Project 1: Photoshop Postcard

Place: Ludington Michigan

Setting: Sterns Park Beach

Issue/Problem: The beauty of the landscape and surroundings often causes tourists and beach goers to ignore the dangers of the water.

Relevance: Drowning, riptides and dangerous currents cause numerous deaths each year for tourists and locals

Goal: To introduce and bring awareness to the relationship between the attractive features of the beach and swimming and the dangers of swimming without caution.

Introduction:

            Growing up in a town that thrives off the attractions and tourist magnetisms, I tended to take advantage of the beauty of the beach and the magnificent sense of nature that I grew up with. My intensions for this project were to bring awareness to the issues and dangers of water.  Individuals often overlook the power of riptides and currents that take the lives of so many expecting swimmers. Your size, strength, or athletic ability is no match for the power of water and within these three compositions I plan to present the viewers with the interdependent relationship between beauty and caution. The alluring beauty of the beach is desirable yet with that quality, it attracts so many people and sets the risk of drowning high. That being said the unpredictable and beauty of disaster among the surface of the body of water is a phenomenon like no other.

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Back of Postcard:

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Postcard 1: Repetition

For the first postcard, I introduced concepts of repetition and the beauty in perfection adapted in the work of Tom Bamberger. Based on the location of the beach and the central theme of danger and beauty, I chose to focus on the natural attractiveness of the beach and water in a way that exaggerates the concept of beauty through repetition. I decided to replicate the lighthouse because of its simplicity. Often overlooked because of its lack of dominance, the South shore lighthouse incorporates the carried theme with accents of red, yet the repetition seems to soothingly guide your eye out into the calming water. The depth and forged perception causes curiosity to the horizon where your eye meets the fantasy-like sky mirrored to perfection. The colors of the scene are enhanced to imply the perfection of the beach and waters to all audiences.

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Postcard 2: Transformation

With the works of artists such as Sandy Skoglund, this composition focuses on the opposing idea of the first image displaying beauty, and serene perfection. It introduces the issues and dangers of the water. Appearing calm and composed, the water is welcoming, yet the strangeness of the color and tint of the water gives an eerie feel. The boat in the water at first glance seems normal for the body of water, yet with a second look, it is noticed that it is a coast guard boat used to address emergency on the water. A red buoy sets stationary on the safe shoreline suggesting a hint of danger on the horizon, and almost leading the viewer back to safety. Just when the viewer begins to really engage in the image, they notice a consuming cloud approaching from the left hand corner readily available to stir up chaos in the water. My goal for this image was to introduce the negative side of the seemingly perfect beach and water. The beauty is still within the image, yet danger lurks around each corner.

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Postcard 3: Text

Referencing artists like Barbra Kruger, and Jenny Holzer, postcard three focussed on using words to enhance the image and its anticipated message. Sticking with the theme of danger within beauty, I faintly placed the words, “Lifeguard not on Duty,” on the surface of the boardwalk falling back as the picture fades. By creating a message of “warning upon advancement,” I aimed to give the viewer a form of notice as they proceed into the water or onto the break wall.  I also sharpened the texture of the image and enhanced the contrast of the image to give a rough, risky feel, while casting a red mask over the entire image to reiterate the idea of red, danger, and stop. The background of why I chose the image I did and the words that I did roots back to growing up in Ludington and near the beach. A sign before walking out to the lighthouse reads, “Warning, Structure is not designed for public access, proceed at your own risk.”  Despite the formal warning locals and tourists continually jump off of the break wall and venture out on to the structure.

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Concept map:

Photoshop Demo. 9/27: 3D objects on to 2D images

Todays demo allowed us to create and insert a 3D created shape, in this case a cube, into a 2D setting with the intensions of creating a convincing scene or reality

Photoshop Demo: 9/22

Todays demo introduced multiple different effects that can be applied to layers. We used gradients, and rendering filters to add flames, fog, lens glares and picture frames to the image while controlling the aspects through opacity and erasing.

Photoshop Demo 9/20 Mask Tool

Photoshop Demo: 9/20 Mask Tool

Todays demo instructed how to use the mask tool to layer images behind a selected space to seem realistic. The first image had a scary face layered to seem to be a reflection in the mirror. We selected the surface of the mirror and created a mask layer. We placed the face layer between the background and the duplicated background layer.

The second and third image involved the same process, but included two selected areas to mask. This was done by holding shift while selecting the surface area. 

We then experimented using the Pen tool to select areas of rounded or curved surfaces. for the following two images, we selected an area by dropping anchors and arching the selection around the curved surfaces to create a mask tool and then proceeded to layer an image within the area. 

The final demo instructed how to incorporate text with the image without simply placing it over the image. We used the masking text tool to type over the image and make it seem like an interactive surface of the image. We used the Bevel/Emboss tool to add dimension

Photoshop Demo 3: 9/13

Expansion on the history brush with incorporation of filter gallery. We applied 2-3 different filter gallery effects to one image and went back to the history brush and reverted parts and pieces of the image back to the original. In my example, I digitized the image and then used the history brush to revert his face back to full detail.

Original Image

Final Image

Photoshop Demo2: 9/15

This demo used the art history brush tool do artistically distort the image as minimally and as abstractly as desired.

Photoshop Demo: 9/15

This demo introduced us to color overlays to produce an image that refrences an Andy Worhol image. By creating a new laver over a black/white image, we were able to paint and fill the image with different colors with different effects

Photoshop Demo. 9/13

 Photoshop Demo 1: Background Eraser 9/13

For this demo, we focused on how to erase the spacing between the hair by using the background eraser tool.

Photoshop Demo 2: Shadow placement

This demo focused on the placement of shadows to add to the reality of the image. We created a layer over the animal and filled it with a darker color, changed the opacity and distorted the shadow to seem realistic.

Photoshop Demo 3: Hue and Saturation
This demo covered the basis to altering an images hue and saturation by selecting either the entire image, or a specific area and changing the images color scheme.

Original Image

Final Image 

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