Thursday, October 27, 2011

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.  

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

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.