Midterm Documentation

1) Image Composition

The example I used for image composition is a composition of the famous paint, The Last Supper, and many TCNJ things. It features TCNJ campus town in the background, which was done by selecting the window space and deleting it and then putting the picture of campus town behind it. On top of the picture of campus town, the letters TCNJ are sketched very subtly above Jesus' head, which was done by creating text and then utilizing the brush tool to color the text the same color as the wall. A logo of TCNJ and the athletic logo was also added to the top right  and bottom center of the photo through the same process.

2) Masking

The example I used to show off my masking skills was a picture of a river in which I utilized masks to take the original picture and make it nighttime. I created a mask over the original photo in the sky portion and made it transparent. Then I selected the water and utilized a mask to give it a light gradient of opacity to give the impression that there was a reflection of nighttime. I then utilized the blur tool to subtly darken portions of the photograph including the rock and the trees. 

       Before:After: 

3) Color Correction

The example I used to show off my color correcting skills was a picture I had taken of one of the TCNJ buildings. This picture originally had a very dark look to it because of the way that the shadows were distributed. I took this picture, analyzed it utilizing the levels tool (image/adjustments/levels) and then adjusted some of the shadows utilizing the same tool.  This made the picture look much brighter and more vibrant. To also just touch up the color, I used an auto-color on it to just even out the color scheme.

Before:After:

4) Volvox Technology Logo

The Volvox Technology Logo was created completely from scratch. I used the text tool to write out the words Volvox and Technology separately and then positioned the technology underneath the Volvox so that I felt it was aesthetically pleasing. I added a slight drop-shadow to both texts. Next I had the idea of making the O’s in Volvox look technological and so I created octagons that took the place of the O’s. I colored the octagons green and added a drop-shadow and found a vector of a computer chip pattern that I utilized as the fill for the octagons. This was done by giving the Octagon no fill and then just moving the computer chip pattern behind the octagons. After a little bit of tweaking with the spacing of the letters, the Logo was done. 

5) Post-It Blog post

This picture was created completely from scratch. It was created for a blog post abouta new mobile application coming out about post-its that I am making for IMM 140. The first layer is an outer layer of an Ipad. Then within the Ipad is two post-it notes. These post-it notes are clipart images from online. I then added text utilizing the text generator to represent different things that post-its can do. After this I added the computer chip pattern behind the post-it to represent the post-it company coming into the technology generation. This effect was created by putting a picture of the computer chip pattern behind the clipart post-its and then lowered the opacity of the post-it so it just barely is visible. The only last effect that needed to be completed was the brightness at the lower right corner and the darkness in the upper left. To account for this I simply used the dodge and burn tool respectively to adjust the brightness and shadows slightly. 

6) Silicon Valley Blog Post

This picture was created completely from scratch. It was created for a blog post about Silicon Valley startups spending too much money resulting in a business bubble that will break, that I am making for IMM 140. This picture was created through a couple of different layers. The first layer is a background picture of money. In front of this is a layer of bubbles, which were created utilizing the shape tool and then coloring them. The opacity was then lowered so that we could show the picture of Silicon Valley, which is blurred slightly to give it an almost dreamlike effect. This is to emphasize the fact that the success of Silicon Valley startups is dream-like and very unrealistic which is a highlight of the article.

Self-Evaluation

I believe that I did a very good job on this midterm assignment. I am confident in my photoshop skills. My favorites and what I think was my best work were the Volvox Technology logo and the Post-It. My least favorite and what I think was my worst work out of the group of 6 is the Silicon Valley blog post. This picture was cleverly tailored to reflect the ideas of the blog post however it is not as aesthetically pleasing as the other work that I have done. I believe that my skills in the first three pictures are clearly very good and I tried to utilize some of the skills in the first couple projects to showcase them in realistic scenarios, such as the blog posts and as a logo.