Brief: Produce a set of ten A6 double-sided postcards exploring my given colour (blue), from my photography from the visual language colour theory session. The postcards must exist as a set.
Induction: These postcards show what I have learnt in the Photo shop induction.
We learnt about destructive and constructive editing. Previously the techniques I used would have always destructed an image, as once a change was made, it would be impossible to return to the original image if I wanted to without damaging it in some way.
I have worked in CMYK as these postcards are for print. I will print them out as a PDF.
I researched postcards to help me to decide what to put on the back of the postcard, as I don't want them to be plain and boring. [Postcard Research]
Experimentation:
I decided to manipulate some photographs from the photography workshop as these were taken with a much better quality camera than the camera that I took the photographs in the colour theory session with. I have taken screen shots of the processes to remind myself of what I learnt in the Photoshop induction.
1. To alter the brightness and contrast on an image just by going to image -> adjustments would be destructive. One option could be to duplicate the original image, or to duplicate the layer. However, an option I did not previously know about would be to create a layer mask.
2. This is the layer with the adjusted brightness and contrast. To go back to the original image, I simply have to click on the eye next to the layer. If I had altered the image in a destructive way, it would be almost impossible to return the image back to its original state.
Ten Original Images
I re-took my colour theory photographs with a better quality camera. I took many photographs which can be seen here, but these are my ten favourite I will use for the postcards.
Manipulation Experiments
To edit these photographs, I have used techniques I already knew alongside the new things I learnt in the Photo shop induction, as well as just experimenting to see what I could create. My main concentration with the manipulation of these photographs was to make sure that I really made the colours the focus by enhancing them, as it was a requirement of the brief to explore my given colour (blue) and its contrasting colour (orange). I have included screen shots of some interesting results from my experimentation.
1. Blue Paper
- placed photograph on top of itself six times, changing opacity so all layers could be partially seen
2. Jewellery
- altered vibrance, brightness/contrast, exposure
3. Blue Threads
- applied wind filter
- neatened original image and duplicated, applied fibres filter, altered colour balance and changed opacity of layer. duplicated original layer again, applied photocopy filter, altered exposure and changed opacity of layer
4. Stack of Books
- experimented with distortion filters
- selected the lightest book and changed the colour balance to bring out the blue
5. Busy Scene
- altered curves
- continue to edit, altered brightness/contrast, apply photo and find edges filter, edit colour balance
6. Threads and Pins
- altered hue/saturation/lightness, brightness/contrast, shadows/highlights
7. Sewing Box
- altered shadows/highlights, brightness/contrast, applied patchwork filter
8. Jewellery (Orange Paper)
- experimented with gradient mapping
- posterize, edit colour balance
- continue to edit, altered vibrance, applied extrude filter
9. Perfume Box
- altered brightness/contrast, vibrance, shadows/highlights, duplicated layer and applied an emboss filter, colourised this and then changed opacity
10. Drawers
- cut a bead out of the necklace and made this into a pattern possibly for the back of postcard
- altered the brightness/contrast, hue/saturation, colour balance, film grain filter, posterize
- cut a butterfly out of the drawers and made this into a brush, also possibly for the back of the postcard
I prefer the edits where the photographs still look real, just enhanced as compared to the images which no longer look realistic after various filters and alterations. I do really like the busy scene where I have edited the curves, but this brings other colours into the image, and so does not answer the brief of focusing in on my given colour. As the images have to work as a set, I need to choose one style that I like and edit all the images in a relatively similar way.
Postcard Backs
The style used in the edit of the drawers is my favourite, so I will apply this to all of my images, so they work as a set. For the back of each postcard, I will pick out an item from the front of each picture, and define this as a pattern, to apply as a border on the back of my postcard.
I added lines to the back of my postcard designs, but didn't like how they looked, especially as some of the postcards are vertical. When researching postcard backs, the 'Juicy Lucy' postcards I looked at worked well with only image on the back, which helped me to decide that I didn't actually need the lines.
Postcard Backs
The style used in the edit of the drawers is my favourite, so I will apply this to all of my images, so they work as a set. For the back of each postcard, I will pick out an item from the front of each picture, and define this as a pattern, to apply as a border on the back of my postcard.
I added lines to the back of my postcard designs, but didn't like how they looked, especially as some of the postcards are vertical. When researching postcard backs, the 'Juicy Lucy' postcards I looked at worked well with only image on the back, which helped me to decide that I didn't actually need the lines.
