Photomontage

This is the process of using many images and combining them to create one image by composting them onto each other. This effect can make the image look real, or can look totally surreal depending on what photos are used and in what context. Photomontage can be useful to create cross sections of objects, for example an iceberg, a photo can be taken underwater and above water then pieced together. One photograph would not work as you would get a reflection in the water. Photomontage can incorporate photographs, paintings, illustrations and graphics.

David Hockney

I like this image as it incorporates many images. I like how it is not square and each image is of different sizes and rotated differently. I like the trees because the leaves have different colours due to the different pictures that were used. I like how it is not perfect, for example the car is made up of different images that have been taken from different viewpoints.

Johannes Baader

This image uses different media including a randomly cut out photo, with another photo placed on top, with a silhouette cut out to make it seem that the man on the photo underneath is in the background of the second image and is in a different pose. To add to this is some writing that looks to be from a newspaper. This is a self portrait of Baader and the photomontage conveys him as being a highly ranked military officer due to his attire and the office in the top image. I like this image as it is different.

Compositing images

Here is my original image. I have composited the elephant using the same method as the post below however i have not blurred it as that effect is not desired.

I have also changed the levels to make the picture look darker. I am happy with this image as it is interesting and because it is unusual.

Compositing images example

For this post I am going to composite the air plane onto the landscape as subtly as I can. The images I am going to composite are below.

To start with I used the magic wand tool on the background. I then clicked edit then invert selection. I then needed to make sure te right parts of the plane are selected so I used the selection brush and removed certain white areas so that in when i composite it it would look normal. I then contracted the area by one pixel so that it did not have a halo around it. I then feathered it by half a pixel to further help this. I then copied and pasted it onto a new layer on the image of the landscape. I then used the select tool on the plane and reduced its size by 75% and held the shift key to constrain the proportions. I then positioned so that it looked as if it was flying. I duplicated the layer by right clicking on it then clicking duplicate layer. On the new copy i added blur by using the motion blur effect and selected the direction so it was in line with the direction it was travelling. I then erased the leading edge so that it was not blurred. I then blurred the background so that it looked like a panning shot. To further the effect i blurred the foreground once more. I like the final effect, it is pictured below.

Mood Landscapes

For this edit I used as many of the skills that I have learnt so far. To start with I decided not to crop my photo as it would not of allowed me to edit my photo to convey the mood I wanted as the whole photo is needed. I first started by changing the levels. In doing so i made the image darker and have more contrast. I then by using the select tool highlighted the are of the sunset with a feather of 250px so that it was not obvious when I edit it. I then created a layer and pasted the selected area, then i changed the hue/saturation. I increased the saturation by 20 which made the yellow darker and more vibrant, and on another layer i increased the lightness by -8 to make the rest of the image slightly darker.

I tried to make the image convey the mood "hope" by making the left of the photo dark and get brighter towards the right. I think that this has worked okay. I like how the silhouette of the stadium shows up and how the people in the foreground are looking out to sea.

Alternatively i have cropped the image so that the horizon is in line wit

h the bottom line on the rule of thirds and the people are on the bottom left corner of the golden sections. This makes the image more personal to them which helps me convey the mood of happiness as they are happy. I then changed the levels so that the mid tones where 0.87 and the white tones were 255. This has made the image a lot brighter and more detail can be seen in the buildings. To finish off I used a warming filter (85) to increase the saturation of the picture. I have tried to change the picture to show happiness.

Filter Effects

On this post I will be looking at lots of different filters that can change an image drastically for a desired effect. The image I will use is below.

Original

Cut out

This filter groups similar colours into a set amount of layers. It gives the effect that it has been cut out and layered. I like this effect because it makes the image stand out more.

I set the filters settings to:

Levels - 7

Edge simplicity - 3

Edge fidelity - 1

Grain

This effect gives the image a grain texture. I think this effect makes the image look good as the background is out of focus and it is snowing.

I set the filters settings to:

Intensity - 67

Contrast - 88

Cross Hatch

This effect made no dramatic effect as I did it before I resized the image. Though, it has subtly made it look softer which suits this image.

I set the filters settings to:

Stroke length - 40

Sharpness - 6

Strength - 3

Charcoal and chalk

This effect makes the image look black and white and supposedly done with chalk and charcoal. I think it is too perfect as this would not be able to be achieved by hand. Though i do like the effect as the black is dark and the white is bright.

I set the filters settings to:

Charcoal area - 14

Chalk area - 6

Stroke pressure - 3

Experimenting with filters.

To start with I am going to edit a photo so that it is good to have a filter. There is no point placing a filter over a badly composed photo, or a photo where the colour isn't good. To start with I am going to take my photo and I am going to crop it improving the composition. First of all I cropped the front of the crowd off so that there were no gaps in the crowd. I adjusted the levels so that the sky was lighter and the crowd was slightly darker. After I did this i started adding filters. My original is below.

Level changes.
After crop and levels.

Cooling Filter - This makes the blues get more vibrant and darker.

Yellow 30% - I cant notice much change.

Green 30% - more green tones.
Magenta 70% - most of the photo has got a tinge of magenta.
Sepia 100% - this is my favourite. I like how it looks differnt with the sky being in dark and the people still in colour.
I like how the filters change the images sometimes subtly and others not so. I played with the intensity of the filter. Doing this has shown me how much more useful photo shop is and how it can be used practically not just for abstract things like photo grams.

Hand colouring with paintbrush

For this task I am going to be picking out certain parts of the picture to make different colours. To start with i am

going to copy the background layer in case anything goes wrong. Next I am going to make the saturation 0 so that

the picture goes grey scale. This image is below I then needed to high light the part I wanted to colour with the

brush. I then

copied the part that I wanted and pasted it onto a new layer. I then created an adjustment layer for hue/saturation for the previous layer. I did this so that I can

change the colour. For each thing that I wanted to change c

olour, I made a new layer and new adjustment layer. The layers can be seen on the picture to the right. My final post is below. Overall I am happy with it as it took me a while to get used to as I found it hard. It doesn't really fit within the context of the photo but it is a useful technique that I will be able to implement into my work at a later date.

Colour Variation

For this entry i am going to use the colour variation tool. This tool is special as it allows you to change the intensities of the blues, reds and greens as well as the lightness of the mid tones, shadows and highlights. What is good about this tool is that it shows you what will change before it does finally and allows you to compare the original to the changed version along the way.

Below is the before and after of my colour variation after i played around with the colours.
Here is a big version of my edited version. As you can see the blues are darker which makes the picture look calmer as well as darker.

Warming up images

This is the image i started with.

I am going to add a photo filter. To do this i need to select "add photo filter" from the bottom right hand side of the screen from the create or add an adjustment layer button. I chose warming filter (85) and set the intensity to 50% otherwise it would look unnatural as the picture is by the sea.

Below is my final version. Personally i prefer it without the filter as it looked more natural.