Blog #3

Photoshop Assignment

Before Photo of me and my husband









This is one of the pictures from our wedding. The picture has too much light on the top area and it is dark in the bottom area.


Description of Changes

I made a few changes to the picture using Photoshop CS4. The first change I made to the picture was to make the picture into a black and white photo. I did this just for fun and to see what we would look like in a black and white picture. I cropped the photo then changed the color by going to images, then mode, then grayscale. I then added a frame around the photo. I elected to add the bevel and emboss feature with the frame which you can't really tell in the black and white but you will be able to with the final picture.

This is the picture after the changes were made.















I then clicked on the edit and undo button to go back to the original picture. I wanted to continue to play with the coloring so I decided to see what the picture would look like as a sepia photo. I again cropped the photo first and added the frame. Then I changed it to sepia coloring. I did this under the basic toolbar by selecting actions then sepia toning. This is how the picture looked at this point.
















I again converted back to the original picture and made the following adjustments to get the end result picture. First, I changed the bright lighting around our faces by using the brightness and contrast. I only had to change the brightness for the photo to look more natural. To change the brightness and contrast, I went to adjustments and manually adjusted the brightness.

Next, I cropped the photo to focus in on our facial area. I did this by using the crop tool that is in the side toolbar. I then added a frame around the photo. I elected to add the bevel and emboss feature with the wood look frame. Finally, I added the Inner shadow layer. These features were under the basic menu.


This is the result of the picture after I made the changes in Photoshop.

























After Picture of me and my husband.

Obstacles Encountered

The obstacles I encountered with Photoshop included feeling overwhelmed, trying to decide which features to use, and lack of confidence in using the program. Photoshop is completely overwhelming to me. There are so many different features that can be used I did not know where to start. I think the biggest obstacle for me was trying to figure out what to do to the picture. When using Photoshop, you must decide what to do to the picture first then figure out which tool you will need to do the necessary adjustments. We had tutorials on how to use the features but I had to decide which feature I was wanting to use. This was difficult for me because of my lack of experience with Photoshop. I have never used a program like this before. I believe the lack of confidence in my ability to use the program made it more difficult on me.

Successes Experienced

Due to the fact that I have not used this program before, I decided to stay with some basic features to use. I was feeling overwhelmed, so I needed to start with some minor adjustments to my photo. I selected features to use that I felt would improve the picture but were also pretty user friendly. Once my picture was complete, I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. The picture had bright lighting on our faces and I was able to adjust the brightness to remove it. I was immediately happy with the results. I eliminated the bottom of the photo because I felt the focus should be more on our facial area and adding the trim to make it look a little fancier. I was happy with the end result and felt that I did an okay job with Photoshop. By using basic features and seeing success, I now feel that I can move to a few more advanced features.

Using Photoshop for Future Projects

I wish I could say that I am ready to jump into a major project using Photoshop. However, I am not there yet. I would love to use some of the features in future projects. I have another wedding picture where the lighting made my hair take on a green tint and my eyes are red. I would like to correct that picture for my next project. These pictures are important to me because they are of my wedding.

I would also like to use Photoshop with pictures of other things besides myself. I would like to see what the program is able to do when using a landscape or animal photograph. I think it would interesting to see what you can do with different types of pictures. I am playing some more right now by trying to put two pictures together to form one. It has been difficult but I have not given up.