.   change the levels to where it begins to look right

28.   Take the eraser tool withthe hardness of 0

29.    drop the opacity down between 30-50

30.   Erase the focus image where it is necessary

31.   Flatten image and save as a jpeg

Harry Potter Advertisment

Recently at Mercy Academy, the student body has created a club called the Harry Potter Club. Since this is a new club, I decided to advertise it. I did this to let everyone know what they do and why you should join.  The audience I wanted to trigger was fans of the books and movies or anyone just interested in joining. In creating this poster, I had many steps. I used Photoshop to create a better looking and more attractive add.

The lasso tool was helpful, when putting my logo and the crests of Gryffindor and Slytherin onto the advertisement.  The lasso tool is where you can select an area that you want and post it where ever you want. In my case I posted it onto another tab with my advertisement.

I used the eraser tool, quite a bit. I used it for erasing unwanted areas. For example, if you look closely into the crests, you can see I erased areas around it so I could make it more rounded off at the corners.

I used the stroke tool to create an outline around the crest. I did this so the crests stand out a little more and bring it a little further from the background.

After the stroke tool I created a drop shadow behind the crests. This tools allows me to put a shadow behind the crest so it looks like the crest is hovering over the advertisement and leaving a shadow behind.

In the crest of Gryffindor you can see a golden yellow color. I used the dropper tool to capture that color and put it in my paint pallet for later use. From there, I selected the paint tool to paint the background of the advertisement. I selected the color I used from the dropper in my paint bucket. 

When putting my logo onto the advertisement, unnecessary white spots where located in the lettering. I used the magic wand to select the area and then the delete button on my computer to make it go away.    

I did not put too much text to read, but enough to understand the message of the club. I had to use the text tool in order to create the message. In the text tool application I was able to select the same writing Harry Potter has in the movies.

Harry Potter’s photo is located on this advertisement. When I first found the photo, the school of Hogwarts was located in the background. I used the crop tool to cut this out and make the picture a little bit smaller. I used the rectangular marquee tool to create an outline on where to put my Harry Potter photo.

I worked very hard on creating this logo and advertisement. I wanted for people to look at it and capture the eye of the audience.

Harry Potter Logo

Recently at my school, we have started a Harry Potter Club. Here you practic your wizard knowledge and how to become a better wizard, like Harry. I noticed that they did not have a logo that represented their club, so I designed one.

This logo, represents this club in many ways. If you have ever seen the movie, Harry's wand and glasses are just few things that characterize his character. So, when I drew them, it looks like you can put on his classes and take his wand and you can become like him, in the Harry Potter club.

On the wand I chose dark colors because if you watch the movie, the movie is shown in a darker tint. I chose a dark royal blue at the end of the wand because it resembles dark and evil. I also chose a bright yellow to show the nicer and happy times in the movies.

In my logo, lines were the main concept. The wand it self if made of lines only. The lines is what gives the wand an outline and form. On the wand, the yellow space is a space where you can rest your eye or also called a focus point. When you look at the glasses it looks like the front of them are bigger than the back. I used a thinner and smaller line, so it looks like the back of the glasses is further away then the front. When designing the patter on the wand, I tried to have a repeated patter the whole way through. This was very hard to draw because I had to free hand it.

Perfect Body

Everybody is in want of that perfect body. Well, in my computer class, I tried to put myself in a perfect body. I used the picture of Lauren Conrad, as an example. When using Photoshop, you can transfer your body into anything or anyone you want too.

In the two pictures above, I transformed a horrible picture of me into a better picture of me in a different body. The transformation of my body to hers, is noticeable, but I think if I had played around with the tools a little more, I could have made the picture more realistic. The really hard thing about transferring is the skin. I had no problem with anything, but the skin. In Lauren's face she has different sections that are not the same color. This is in every one's skin. I had trouble matching everything up perfectly.

From doing this project, I now see how celebrities and other " Hot Shots," always look so good and perfect. I can now relate to them a little better because I know they are not always "Perfect" looking, they have blemishes as I do, but they get theirs fixed all the time and I can't. I can now see them individually person and not some godly,  immortal, or perfect person. I can see them like me.

In today's society, images being looked at as a "perfect body", are not always as they seemed. The celebrities may look like they are perfect and nothing is wrong with them, but behind all those corrections and touch ups on Photoshop, they are not as pretty as they put themselves as. Each photo I come across in a media form, I can see how they have been changed or edited. I can see where they made them look skinner or have a "perfect" face and so on. I can now, not look so harshly at my self because I am not like them. Because in order to be them, I know now that I have to Photoshop my body all the time to have a perfect body.

