Collage

In creating this collage, we were to select five to seven high quality images that related to the mood or theme to the quote chosen for our Font Poems. The quote that I was to select photos to represent was, “You’ve got to find yourself first, everything else will follow.” In searching for images that related to the theme of perseverance and motivation for self-discovery, I browsed MorgueFile.com, an image sharing website shared to by the professor. Searching keywords such as, “searching,” “happiness,” “path,” “discovery,” “self,” and so on, I was able to find five images that I was satisfied with. The images that I selected are as follows: a scenic tree with a sidewalk and some grass, a road descending down the center of the image a silhouette of a man running, a bird’s-eye-view of concrete with a smiley-face drawn in chalk, a black and white image of a man reaching for this head that seems to be cropped out of the photo, and a compass rose. As I’ve stated before, all of these images were downloaded off of MorgueFile.com

Regarding the positioning of these images, I first began with the image that I wanted to display the most: the tree and the field. Deciding this and using the selection tool on Photoshop, I used the concrete sidewalk and some grass in this photo to act as a “baseline” of the photo and kept the tree as well which stands off center to the right. The next image I chose to incorporate was the distant road. Because the tree in the first image is off center, there was a narrow area between the tree and the right side of the Photoshop document that allowed for this narrow picture to fit perfectly. Placing the distant pathway in this narrow space, only taking up about 1/8 of the collage, also allowed to create symbolism within the collage as to relating to the quote used in my font poem. The symbolism that narrow road off the the right I believe represents that sometimes the road of discovery, or the “right road,” is often hidden and not right in front of you. The third image that I incorporated to the collage is the smiley face drawn onto concrete. I like this image a lot so I wanted to incorporate it into my collage greatly. Enlarging the photo, I was able to use this image as a “background” image, making the smiley face not something to miss. Fourthly, I added the image of a man reaching for his head which has been cropped out of the photo. I positioned this in an area of the collage that seemed to lack activity: the left side. I also positioned this image on a slight diagonal so everything in the collage would not seem so lineal. The next image that was added was the compass. Having this idea early on in the collage, I strategically placed the compass exactly where the man’s head would be if it were not missing. I decided to place the compass here to show that the man’s mind and decisions were ones to be properly located and required some searching. Lastly, I added the silhouette of a man running and placed him on the sidewalk, sized as proportionally accurate to the tree and sidewalk as I could.

In the process of placing these images into the collage, I made very many adjustments. For almost every image in the collage, excluding the smiley-face and the distant path, I utilized the selection-tool. The selection tool allowed me to select the specific portions of the images that I wanted to incorporate in the collage. Opening new Photoshop documents with transparent backgrounds, I used the selection-tool to properly select which parts of the full images I wanted to incorporate in the collage and was able to simply copy and paste these images into the “Collage” tab. The first adjustment I made in my collage, not including the selection-tool, was filter titled “Oil Paint” on the tree and sidewalk image. Because of the high resolution that the image originally had, the detail in the bark, concrete, and grass were so distracting that I wanted to blend the details together and I believe that utilizing the “Oil Paint” filter allowed me to do so in a way that did not take away from the quality of the photo. Also regarding extreme detail, I noticed that the man with the missing head stood out white a bit but because of the complete opposite reason. Placed on a background that has the texture of concrete and dirt, the image of the man was so smooth that it looked peculiar and out of place. In order to roughen the image a bit, accessed the effects and utilized the “Bevel & Emboss” tab to add “Texture.” This allowed for the man to blend into the concrete a bit and almost look like he was skillfully drawn next to the chalk smiley-face. Thirdly, also because the detail looked so out of the with the rest of the image, I used a different method than adding an effect that would manipulate the image; I added a hard “Outer Glow.” Adding this light yellow “Outer Glow” allows space between the compass and the concrete background and adds the the chalky effect I was hoping to accomplish. Lastly, regarding the running silhouette, I utilized the “Outer Glow” once again but manipulated the “spread” of the glow. This “Outer Glow” added a backlight effect rather than and outline effect. With this addition, I believe it represents the perseverance and motivation that is explained through my quote and collage as a whole.

Double-Exposure

Contact Sheet

Upon beginning to create our contact sheet, I was not sure exactly what a Contact Sheet was. Being introduced to new programs including Photoshop and Bridges, I am still trying to get a hold on what means to manipulate images however I would like. In creating my Contact Sheet there were four different aspects of photo manipulation to experiment with: (1) Resolution (dpi), (2) Format/Mode, (3) Orientation, (4) Framing, (5) Content, (6) Purpose.

(1) Resolution- In experimenting with resolution, we were given a default photo of roses that had an original 1200 pdi, a resolution that would normally be used for “colorprint.” For the next three pictures, we gradually reduced the dpi. In the second photo from the right in the roses row, we reduced the dpi to 600, the resolution for “print.” I was able to adjust the dpi by selecting “Image” in the top toolbar, selecting “Image Size…” and adjusting the resolution there. Next, I changed the dpi to 300, which would be used for “B&W,” then to 72 dpi, usually used for “Web.” These changes in resolution are evident in the top row of my “Contact Sheet” with the resolution increasing from left to right.

