MODULE GCD: Digital Photography & Imaging
14/11/2023 - 01/11/2023 : Week 8 - Week X
Tristan Vaughan Sleep - 0365120
Digital Photography & Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Module Group 3
Project 1A + 1B: Collages + Digital Photo-Editing
PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS:
“AUG - DEC 2023: GCD 60104 / D. PHOTOGRAPHY + IMAGE MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET”
PROJECT 1A: Physical + Digital Collage Practise (Week 1 - 3)
Physical Collage Practice: In this upcoming exploration, the students of the cohort are expected to search through a series of magazines and other physical media to find interesting graphics and material. Upon selecting the graphics and/or elements, students are then instructed to ‘cut out’ and arrange them to create multiple different compositions. When their lecturer is satisfied with their work, students are to assemble their preferred composition using canvas and glue.
Digital Collage Practice: In this exploration, students are provided a series of digital resources including full scenes, isolated elements as well as graphical elements. Using the ‘Adobe Photoshop’ program, students are expected to produce multiple digital collages - similar to the first exploration. Again, once their lecturer is satisfied with the working; students modify their final collage using masks and filters to create their desired vision. Students are not permitted to use any material outside of the ones provided.
PROJECT 1B: Photo Manipulation + B&W Image Recolouring (Week 3 - 7)
Photo Manipulation: With this exploration, students are provided with a background plate taken inside the ‘Hearst Mansion’ as well as a poster promoting the film “SHAZAM.” The goal of the cohort is practise extracting the “Shazam Character” from the poster and implementing them into the ‘Hearst Mansion’ in a believable fashion (utilising the Adobe Photoshop Program.) Upon completion, students are then to attempt the challenge again, implementing themselves into the scene.
Black & White Image Recolouring: In this Exploration, the cohort is provided with a series of black & white photos (and coloured images for reference.) Students are expected to take the black & white images and recolour them using elements such as a clipping mask to emulate what a coloured photograph should look like. Students are to complete this a handful of times - increasing in complexity and detail every time.
PROJECT 1A: Physical + Digital Collage Practise (Week 1 - 4)
WEEK 1 PRACTICAL: e-Portfolio + Collage Investigation
With the importance stressed by the Module’s lecturer, Mr. Fauzi Yusoff; the class was suggested to begin working to setting-up an e-Portfolio where our work should be posted and updated upon the completion of the week’s projects. In regards to the main activity, the cohort was recommended to begin browsing online galleries such as Pinterest to find interesting designs which relate to the “Collage Concept.” This way, we could compile visual references and ideas for composition for the upcoming explorations.
While searching, we needed to spend our time documenting any designs we found interesting then selecting the three which were the most eye-catching to us. With our favourites selected, we were suggested to look more into them and specifically explain why we believed ourselves to be interested in the pieces as this would help to form strong mental-notes moving forward. Ultimately, I had added enough pieces to my collection and had collected three which I believed were the most noteworthy - being sure to attach my reasoning for selecting them.
“Example design 1: 100 years of Olympics”
I first became interested in this collage piece due to how it uses its creative style to capture and celebrate the last hundred modern Olympic games, reaching as far back as 1896. It is heavily themed around sportsmanship and global athletes.
This Poster is able to express the pure essence of the Olympic Games - being a celebration of diversity both in Gender + Nationality as well as sports. It captures the Sportsmanship between players; displaying the fun and inviting energy as well as showing the dedication and practise the athletes have taken to earn the global title. Finally, the poster is well crafted, considering cinematography and colour - making a pleasant viewing experience for readers.
“Example Design 2: Headlines gathered for the past 100 years”
I found this piece interesting not only because it retains the Collage Style but also due to it being able to convey a large amount of information. This piece is able to condense more than twelve decades into a single picture which does not feel overly crowded. Additionally, it is able to seamlessly blend elements from different eras into one piece without any of the elements feeling out of place - a unique display of human development.
This piece summaries a Century’s worth of American History only using Archives from a news outlet. It is heavily themed around American efforts & controversies. The main Concept of this Collage “The Greater America” featuring their most involved situations.
Cinematography wise, I like the piece as it keeps all the busts in the upper-third of the page which gradually moves downwards to show larger scenes. Additionally, the author chooses to frame the most controversial elements in the middle where there is the most colour.
“Example Design 3: Surrealist image of Japanese Night-life”
This piece was interesting to explore mainly due to it being designed similarly to Collage however, it achieves this in a fascinating surreal style. In essence, this piece is able to capture the night-life experience of Japanese streets; consisting of a series of alternating streets organised to feel like an endless tunnel - resembling the endless browsing experience.
This piece is able to express the Night-time street culture of Japan. It is mainly themed around the vast amount of night-markets but also the Japanese unique capitalistic views. The main concept of this Collage is “The vibrant streetside of Japan '' featuring a mixture of culture and design.
