Ghosting an Image

After

Before

   I made this image have a ghostly look to it. The reason I chose this specific photo editing tutorial is because it not only seemed challenging but it also seemed very interesting. When you're doing a photo editing tutorial, a recommendation is that the photo you choose to use is a photo you took. That's that I did; the photo I chose to use is a picture of my little brother last year during the summer time at the pool.

     The steps I used to make this possible where very time consuming. The first step is to copy the background layer. You do this by holding down  Ctrl+Alt+J, which will bring up a New Layer dialogue box. You want to rename this layer desaturated. The second step is to desaturate the background copy layer. You do this by selecting the desaturated layer selected, the hold down Ctrl+Shift+U. Your image should then turn black and white. The third step is to copy the Desaturated Layer. You do this by selecting the desaturated layer, then hold down Ctrl+Alt+J. A new layer dialogue box should pop up, and you name the layer as motion blur. The fourth step is to apply the motion blur filter. You do this by selecting the motion blur layer, then go up to the filter menu and select blur, then select motion blur. A motion blur dialogue box should pop up. When it pops up make your angle set to zero, then set your distance bar to the right until your image becomes blurry. Your fifth step is to add a layer mask to the motion blur layer. You do this by having your motion blur layer selected, then click on the add layer mask icon. The sixth step is to paint with black on the layer mask to reveal some of the face. You do this by selecting your brush tool, then press B on your keyboard to make sure that black is set as your foreground color. Then go up to the options bar and lower the opacity to around 10%. The seventh step is to merge all of the layers onto a new layer. You do this by holding down Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E. By doing so it will merge all the layers together. Double click the new layer and rename it merged. Your eighth step is to  apply the diffuse glow filter to the merged layer. You do this by having your merged layer selected, then go to the filter menu and select distort, then select diffuse glow. Set the graininess to three, glow amount to ten, and clear amount also to ten. Your ninth step is to add a solid color fill layer. You do this by having your merged layer selected, then click on new fill or adjustment layer icon. Click on select solid color, then you need to pick a color. I chose blue. The last step is to change the blend mode of the fill layer to color and lower the opacity. You do this by having the solid color layer selected, go to the layer blend mode, click on the down arrow and click on color. Then change your opacity to 11%. Then your done!  

My Advertisement

This is my advertisement I made for my dad's business. This is an example of what an advertisement looks like. I used so many tools to try and make my advertisement look professional. Some tools I used where the paint bucket to set the color of my background, I used the paint brush to put the green flowers around the border, I used actions to help me put the frame on my advertisement, I also used the text box tool to put my title and all my words on there. I used the crop tool to help me size my logo. I used swatches to help me stick with a color scheme.

Logo

     This is a logo for my dad's greenhouses. All I did was the background black, get a special shape which for me was a plane triangle. Then I had to get an open box shaped shape. Then I had to change the color of these shapes which was green. Then I found these flower shaped brushes so I added those into the house. And last I had to put the name of my dad's bussiness somewhere on the logo. I made this logo because he did not already have one so I thought I would try and make a good logo for him.

Your Dream Body

Before Picture

After Picture

     In today's world people want to look perfect and be perfect. Believe it or not, people are so desperate to be and to have to the perfect body that they use Photoshop to perfect themselves. For example, people on the cover of magazine's. They take a normal picture of themselves, then they go back and get rid of blemishes, wrinkles, freckles, and yellow teeth. Even the people on television commercials. They do the same thing.

     This assignment was a challenge for me to try and have the perfect body image. So what I did was I found a picture of Jessica Simpson on http://www.skincareblog.net/images/jessica_simpson_hairstyle.jpg. Then I took a normal picture of me, and opened the Jessica Simpson picture on Photoshop. Once I uploaded my normal picture into Photoshop, I was able to then cut my face off my body and onto Jessica Simpson's body. Of course I had to make some changes such as: skin complexion, eye color, teeth color, and I also added make up. Once I finished trying to make it look normal, I had to try and make the picture look normal. So I had to get rid of blemishes and freckles, then I had to combine my face onto her head so it looked like that my face was her original face. But I also had to keep in mind that it had to look natural.

     My overall feelings about this transformation is that I am very happy how this turned out. I never would have thought that I would look like Jessica Simpson. But it also made me realize that I can't really trust the pictures on magazine ads or television ads because now I know from first hand that they really don't look like that. Now I'm not saying that people always use Photoshop to make themselves look like Barbie. I'm sure there are people out there who look absolutely perfect without any help from technology. This project made me also realize that people are to obsessed with perfection. People have to realize that no one is perfect.