(2) Format/Mode– The next part of the assignment, manipulating format and mode, we were assignment to select a colorful photo. I chose a picture of a colorful parrot. First we needed to differentiate between an image that represented a RGB color scale and a CMYK color scale. Once in Photoshop, selecting “Image” in the toolbar then “Image Size…,” we were able to manipulate the image to whichever type of coloring we wanted. We then saved an RGB version, which is used for Web purposes, then we saved a CMYK version, used for print purposes Next, we needed to manipulate the image to black and white image, where one would access from selecting “Image” in the toolbar, then “Mode,” and “Grayscale.” Frankly, this option does not let one manipulate shadows and other aspects that play important roles in black and white images. Instead, to create a valuable black and white photo, we selected the option available on the bottom right of the photoshop window that looks like a circle where a diagonal line separates a dark side from a lighter side. After selecting this, we then selected “Channel Mixer,” checked  the box titled “Monochrome,” then were able to manipulate the photograph. Another way to manipulate a black and white photo is to, again, select the circle at the bottom right of the Photoshop window, selecting “Curve” and manipulating the the “S-shape.” The photo in the second row and the first column is the Duotone image, the last of the Format/Mode images we manipulated. In order to complete this effect, one must select the Grayscale option, as explained before, next is selecting the “Duotone,” the first color must be black while the other could be any color one would like.

(3) Orientation– The third manipulation that we experimented with was orientation. First, beginning with a wide angled photo that is displayed in the third row and fourth column, we then created two square crops to the photo and one final which is a portrait. In order to crop the images, one needs to select the cropping tool on the left toolbar. Once selected, one can adjust the ratio at the top. Using the same number ratio for the both the height and the width, I was able to create two square images. Finally, I had to manipulate the size ratio so the height was larger than the width.

(4) Framing– In the framing row, we had to select a photo that had small detail. I chose a photo of Time Square in New York City. Using the cropping tool, we had to minimize the image multiple times in order to focus on a detail in the back. Using the this framing method, we are able to see details in the image that were so minuscule that in viewing the original photo, one could not view. This progression is evident from the images right to left.

(5) Content– In the content row, we were assigned to choose an image that, through proper framing, the final image would display textures and patterns and would be completely indistinguishable from the original image. Using the framing and cropping techniques, I was able to drag the anchor-points, and create three new images that zoomed closely into the eye of a cat I found. This progression is evident from the images right to left.

(6) Purpose– The final row in photo shop allowed us to use the photo effects option in Photoshop. Once an image in placed in Photoshop, by selecting “Filter” on the top tool bar then selecting “Filter Gallery,” you are redirected to another screen that you can select a number of of photo effects. Starting with the journalistic approach, the image of Emma Watson in the fourth row had not been manipulated by me. From then on, moving right to left, the filters that I utilized were a combination of “Neon Glow” and “Dark Strokes,” “Torn Edges,” and finally “Dark Strokes.”

Font Poem

“You’ve got to find yourself first, everything else will follow.” I came across this quote by Charles De Lint a couple years ago and it has stuck with me ever since. I am a huge believer in fate. No matter what, everything will fall into place as long as you discover and find yourself first.

I’ve used a wide arrangement of fonts throughout my Font Poem. I noted the words that had the least impact: “you’ve” and “to.” For these words, I chose “Noteworthy.” Resembling neat handwriting, “Noteworthy” does not stand out too much. Next, the word “got” seemed very important so I used the font “Stencil Std” to it would grab the reader’s attention. For the word “find,” I used the font “OCR A Std” however I used the Warp Text effect to display emphasis. For “yourself,” I used “Princetown LET” to make it stand out as well as taking advantage of its unique outlining characteristic. For the word “first,” I used the simple font “Rockwell Extra Bold” to provide emphasis. I chose “Onyx” for the word “everything” because I believe it shares the important qualities with the word because it takes seems to take up a good amount of space. The rest of the quote, “…else will follow,” I used the fonts “Zapfino,” “Mistral,” and “Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT.” The fonts for the rest of these words were not as important as the arrangement of them.

Arranging the font poem, I used a lineal, centered theme. I wanted to be sure that the central focus was on the word, “Yourself,” which is displayed in all capital letters, centered, and larger than any other word in the poem. Along with the word “follow,” I arranged each letter in a different text box so I could display the effect of following.

During this project, I encountered most of my problems trying to arrange the word “follow.” First having each letter in the same text box, I attempted to warp the text in order to display an interesting effect however after much trial and error, I decided to arrange each letter in a different text box and manipulate the text that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the effects, I used specific effects on the words “got,” “yourself,” “everything,” and “follow;” what I believe the most important words to be. On “find,” I used the gradient overlay option because I thought it interesting and resembled the effects of a flashlight. For “yourself,” I used the “Texture” and “Color Overlay” options to make the word more unique. On the word “everything,” I used a blue “Outer Glow” to pronounce greater emphasis. And lastly, on the word “follow,” I added a faint, white “Outer Glow” effect simply because I thought it looked interesting and it was fun to experiment with.

If I had more time on this assignment, I believe I could experimented more with the arrangement of the words. I had the idea of arranging the word “first” vertically and into the shape of a “1,” however this proved to be very difficult in the time I had to complete this assignment.