Project 5: Focus and Filters

The Mission: Take an original photo and come up with 3 additional photos. We are to have a plan in mind and we are to use filters and focus.

What is my project? : As I look around to figure out what I want to do, I see this bookshelf filled with books and a large plant draping over from the top of the shelf. I love this plant and think it is so beautiful. I wonder to myself how the plant would look if it stood out more from the books. I’m really daydreaming at this point and distracting myself from other work that needs to be done. That is why the plant hangs in front of the books. It is such a great distraction! Then it hits me, I will take a picture and use this photo for the project.

The Results: This is the original photo. The room is not usually this light as in the picture. It gives off a deceiving look. Oh well. First thing first, the picture is crooked so I used the Free Transform tool to turn the picture more upright and then I used the Crop tool to crop the outside of the photo and straighten it out.

I don’t really want to change the plant. You see I like the plant. It’s the background I want to change, because what’s in the background is too challenging now. For the first new picture I will call it Watercolor Bookshelf.

1. I made 2 copies of the background, 3 in all counting the original. Then I turned off the eyeball on one of the copies, just in case I totally screwed this up, to have as a backup.
2. The top background layer, I changed the name to plant. I used the Polygonal Lasso tool and outlined the plant and then discarded the rest of the photo. Next I used the Eraser tool to clean up the plant layer so that only the plant was left visible in the layer. Keeping this layer at the top of the layer stack, I turned off the eyeball to hide the plant.
3. On the second background layer I selected Filter from the top menu – Sketch – Photography. I set the Detail to 7 and the Darkness to 8. I then set the Opacity to 83% and the Fill to 76%. Oh yes, I turned back on the eyeball of the Original photo and locked it. By doing this some of the color showed through from the Filter selections.
4. I returned back to the second background layer and added another filter. Filter – Artistic – Watercolor. The Brush Detail set to 9, shadow Intensity set to 1, and the Texture set to 2. I then put on a layer style form the Drop down Menu in the Layers Palette and chose Pin Light.
5. Last I turned on the plant layer and viola my Watercolor Bookshelf. This was way fun and I was pleased with the results. Not knowing what the results would be made it all the more fun, experimenting with filters and such.

The second picture I call the Abstract Bookcase. I took the Watercolor Bookshelf and selected the plant layer only; making sure the plant layer was at the top of the layer stack. Then I chose the Create file or Adjustment Layer option from the bottom of the Layers Palette. I selected Inverse and this is the result.

The third picture I call Light Bookshelf. Taking the Watercolor Bookshelf I hid the plant layer. I then made another layer and added a radial gradient light to the background copy. I unhid the plant layer and this is the result. I like this picture a lot. There is more depth and contrast to this picture then the others, which is something I hadn’t planned and was pleased with the outcome. I kept my vision of making the plant the main focus also.

Project 4: Line Art

Steps to Recreate:

1. Make copy of original jpg
2. Double width of the canvas: Image – Canvas Size
Turn on Relative checkbox
Change Unit of Measure to Percent
Width Value 100
Click top left Anchor Box
Canvas Extension Color White
Click OK

3. Select ‘halfZak’ with the Rectangular Marquee tool to include an outline edge, Clone the selection and move to the right. Flip horizontally using Free Transformation Tool. Nudge selection into place using Arrow Keys. Use the Fade command to ensure proper alignment of the two halves of ‘halfZak’. Edit – Fade – Mode – Darken – OK.
4. Select Channels palette. Load the channel, using Ctrl Key, as a selection. Reverse selection, Select – Inverse, and make a new layer. Fill selection with Black. Select Background layer and fill with white.
5. Discard original Background layer. Lock Line Art and New Background Layer.
Creating a background layer of the original made it easier to line up the two copies and align them together, as the white background was not visible at the time, even though I specified it. I like to make background copies to use as back ups just incase I totally screw up.

Fills, Outlines, and Textures
I experimented with the Brushes Palette using various Presets. I was a little confused at first in how to bring up the Values Options for the selected Presets. In order to bring up the Scattering values for Scattering, I needed to Click on Scattering to view Options, DUH on my part! I selected Scattering and Color Dynamics. What a useful way to paint a picture and be able to blend colors. I created new layers and applied Pattern Fills to them. One layer is a Metal pattern scaled – 200 with Hard Light Opacity 30 %. The other layer is a Nebula pattern scaled – 150 with Darker Color Opacity 60%. I also Placed a jpg pattern I created in Illustrator and used that for the Line Art as displayed in two of the photos. This was a fun project and I found myself running out of time and wanting to play and experiment longer than I should. I definitely find this project useful in future projects.