Photoshop 3 - HDR

Today we were introduced to HDR in our Photoshop 3 module. HDR, High Dynamic Range, is a process where you take 3 of the same shots at different exposures and merge them into a single shot. Although I didn't have any single shots at different exposures, I created a pseudo HDR image by making virtual copies of one image at different exposures in Lightroom and then I merged them into Photomatix, the HDR software we are using. Below is an example of HDR.

At exposure -2.00

At exposure 0.00

At exposure +2.00

The HDR image.

Photoshop 2 Deliverable

Today we had to turn in an image demonstrating our use of Photoshop techniques that we learned this week. Using the image I worked on earlier this week, I decided to composite a few more images using various masking techniques, clipped adjustment layers and an overlay blend for the sidewalk. Below you can see the image that I started out with and the final transformation.

Before

After

Spring is here!

Temperatures are near 70 degrees today. It's a beautiful day for 4 photography and 1 graphic design student to have lunch on a bench near the canals of Georgetown.

Photoshop and the White House

This week we are working on the Photoshop 2 module. We practiced selecting and masking images that we took today. I kind of meshed a few of my images together into one shot. Like my shoutout to the CDIA Boston campus?

Composition and Desigin

This week we had Design and Composition with Robert Severi (www.robertseveri.com). Throughout the week we shot everything from circles and squares, bathrooms and street scenes. For our final deliverable assignment we had to shoot 15 images on a list of 9 themes; Tell Me a Story (3 shots), Eye of the Beholder (1 shot), Look Ma, No Eyes1 (1 shot), Faceless Portrait (1 shot), Through a Glass, Darkly (1 shot), Stakeout (1 shot), A Shot Per Day, WET (1 shot), How Ironic! (1 shot), This is How I Feel (1 shot). Here are a few of my shots for the final assignment.

Eye of the Beholder

Look Ma, No Eyes!
(I squated down and put the camera down between my legs and near the floor.)

Faceless Portrait

Through a Glass, Darkly

Stakeout

How Ironic!

Everyday I averaged about 500 shots. It was great being able to have Robert Severi break down my shots and tell me why things worked or didn't work in terms of design and composition.

CDIA Showcase - Photo Illustration

Tonight Robert Severi gave a talk on photo illustration. Through the use of photographs and Photoshop, one is able to create an image that can be real or surreal. A key point to photo illustration is taking lots of pictures for components and making sure each component can be individually adjusted. Robert showed us a few photo illustrations which he created with previous CDIA classes as well as his own creations. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to photo illustration is coming up with ideas. Robert draws inspiration from artists like Salvador Dali, childhood memories and his imagination to create images. Great examples of photo illustration can be seen on Robert's website www.robertseveri.com.

Robert Severi behind the computer.

Fine Art Printing for Photographers

This week we worked on fine art printing with David Sharpe (www.davidsharpe.com) as our instructor. For this module we selected up to six images that we've taken to process for a 13 x 19 luster or matte paper print made on an Epson 4800 printer. We did all our proof printing using 5 x 9 enhanced matte paper and Epson 3800 printers. The process to find the optimal print was very involved. For every change we made we had to make a print and compare it with the previous print and decide whether or not to make more adjustments. I averaged about 20 proof prints before I got an optimal print.

David Sharpe reviewing proofs.

The Epson 3800 printers we used for proof printing.

A series of proofs showing a change in brightness.

The 4 color prints are my 13 x 19 prints.