Cinematography wise, I find it interesting that the original artist took a more exaggerated approach with the piece such as the apartment buildings blocking out the sky. Interestingly, it communicates how crowded these places can feel however, it still feels like a celebration of their culture with the inclusion of Japanese Iconography.
WEEK 1 Resources:
“COMPOSITION STUDIES: COLLAGE” - https://youtu.be/2KqXGMf0HNk
WEEK 2 PRACTICAL: Introduction into Composition + Collage
Building upon the research the students were required to produce last week, the cohort would apply their findings & discoveries to develop their own compositions in the style of a Collage. For this week practical, students were expected to assemble three separate composition designs for a physical collages - requiring them to find graphics and elements from printed-media. Once completed and photographed, they were to be confirmed by the lecturer.
Despite this module mainly focusing on digital photography, the decision to have the cohort start off with a practical assignment would prove quite beneficial as it introduces the fundamentals of composition, shape & colour - without needing to work with an intimidating software. Additionally, these newly developed skills could easily be applied to our future digital projects.
1A.1 - Pre-Composition Design
In the beginning of this practical, it was important to collect magazines or newspapers which can supply interesting visuals and graphics to make a more creative design. Once I had collected and cut-out a series of pieces, I would be able to start with designing composition.
“Composition 1: Vertical Culture”
This first composition was mainly designed around the idea of the world’s diverse culture - heavily presented in the magazines which I had collected. I mainly searched for visuals such as important landmarks, traditional activities and apparel and to explore how I could have them interact with one another. For the composition, I wanted the viewers of the piece to start from the bottom - with the word “Culture” and have them gradually work upward by using normally vertical items like buildings or bamboo shoots. Another design choice I wanted to experiment with was attempting to hide the seams between the pieces in an attempt to make the piece feel whole.
“Composition 2: Horizontal Culture”
In my Second composition, I thought it would be interesting to try and re-create the first composition but attempt it from a different perspective. By arranging the composition in a landscaping format, I felt that it would be more important to use more horizontal elements as the human-eye normally moves from left-to-right. One main take away I got from this composition is the importance of colour & shape as my lecturer pointed out, most viewers would be drawn to the large pikachu at the centre of the composition due to it having a vivid colour and one of the largest spaces.
“Composition 3: Adventure”
For the third design, I believed it to be more beneficial to move to a new topic (being “adventure”) as it could consider design layouts which I may have not previously considered. For this, I mainly focused on elements focusing on people and architecture which are often the most common elements in compositions. Regardless, the lecturer was ultimately satisfied that my designs were well designed and I was clear to begin working on the final design.
1B.1 - Final Composition
To close out this exploration, my final composition was designed using portrait alignment - being inspired by both the first and third design. However, due to incorrectly planning around the length of the canvas, I also chose to incorporate the second design which is prominent towards the bottom of the image. The composition had minor changes, mainly removing elements such as the large wheel and pikachu as both were either too large or heavily contrasting with the rest of the elements.
“Final Physical Composition”
From this experimentation, the idea that I found the most difficult to design was the layering aspect of the piece. This was due to the constant need to revise which elements overlap as well as establishing an effective hierarchy. This could potentially be due to the issue with moving elements around physically as elements can catch + hold onto one another and always need to be realigned.
WEEK 2 Resources:
“EXIT HOME” - https://youtu.be/A6ua6Fd3OWA
“ENTER LIFE” - https://youtu.be/BlW7F-fTsbE
WEEK 3 PRACTICAL: Digital Composition Collage
Continuing with the previous week’s exploration, the students were to continue their compositional designs however, we were to experiment using the digital medium. In essence, the cohort has been given access to the “Adobe Photoshop Program” and were expected to produce a series of compositions using the provided resources. While doing so, students would learn how to effectively use the tools of the Adobe Program. For this exploration, students would mainly learn how to use various selection tools - from the lasso selection, pin-point-selection and the magic wand.
For the magic wand, this tool can be used on visual elements which possess a solid-colour background due to the student needing to select the background like a counter-form. This way, you can select what is not needed and then invert the selection to have a clear element..
The Pin-Point-Selection Tools functions identically to Adobe’s pen tool - allowing the students to create an outline using nodes. Anything inside the line-area will be selected. This tool is mainly useful for selecting elements which may be in complex images. Additionally, it could be used to create dynamic shapes when using graphics.
With these newly learned skills, our lecturer expected us to compile the elements and graphics to create interesting compositions. It was suggested by our lecturer however, to not use too many elements to keep the composition simple for our first practise.
“Collection of completed Digital Collages.”
