DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGING / EXERCISES

02/09/2022 - 02/12/2022  /  Week 1 - Week 14

Chew Zhi Ern / 0358995
Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Exercises

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INSTRUCTIONS

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LECTURES

Week 1: Introduce to the Module

During the first lecture, Mr. Martin introduced us to the module information. We were required to create a google drive folder for this module to submit all our work. Then, he gave us a short brief session for Task 1 in Project 1. He showed us some examples of collage composition after a little explanation. Soon after, we played The Bézier Game which gives us a chance to practice using the pen tool and improve Photoshop or Illustrator users' skills with it.

Below are my The Bezier Game result:

Result for The Bezier Game

Week 2: Introduce to Composition & Photoshop

Mr. Martin showed us some digital collage work. Afterward, he taught us some tools' functions such as the pen tool and the lasso tool, some shortcut keys for Illustrator, and also how to crop the object from photos and how to apply the shadow effect. After that, the second task has been assigned to us which is digital collage practice. Following this, Mr. Martin reviewed the work we had assigned last week and gave us some feedback. 

Exercise outcome of the day

Week 3: Public Holiday 

No Class!

• Recorded class posted in Teams

Photoshop Blending modes

The week 3 class day falls on a public holiday, so there are no classes on that day. But, Mr. Martin has posted some ppt slides and videos for us to review and do the exercises. Also as mentioned in the lecture, we have to use our own image to replace the shazam and apply what we have learned as our homework.

Thus, here are my practices:

 

#1

Original Image

Smoke image added

Apply Blending Mode - Screen

Increase the level of Contrast

Create New Radial Gradient with 20% Opacity

Final Outcome

#2

Original image of Hearst Mansion

Original image of Shazam

Drag & Drop Shazam to Hearst Mansion, Resized and Reposition

Colour Correction

Shadow and Blur Effect applied

Reflection added and colour readjusted 

Final Outcome

Week 4: Introduce to Recolouring

This week, Mr. Martin showed us how to recolour the black and white images using some of Photoshop's features and tools. He explained while operating, while the students followed his instructions and steps to complete the outcome. We were then asked to do the second exercise ourselves through an instructional video he provided.

The following is the outcome of my exercise of the day:

Figure 4.1 Before recolouring

Figure 4.2 After recolouring

Figure 4.3 Before recolouring

Figure 4.4 After recolouring

Week 5: Introduce to Double Exposure

The topic of this week is double exposure. Before the class started, Mr. Martin briefed us to the submission of Project 1. After a slight briefing on it, we were told to go through the lecture slides and also the video in Youtube which was provided by Mr. Martin that related to the steps of it. Following the instruction, we started to do our exercise of the day in class. Apart from this, we also assigned the project work as well.

Hence, below is my outcome of it:

Double Exposure Outcome

Week 6: Introduce to Exposure & Displacement Map

In photography, exposure is the amount of light that reaches your camera sensor or film. There are three settings that will affect the actual luminous exposure and brightness of an image.

• IRIS: Iris/Aperture controls the flow of light entering the lens. (The lower the f-number, the larger the lens opening)
• SHUTTER: The shutter is a small plastic sheet that opens and closes to allow light onto the film or prevent light from reaching the film. (the higher speed per second, the smoother the image)
• Originally referred to the sensitivity of film—its "light gathering" ability. For digital photography, ISO refers to the sensitivity—the signal gain—of the camera's sensor. (The lower the number of ISO the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain)

From lens perspective, there are wide-angle lenses, standard lenses and tele lenses. The appropriate lens provided the desired framing, lenses choice affects the angle of view. Different lenses are designed for different for different purposes. Lenses can be categorized by FOCAL LENGTH. 