In my pictures above, I did really well on applying the make up and changing colors on things. In applying make up, I mastered applying it lightly or a natural look. In Lauren Conrad's Original photo she is wearing a natural look. In changing colors of things, I did a good job at changing my eye color to match Lauren's. In Lauren's Original photo, I think her eyes is what stands out because of the color, so i tried to recreate that.

The two things I could have improved is applying the skin color more thoroughly. I think, I could have match or blended more evenly. I also think I could have improved on my liquefying. In Lauren's Photo her smile goes across her face and i kept mine going up. 

Being Perfect, these days does not always mean be yourself. I now can accept who I am because I know everyone else has there flaws and flaunts, just like me.  

Photoshop and Photography Elements

In these past few classes, we have been working with Photoshop and photography elements. Photography element is the way you create or take your photo. Things like patterns, volume, lighting, texture, and tone are elements of photography. There are also different compositions you can follow that will help you create a better picture. Examples are the Rule of Thirds, simplicity, lines, balance, framing, and avoiding mergers. There are also “tips” that will help you capture a perfect picture. For example, say you want to catch a picture of someone running up for a layup in a basketball game. You want to leave a little extra room in front of the player so you can see she is moving forward and going for the layup.  These elements, compositions, and tips are what helped me through my Photoshop assignment.

 In my first photo, of a girl sitting on a couch, I turned the picture red. I went up to the windows tab and turned on the adjustments. Here you can change, balance, or mix, etc. the color of the photos. I adjusted the hue which changed the photo to red.

In my second picture, the girl opening her locker, I used the cropped function. This allows me to cut off the extra or the not necessary part of my photo. In this original photo, you could see another student walking down the hallway. I did not like that so I cropped her out. I also took her photo at an angel. This mean it is the way I took the photo.

The third photo I took, the picture of the boy and girl, I used the lasso tool. I circled the girl’s teeth with the lasso tool; from there I used the adjustment navigator to make my teeth whiter. I also removed blemishes from her face using the bandage tool. The bandage tool allows me to take “skin” from other parts of the body and put it somewhere else.

The fourth picture I took I changed the background of the bulletin board from blue to green. I used a tool called the magic wand which allowed me to outline the blue color and transform from it to green. When it was highlighted I had to use the navigator tool and change the hue to green.

The fifth picture I took was a normal picture of two girls sitting at a desk on the computer. I took this photo looking down at them. I changed the perspective of the view, so it gives the image a little more interest. I changed the picture so I am down on an angel. 

On the last picture I did not change anything. All I did was demonstrate on how to capture a moving picture. The two girls are walking down the hall, but you can see them moving forward because of the extrea space I left at the end on the hallway.

Photoshop can do many incredible things to improve a picture. The first step you have to do is learn how to take a picture and build off that so you can create a masterpiece.

Elements of photography in my Photo's

This picture is categorized as a "Picture in Motion." When taking this picture, I left some room in front of the dog so it looks like it is moving forward. A picture in motion is when the item or focus point looks like it is moving in a direction. 

 This is picture is in the category of "The Rule of Thirds." The flower is placed in the corner of the grid and is at a intersecting point on the grid. The Rule of Thirds is when you take a picture and place it on an intersecting point. This becomes the main focus point.

This picture is " Framed." The wood around that is around the water is framing the water that is flowing. Framing is when you take a picture and have a natural border on each side and this draws your eye to the center.

Podcast

Taylor D, Taylor A, Alex, and I created a podcast. It was called Alex’s Morning Podcast. This podcast is contained of information about piracy and illegally downloading. We interviewed, a locally illegally down loader, Carrie Underwood, and Scotty McCreery on their take about the situation.  As Carrie, Scotty, and Taylor explained, when you take other people’s work they have done and share it or use it without giving them credit it, it hurts everyone in the company, not just them. Everything we have used in on podcast has either been in public domain or legal to use.

Music downloading is very wrong! When you illegally download you take money and fame from them. The artist has worked very hard to entertain you, so you should reward them with the money and happiness they deserve. Music downloading can hurt uprising artist from becoming more than what they are. 

Copyright laws are very good because imagine yourself in their shoes. Imagine you do not receive the reward you worked hard for your whole life because someone has stolen your work. Copyright laws protect the work of everyone. This statement is how most artist and producers feel. Copyright Laws should exist because people need understand and take in they cannot take other people's work for their own. This law will help them understand that they need to create their own creations on their own and get credit for their work, not others.


