I can’t believe that I’ve already been taking classes for only 4 months now! I feel like I’ve been learning a ton already, and we really haven’t finished any classes where we’re actually shooting (I can only say that for about another week now). The last class we finished was Photoshop I, where the primary goal is to get the class used to Photoshop, and just playing around with everything (ok, not everything – probably more like the first 1%) that you can do with it.
Our instructor, Phil McNeil told us that this one should be a fun class – just play around with the tools we are being taught, and see what crazy things we can do.We didn’t have the goal of making client worthy files, just something we could have fun with while we learned. And play we did!
The first image I worked on, you might remember from my earlier visit to the Chihuly Exhibit at the MFA:
After adding some mirror images, changing some colors, masking, and even pulling my lovely cousin Julie into the shot, here’s what I came up with:
The second image that I handed in, we learned how to select specific colors to change them more realistically than I had above, and we also learned how to resize different pieces that we’ve pulled in from other images. My model this time was Phil, who agreed to be a part of my Faces Project.
Phil works with me, I don’t think he realized when he volunteered what I might do to him and his picture! Phil definitely enjoys food, so I figured I would round out that empty table and plate with the rest of a meal for him. I also decided that shirt was doing nothing for him – so I made it pop just a little bit…
Both of these files were fun to work with – but I am definitely having way more fun being back behind the camera again, and will have posts about those soon. And I promise those will be much more flattering to the person (or place or thing) in front of the lens!