• FOCAL LENGTH: It is the measurement (in millimeters) from the optical center of a camera lens to the camera’s sensor. (The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and vice-versa)
• DEPTH OF FIELD: The proportion of the image that is reasonably sharp and in focus. (The smaller the aperture you use, the greater the depth of field)

- Wide-angle lens: These are ideal for fitting a large area into your frame. It is especially useful for landscape photography or street photography. With wide-angle lenses, almost everything is in focus, unless your subject is very close to the lens.


- Standard lens: It offers a fairly accurate representation of what the human eye sees, both in terms of visual angle and perspective. Images created by the standard lens are perceived as more natural than those taken with other types of camera lenses.

- Tele lens: They are great for isolating a subject that is far away. It allows you to photograph subjects from a distance thanks to their magnification.

1. Open the fabric image > Image > Adjustments > Black & White > Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Adjust it > Save as PSD
2. Open the fabric image again with colour > Copy the flag image and paste it into the fabric image > Right-click the flag layer convert to smart object > Filter > Distort > Displace > Select the previous PSD folder that has saved > Change the blending mode (Choose from hard light to pin light)
3. Use the quick selection tool to select the flag > Go to the fabric layer and click mask it 
4. Create a new layer below the fabric layer > Edit > Fill > Contents: Colour > Choose any colour
5. Use the gradient tool > click on the image to adjust

1. Open the face image > Image > Adjustments > Black & White > Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Adjust it > Save as PSD
2. Open the fabric image again with colour > Copy the logo image and paste it in the face image > Right-click the logo layer convert to smart object > Filter > Distort > Displace > Select the previous PSD folder that has been saved > Change the blending mode
3. Go to the face layer and use the quick selection tool to select it  > Go to the logo layer and click mask it 
4. Go to the mask layer and use the brush tool to erase the eyes and lips

1. Open the face image > Image > Adjustments > Black & White > Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Adjust it > Save as PSD
2. Open the fabric image again with colour > Copy the logo image and paste it in the face image > Right-click the logo layer convert to smart object > Filter > Distort > Displace > Select the previous PSD folder that has been saved > Change the blending mode
3. Go to the cat layer and use the quick selection tool to select it  > Go to the skin layer and click mask it 
4. Go to the mask layer and use the brush tool to erase the eyes and nose

Exercises that have done of the day:

First exercise outcome - Flag

First exercise outcome - Liverpool

First exercise outcome - Animal

Week 7: Introduce to Healing Brush Tool & Transform yourself into cyborg

Mr. Martin introduced us to the healing brush tool this week. The Healing Brush Tool in Photoshop Elements corrects slight imperfections in an image. It does this by blending them with the pixels in the surrounding image. The Healing Brush Tool works in the same manner as the Clone Stamp tool. Basically, there are three different options for giving retouching effects tools in Photoshop which are Spot Healing Brush Tool, Healing Brush Tool and the Patch Tool. 

Healing Brush is the default healing tool. Spot Healing Brush Tool is used to clone areas and quickly remove the blemishes from the image. The main difference between Spot Healing Brush and the normal healing brush is that the spot healing brush requires no source point. Whereas, the Healing Brush needs a source point.

- The Healing Brush Tool is similar to content-aware version of the clone stamp tool. It enables you to clone areas from an image and blend the pixels from the sample area seamlessly with the target area. 

- The Patch Tool is primarily used to repair larger areas of an image, or get rid of any distractions or blemishes.

1. Select Spot Healing Brugh Tool > Lower the brush hardness
2. Check on Sample All Layers > All Layers
3. Apply new layer > Renamed: Spot Healing
4. Click on the part to edit 

• Create a new layer > Renamed: Dodge & Burn > Edit > Fill > Contents: 50% Grey > Change the blending mode: Overlay 
• Lower the exposure %
• Use the Dodge tool to brighten
• Use the Burn tool to darken

Try on other tools as well with the same steps.