Piracy is such a huge problem in today's society because it is so well known that people do not think they are doing wrong. People around the world see other people committing piracy and they think it is okay because other people are doing this. This is very wrong! The other problem we have is, we keep creating and using the resources that are allowing piracy to still go on. We need to make a stand and stop using these websites because like we said in our podcast, we are eliminating up rising stars and damaging businesses 
When I was creating this podcast, I understand more why people get so mad when they take your creation. I was thinking, what if someone took the same theme and idea we had for our podcast and used it as theirs and received a better grade. I would feel devastated because I worked very hard on our project and I want the grade that we deserve.  I truly understand why their our rules and regulations we have to follow, because I would want the same respect from people they want from us.

Copyright Can Come in Every Shape and Form

When thinking of Copyright laws, the first thing that comes to mind is downloading illegally or plagiarism. In the case of  "The Batman Forever" , the first thing that comes to mind is copyrighting in props. In the Batman movie, the crew had special permission to use buildings around the site, where they are shooting the film. The people in the movie thought they had obligation to use everything and show everything in the film, without giving any credit to the creator of that material that was placed in the building. The crew would need a copyright license to use these things. but they did not and as we know, this is wrong. We know that if we borrow, display, or use material that is not ours we have to cite our sources and give credit to them. Not displaying resources can decrease the profit of the company that created the material shown. Even if they showed this for two seconds they have to give credit. In this movie, it had eight accounts, where they did not displaying the material without a copyright license. The Batman Forever movie received many consequences for this action. They received a 2.5 million dollar fine. From hearing this story, you should know that, if you copyright the creator, you might not always get caught, but they can always find out if they want too. You might always say to yourself, well I will only do this once. That one time, can affect the profit and up rise of that artist. So, give credit to them and they will pay you back with more items from them.

Technology Shaping the Future and Present of our Lives

As a student and a daily user of many skilled resources, I am well familiar with the subject of technology and computers. In my years of high school, the computer has become my best friend.  From getting projects, checking grades, and to the usage of online books, I am constantly on the computer.

Recently, I have enrolled into a computer graphics class. The teacher explained we have received new computer. I couldn’t help to think, how can these computers be any different than the ones we received last year? So we started the class and the teachers gave us permission to log on to the new computers.  Wow, these are amazing! The screen on the computer flipped, which helps me because I am a very hands-on person. When using this type of computer’s, I can manually do the work, with my pen, instead of a usual mouse. I know, you are asking what does that have to do with helping me advance in many classes? This helps me because I can do everything with a pen that is able to write on the screen of the computer. For example, I can write my own notes by hand. This helps me, and a lot more people, remember things a lot better than typing them out.

At my school, we also have access to Smart Boards. Smart Boards are huge and interactive screens that help you advance in learning visually and hands- on. This board is a much easier and fun way to teach all kids and ages.  In my experience, we use these boards to learn lessons. I usually come in contact with these in my math classes. Like I said before, this equipment is huge. No matter where you are in the class, you can see what is going on, at all times. We also use Smart Boards for learning games, such as Jeopardy. This helps everyone understand questions that we have or material we need to know for a test or quiz. These things are very fun and I personally love using them and writing on them. 

Now, when I am at home I also have access to a computer. Everyone has heard the lesson of the internet can be a dangerous and harmful place. This can become true sometimes, but I think the internet is a way for everyone to connect and share helpful information. I have had experience of talking and seeing my family, who lives in Michigan over the computer. This is a website called Skype. People have created a way to video chat people all over the world. This technology has connected the world in so many ways. Recently, I was watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and they used Skype for the “phone a friend” lifeline.  There are many other websites that you can come in contact with people all around the world such as Facebook and Twitter.

These little things we use in the classroom to our homes will help us with future process. I believe if we continue to advance in technology and computers we become closer with people around the world. Even these little adjustments to certain equipment, can change the world. Just as today’s society in succeeding in. With further more years to come, I can see hospitals to schools using the smallest thing and making the biggest difference in everyone’s life. I can see our upcoming technology fighting diseases, as if there has never been a problem doing that in the past. I can see school having more advanced hand on material, for learning to become an easier and faster process. The future we have depends on how we take the situation now. Everyone needs to step in and give a hand on helping develop the future. Not just for yourself but, for many lives to come.