https://prezi.com/tqtzthurcsmi/art-deco-first-made-it039s-appearance-in-france/

Tutorial for a Double Exposure on Photoshop

        In this tutorial it teaches you how to do a double exposure in Photoshop with two images. The most common images used to create this effect is using a side portfolio of a person on a white background and nature as the second image. The first step is to separate the person from the background, using the channel with the most contrast it was duplicated by dragging it into the new icon. then go to Image>Adjustments>Levels then move the mid tones and shadows sliders towards the right to dramatically darken the image without having the darkness move to the background. After with the brush tool in black the remaining highlighted area was painted black. Click RGB layer to return to the normal, after Select> Inverse, then paste the clipping onto a new layer and fill in the background with white. Then apply a mask to the landscape and CMD+Click the thumbnail of the portrait layer, then apply a layer mask to the clip of the landscape. Adjust the image of the landscape to get the part of the image you want to show in the portrait. Go back to the original portrait and have it be B&W, then have a soft brush filled with black to reveal more of the landscape for the desired look. Then the eyedropper was used to find a colour from the sky to use to fill in for the background.

        I found this video to be a bit complicated since I am not 100% familiar with Photoshop up to date. So to me I found the video to go too fast and it was hard to follow along with all the steps. But I do find this Double Exposure technique to be very interesting and artistic, and that this can be used for many things.

Masking in Photoshop

        This was a quick assignment which was to help us refresh our memory on how to use masks in Photoshop for another upcoming assignment. We were told to choose a picture of a famous person that we like or dislike, I chose Lana Del Rey because no one else came to mind. Then we were to find a new image which would be suitable as a new background image for the celebrity. In my case I chose the image of a park because I thought that it would match with the image of Lana and look the most realistic.

        I first placed the image of the park in the Photoshop tab, I then created a new tab and dragged the image of Lana so that I have more control of what will be "masked". I placed the white mask over Lana, I then used the pencil brush with the colour black which will reveal the new background (the park). I would also switch to the brush in white if I made a mistake (e.g if I erased some parts of Lana's body it would appear again) and  I would change the size of the brush as I went along the outline of the body. As I did this assignment I would remind myself that white conceals and black reveals. I then dragged the tab where masked Lana's image and placed it onto the tab where the background photo is.  I also would have the brush to have a soft edge, this technique was used so that when I used the pencil in black Lana's body can somewhat blend into the background. To try and minimize the appearance that there are actually two different images and not just one. When I finished using the mask I just readjusted the sizing so that she doesn't look out of place in the background.

That is how I ended up with this finished result.

Pixel Portrait

GIF 

PNG

Technical Procedure

        The first step I took was to find a picture of myself that would have strong shadows so that my end result can look as close to the original photo as possible. The file created in Photoshop had a total of 100 x 150 pixels, RGB color, 72 dpi and a white background.  I then placed the photo on the white background. I then created different layers on top of the picture and labeled it the corresponding names. Since my photo has a lot of different shades it was difficult for me to find a correct color match, so I used the eyedropper tool to find the right shade. Then I would use the pencil tool in 1 pixel to color on the white background and  trace the existing shadows from the original photo. The way I achieved my final result was that every time there was a slight color change I would go back to the eyedropper, get the new shade and continue coloring in. I found that that was the best way to achieve the 3-D affect that I was looking for, it did take a bit longer but the I'm pleased with the final result.

Characteristics

       Since my face doesn't have any prominent features I decided to pay more attention to the detail of the shirt, face and hair. If  I didn't pay attention to everything then the end result could of been anyone. I really focused on getting an even gradient on my cheeks  and under eyes because that is one of the features that do stand out the most if I had to choose something from my face. The shirt was filled in with more detail, because I felt like that would make the image look even more 3-D.

File Format

        The last instruction for this assignment was to export the file as a .gif and as a .png and upload it to our blog and compare them. To me I don't see a difference, there is no color change, the position stayed the same in both the .png and the .gif.

Chinese Watercolour

          Chinese watercolour painting was a very popular and loved style of painting thousands of years ago in China. There are many different categories with this medium but one of the most painted categorise was the Flower and Bird.  It consisted of having one to three birds in the painting accompanied by a blossom tree or different kinds of flowers.  The colour pallet of these paintings consist of bright colours with a white background. For this style it is acceptable to add nothing to the background, but as a result the flowers and the birds have to be carefully placed to create a flow in the painting.  

    The image to the right is an example of Chinese watercolour in the categories of Flower and Bird. When painting in this style it is critical to plan out where everything is going to be placed. Composition and Space play a big role in the creation of the painting. The first Blue Jay is placed as if it is looking up and the tail is towards the left corner of the paper which minimizes the negative space, the flower on the right corner balances and compliments the tail of the bird. The second bird  also occupies the negative space that was in the middle. The paper usually used is pulp and bark it allows more paint to be used as the wood absorbs the water and doesn't leave a wavy texture, if regular paper would of been used. There are different types of brushes used but the most common one has a finer tip which gives a wide range of variations of lines for the artwork. In this painting the brush was used to create shading texture and lines in the making of the bird and flower. Lastly the painter thinks carefully where they are going to sign there name because it can either add beauty to it or it can throw off the the flow of the artwork. They seal it with a bright red, in this painting the seal looks like its part of the flowers.

Thank you for reading my first post in year 2!