Monochrome

On the left is the original photo I took on a day out in London. First I look at the photo which I took to coincide with the title 'Changing Landscapes', I decided I wanted to empashasise the point of London being a dirty city and so changed the photo into a negaitve on photoshop. This gave the effect of a smokey sky with ghost like buildings.

I then thought about the idea of colourizing the photo to make it more interesting. I did this by copying the original layer to unlock it and changing the hue and saturation. I clicked colourize and changed the hue to a red colour. I then changed the lightness and made the red a darker colour so I could still keep the dark dirty theme of a changed landscape alive.

This looked quite good and I felt was an improvement on both the original photo and the negative version in just black and white.

Using Hue Saturation and lightness

A changing landscape

The image above is a print screen showing how i changed the image from a simple but effective shot of a changing landscape to a more arty styleized image. I changed the levels and clicked the colourize box to create a range of different bright coloured buildings. I moved the hue to change the colour and then i moved the saturation along to make it a darker and more saturated dense colour or a less saturated and dense colour. I then changed the lightness so i could make the colour dark or light.

After changing the colour of buildings i wanted too i opened a new window and cut out a banksy image. i then copyed it onto a layer on my existing window and moved it about. I put the image on a wall because the character looks like they are sweeping rubbish underneath the curtain and you can see the bare wall behing. I felt that this would show a good example of layers. I also used the magic wand tool to highlight the grafiti that was present already and changed the colours.

In the original image you could see the tracks (as it was taken out a train window) and so i cut these out.This is because I didnt think foreground was necessary and didnt really add anything to the final image. I decided to leave the sky in black and white because I felt if it had been a big blue sky the viewers eye would have been drawn away from the buildings.

Skills Develpment

Before and After photo

Before

After

The original image had a horribly dull boring sky so I used the magic wand tool and selected the sky. I then went to levels and used the filter tool, I chose a blue filter so the sky would look bluer and then i changed the brightness too to get the colour of sky i wanted.

I then selected the road and foreground with my magic wand tool and carefully selected different bits and brightened them up to give a reder coloured soil which i felt would look look contrasting with the blue of the sky. I then realised that on the horizon some of the sky was still a greyish colour because the magic wand had not picked up those areas. I then repeated the original process of changing the filter to get a similar colour that would be unoticable.

I was thinking of taking out the telegraph pole but decided that your eye followed them down the road and without them the viewer would not be able to image the lengh of the road and the surrounding bleak harsh landscape.

I finally decided that the sky was too big and cropped the photo at the top so the viewers eye would be drawn more towards the horizon and the firery coloured road.

Using Levels

1) A histogram shows the distribution of brightness in a photo. If its a very dark image then the histogram will visually show this. It is usually good to have a histogram that shows an even distribution of colour.

2) An under exposed image is very dark because less light has been let onto the film, a correctly exposed image is 'normal' and has had the right amount of light allowed onto the film, An over exposed image is very light as it has had too much light let onto the film.

3) If an image is high key it means it has predominantly light tones however if its a low key image it means it has predominantly dark tones.

4) Levels let you adjust colours and the contrast of a photo so you make a photo brighter or darker so it doesn't matter if the original exposure of a photo isn't perfect because you can change that.

5) The selection tools let you concentrate on a certain area of a photo which means you can edit that particular section in any way you like it whether its by changing the contrast or smudging it with the distortion tools.

6) Channeling means you can take an image and mask a certain part you dislike by altering the colour of the section you want to mask. Its very easy to use and for best results it should be used on a black and white photo or night time shot of a horizon with dark sky.

Using cropping tool

When considering when making a "cropping decision" I first think about what I would hope to achieve by cropping the photo and most importantly is it necessary. I first analyse where my eye is drawn too in the photo and decide whether its the main focal point. I then look at the proportions of the photo and look to see if there is any unused wasted space. If there is any space at any of the sides of the photo i decide whether it has a positive or a negative effect on the the photo. I have used it on a landscape taken in Chile because the sky was very plane and i felt that cropping the top of the photo would create a better photo, that displayed the depth of field in a more effective way. The viewers eye is now drawn towards the horizon rather than the dull sky so i feel the cropping I have done is a success.

Techniques I have used

Photoshop tools

I have used a range of tools so far in photoshop. These include:

Magic wand tool: This can be used to highlight an area of a photo where pixels are all of a similar colour. You can then change colour levels etc. In my opinion its the most important tool because you cant do anything else thats going to do a huge difference to the photo without knowing how to use it effectively.

Magnetic wand: This can be used to cut around an area manually and will stick to a line of pixels with a similar colour and is very efficient at cutting an area out quickly if your in a rush. In my opinion its a better tool to use compared to the lasso tool because people that are not used to photo editing can use it effectively.

Clone Stamp: The clone stamp can be used if you want to cover up an area discretely. I have used this in a few photos and its best to use it when trying to get rid of imperfection in skin on portraits if you want to see its best results.

Auto Levels: If you change the auto levels it automatically makes the photo brighter and this can be used, again if your in a rush and theoretically can achieve the same results as you wanting to do the same thing manually in seconds rather than tens of minutes.