     While working on this project I feel like somethings I did really well on and somethings I had some problems with. Some of the things I think I did really well on would be like, fitting my face onto her body while making it look natural, matching her skin tone with mine, and basically making it all look normal. Now some of the things that I had problems with would be getting rid of blemishes, getting my face the right size to match her body, and trying to match the face complexion with the rest of the body.

     I hope this make other people realize that people on magazines or television commercials don't always look the way they seem. So the next time you think about buying this new face cream because it works oh so well, remember that people just want you to think that it really works but really they used Photoshop to make it look like. Now some of these face creams really do work. Just remember that people aren't perfect. 

Photoshop!

 

This college is an example of how you can use photoshop. Before I used photoshop, I thought that some of the pictures magezines use or pictures you see of models, I thought that that's how they looked in real life. The pictures in my college tells a story about a day of a life as a Mercy student.

The picture in the middle is a picture of my friend. What I did in photoshop was I changed the color of her skin and of the whole picture. When you are going to school, it is very important in the life of a Mercy Student to have friends. The two pictures at the bottom are pictures of my pets at home. What I did to these pictures in photoshop was with my dog, she had red eyes so I got rid of that; with my cat she also had  a minor case of red eye. So I got rid of that plus I also changed the color to black and white. The picture in the right hand corner is a poster that was advertising for Junior rings. And at Mercy that's one major event that you do not want to miss out on. What I did to this picture was I changed the color of it but only around the wording part of the poster. The bottom part of the poster I left normal. Then last but not least, the picture in the left hand corner. That is obviously a picture of stairs. I took this picture because in the life of a Mercy student, there isn't one day that goes by that a girl doesn't trip going up the stairs or down the stairs. So what I did to this picture was I tilted it. Which means I made it look like they weren't straight. Then I changed your basic background color and added a couple of artsy things to it as well. 

Examples of Photography :)

This is an example of red eyes. As you can see, my dog has red eyes.

This is an example of Simplicity. If you look in the background it looks like the wire is coming out of my cats back.

This is an example of having one image all by itself. As you can see my cat is the only object in this picture.

     When you download music on line or anywhere, without buying it, did you ever stop to think who you might be hurting? People who go out on the Internet and take music that isn't there or who take music that they didn't pay for are hurting not only the artist but the artists career. So in the end, do you think downloading music is wrong? Personally it depends on the situation because if you pay for the music then it's okay but if you just go out on the Internet and took it then that's not right.
     Do you think there should be copyright laws? I think there should be because even though people don't pay attention to them there's always that one chance that someone will pay attention to it. And just think about that one chance of a person following the copyright laws, that could save artists jobs and stuff. But for the people who don't follow the laws, they could possibly be ending some ones career.
     How would you feel if you were trying to make yourself a popular artist and some one kept taking your work with out you knowing? I would feel like people are taking advantage of me. Like they really don't appreciate what I do to try and make a living. I would also probably feel depressed or something like that because I put all that hard work and all that time into my work yet I get no credit for it.

Before and After

      When you hear the term Copyright Law, what comes to mind? To me, the term Copyright Law means that you don't have the right to go out and take whatever you want from wherever you want. Copyright Laws where made for a reason. And that reason was to help the artists and the publishers from getting ripped off. Because if you think about it, ever time you go on a site and copy everything word for word with out citing it, whoever wrote all that information just got cheated.
     
     Also every time you go and take a song off the Internet, you're causing the artists to loose money and sales. An example of Copyright infringement is when Kayne West got sued for taking Vincent P. song "Stronger". The judge ruled Kanye West not guilty for taking the song.

Technology at Home and School

     I think that in the future, as far as technology goes, I wouldn't be using text books. I possibly wouldn't be going to school, instead I possibly might be having online classes before college. Some of my personal experiences with using technology are for example: typing you this blog, using the phone, using skype to talk to my friends and to see them, etc. I think technology is a very broad term to use. There are so many different items I use that could fall under the technology category. But certain items I use at school and others I use at home.

     When I'm at home, I always use my computer, phone, television, xbox, radio, etc. I use my computer to do multiple things. If I didn't have my computer then I wouldn't be able to do homework, or communicate with my friends. Now my phone, on the other hand, is my life. I love my phone! My phone has many different roles. I use my phone to text, I use it to call people, and I use it to get on the Internet. Now my other electronics are just for pleasure reasons, like when I'm bored or something.

     When I'm at school, I use the laptops, the desktops, a calculator, etc. I use the computers to help me try and find answers or information about something. Which in order for that to happen I have to use the Internet. And obviously I have to use a calculator for math to help me solve problems.