1. Add a new layer
2. Image > Apply Image > Layer: Merged

Below are my outcome for the practices:

Spot Healing Brush Tool - Before

Spot Healing Brush Tool - After

Healing Brush Tool - Before

Healing Brush Tool - After

Patch Tool - Before #1

Patch Tool - Before #2

Patch Tool - After #1

Patch Tool - After #2

Content-Aware Move Tool - Before

Content-Aware Move Tool - After

Week 8: Independent Learning Week

No Class!

Week 9: Introduce to Adobe After Effects & Final Project

First of all, Mr. Martin introduced us to the After Effects page, such as some features and tools. Then, he started the class of the day by demonstrating how to operate the After Effects to us. He also introduced us to the Final Project.

1. Open Adobe After Effects > Open File > Select the file > Import Kind: Composition > Layer Options: Editable Layer Styles
2. Composition > Composition Settings > Frame Rate: 25 > Duration: 5 seconds (0:00:05:00)
3. Start editing by pulling the timeline

Week 10: Introduce to Parallax

Today, Mr. Martin introduced us to the parallax photo effect and how to make an animated GIF in Photoshop. He taught us the process step by step. Before the class ended, we were asked to show the proposal for the final project to get some feedback from him.

1. To clean the background: Use Lasso Tool to trace out the object that wanted to clean and mask it
2. Select the mask layer > Ctrl + Click / Select > Load Selection
3. Select again the background layer > Edit > Fill > Contents: Content-Aware
4. The background is clean now > Ctrl + D to remove the selected lasso 

The person was removed

1. Respectively select both layers > Right click > Convert to Smart Object
2. Create video timeline
3. Make some relevant scale and rotate 
4. Export the video: Render Video > Export it

Outcome of the effect

1. Duplicate the layer
2. Mask the girl: Quick Selection Tool > Select the girl > Mask
3. Remove the girl from the background: Go to the background layer > Use Quick Selection Tool and roughly select her
4. Select > Modify > Expand > Expand By: 5 pixels
5. Edit > Fill > Content-Aware
6. Remove the grass now with the same steps 
7. Convert all layers to Smart Object 
8. Create the video

The girl was cropped out

The background was clean now

The outcome of the effect

1. Repeat the same steps as above (Mask out the yoga girl: From step 2 - step 5)
2. Duplicate the yoga girl layer
3. Create Frame Animation > Change the time to 0.5 seconds
4. Duplicate the frame 
5. In frame 1 shut off the yoga2 layer, In frame 2 shut off the yoga1 layer
6. Select frame 2 > Edit > Puppet Warp > Pin the shape

GIF of the outcome

Week 11: Introduce to Parallax

1. Open Adobe After Effects > Open File > Select the Yowa Psd file that has done last week > Import Kind: Composition > Layer Options: Editable Layer Styles
2. Setting all layer to 3D Layer
3. Create a 3D View Layer (Right Click > Camera > Create Camera from 3D View
4. Start Transform

Week 12: Holiday

No Class!

Week 13:Progress Monitoring

• Teams

Week 14: Showing Milestone

• Teams

NOTES

compare the lasso tool and pen tool

photoshop: edit different images together

marquee: make a selection and delete the rest background

lasso tool: simple shape 

polygonal: straight line

magnetic tool: irregular shape

add mask: crop it out - delete the background (black-hide, white-show)

control+click --> add apply layer mask: to take the white items out instead the black one 

pen tool: (slow) trace out 

magic wand tool: plain background (select background to detect the main object)

shadow: brush --> apply --> filter --> blur --> gaussian blur --> adjust radius

quick selection tool --> brush (brush out)

delete key to undo wrong trace

command Z: undo

command T: select specific layer images

command A: select whole layer

command C: copy

command V: paste

command 0: maximize

command -:  zoom out

command +: zoom in

Ctrl + E: merges selected layer

Ctrl + Alt + C: canvas size

Alt + Backspace: fill with the foreground colour

Ctrl + Backspace: fill with the background colour

Key [: to bigger the brush size

Key ]: to smaller the brush size

Key I: Eyedropper Tool