DPI | WEEK 4: DIGITAL COLLAGE

13.10.2024 - 19.10.2024 /Week 4
Loh Kai Xuan (0365780)
Digital Photography and Imaging, Creative Media Design, Taylor's University

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LECTURE

INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP (PT 3)

Lecturer: Mr. Fauzi

I. Adjustment Layer: A non-destructive image editing tool

• Brightness/Contrast
• Levels: Shadows, Midtones, Highlights
• Curves: Colour tones
• Exposure: Offset & Gamma
• Selective Colour

II. Fliters: Presets

• Youtube tutorial: https://youtu.be/gDSbfx67MLg

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TUTORIAL

1. Match lighting. Adjustment layers, Filters.

2. Photoshop Pen Tool.

PRACTICAL

PROJECT 1B: Digital Collage review

EXERCISE

Working with layers.

Adjustment Layers & Filters.

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DIGITAL COLLAGE EXERCISE

Week 4: Mr. Fauzi briefed us on how to do a digital collage in Photoshop, and since it was an online class, I attempted a few at home first. The video tutorials helped me understand the basics. I used the golden ratio and rule of third we learned to assist me with my layout.

    

My 3 pre-compositions:

      

Feedback: All good, proceed with the 1st composition. Play with the colours during the adjustment. Prevent playing with opacity before the adjustment stage.

My Final Composition: The Forever Staring Contest

 

I first started with the fish as my main focal point. Then the buildings and projector as the 2nd focal point. The idea is a fish fascinated with the projector lens in the human world and started staring. I wanted to convey the fish staring at the projector lens but there's a building between them.

I used the magic wand tool to select the backgrounds that are consistent then invert to cut and paste for the subject out. For the ones with complicated backgrounds, I used the pen tool instead to trace around them. Lastly, I used the eraser to clean up small areas which still had residues of the background, like on the projector.

Progress Pictures:

Initially, the fish was the only blue part, but decided that making everything blue conveys the idea more clearly.

Final Collage: The Forever Staring Contest

I went with the more aesthetic yet melancholy feel, so I used the colour blue as a harmonious colour palette. I used hue and saturation on all the objects separately with a clipping mask then colourized them blue.

The fish and projector are lighter and more saturated as the main focus, while the less saturated boxes border them in. The others are left dark to not shift the focus. Then, I used Invert to make the background black for a dramatic effect. Lastly, I used a tone curve to make the whole image look consistently less saturated and blue. This helped me learn and explore more about layouts, colours and adjustment/filter tool in photoshop.

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4. REFLECTION

This activity gave me a good practice with photoshop. It was fun playing around with images, and I admit I started to get more wild with my elements as the time went on.