During this process, I found that composing the image was a bit more simplified and more simple compared to doing it by hand as all elements could be rearranged with no hassle. That being said, the new challenge came in the form of the software engine as I found it irritating to press all these options to manipulate the scale or location of an element where in Adobe Illustrator, it’s one click. Additionally, the ‘layers tab’ can be difficult at times as it shows the element in reference to their position on the canvas.
WEEK 4 PRACTICAL: Digital Composition Collage Pt. II
This week’s activity would be quite brief when compared to the previous as it would require us to take our best design from the previous week and to colour adjust elements of the collages using filters. The main elements we would be introduced to would be the “Hue/Saturation Filter” as well as “Colour-balance Filter.” Although this would be a rudimentary system, it served to show students how we would be able to alter elements to match our creative visions.
“The Final Digital Composition - edited using filters.”
My main intention in these edits were to use filters to draw out the three primary colours to make the piece more visually appealing as it would create a dynamic contrast. Additionally, I decided to boost the saturation of the images as it could enhance the surreal feel with all elements being overly-vivid.
this portion of the exploration, the greatest challenge was learning how to effectively apply these filters to exclusively one element. This can be achieved by selecting the element using any of the tools used last week and then applying the filter. If this is not done, a new layer is created in which the whole image changes (is useful in some conditions.)
WEEK 4 Resources:
“DPI Photoshop exercise 1-heart mansion” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6XqlUP-MUA
PROJECT 1B: Photo Manipulation + B&W Image Recolouring (Week 5 - 7)
WEEK 5 PRACTICAL: Digital Comping in the Hearst Mansion
Taking a departure from the previous month of work, the cohort would now begin shifting our focus over to the second part of Project 1. In this latter half, students would continue to use Adobe Photoshop and would be instructed how to further manipulate elements of a finalised composition. In this week’s example, we would be provided necessary material to start Photo Manipulation in the form of “Digital Comping” - the process of taking an element and putting it into another in the most realistic method possible.
“Original Material Provided”
For this exercise, the cohort would need to place the DC Superhero “Shazam” into the interior swimming pool found inside the Hearst Mansion. The main goal would be to try and make this comp-in look as realistic as possible which can be difficult and requires a good understanding of both the Program as well as imaging.
“Finalised Version of Shazam at the Hearst Mansion”
When attempting to comp Shazam into the scene it was important to understand certain limitations of the camera: colour, exposure & compression.
With cameras, colour values can be limited due to exposure as bright lights (such as the sunlight from the windows) can “blow-out” the colours, making them look desaturated. When comping Shazam into the shot, I began applying filters to try and alter his colours so they match the ones in the scene - easily seen in Shazam White highlights being the same as the window as his shadows being as dark as those found in the mansion. In essence, cameras do not always capture a perfect white light or black shadow, thus comped in elements need to be adjusted to match these colour values.
It is important to remember that cameras are not able to capture images to the same level of details that our eyes do - resulting in images that are compressed. This can best be seen in both images as the pixelation when zooming deep into the image. The main difficulty then comes from comping Shazam into the mansion as two different cameras with differing resolutions were used - leading to an inconsistent pixelation. To combat this, students are able to apply a minor noise filter to the Shazam, making his pixelation closer to the one seen in the mansion.
Minor additional details to the image is the use of a warp element option which was used when creating Shazam's reflection. Another tool used was the "Grid-Manipulate tool" where you can distort elements - also used in the Shazam reflection as I noticed that the pillars' reflection are not perfectly straight and curve into the middle of the water.
WEEK 6 PRACTICAL: B&W Image Recolouring Pt. I
Continuing with the concept of Photo Manipulation, this week’s exercise would see the cohort learn how to restore colour images which are originally black & white. To achieve this effect, students would need to experiment with colours & special layering such as Overlay or soft-lighting. For this exercise, students were given one of the last portraits of Norman Lindsay and we would need to recolour him to appear as if the photo was taken in colour.
“Original image of Norman Lindsay”
In order to achieve this effect, students would rely on tools such as the paint brush and eraser to paint elements such as skin tone or hair colour. This did prove to be a bit tedious as the brush has a weird halo effect which can make erasing difficult, especially near the edges of his silhouette as this would bleed into the background. Once we had completely coloured on top of the original image, it was suggested by the lecturer to begin experimenting with blending modes - with overlay and soft/hard light being the most realistic looking in my experience. The blending could further be altered by changing the opacity of the image.
“Recoloured image of Norman Lindsay”
Overall, I am quite satisfied with the final result of my experimentation as the colour correction is some-what passable. The only thing I am not too pleased with is how this recolouring technique seems to remove a bit of depth from the image or at least makes the image feel more flat. Hopefully, in the upcoming weeks, I will be able to work on these skills and provide more depth to the recoloured image.
WEEK 6 Resources:
“DPI Photoshop Exercise 3-Recolouring B & W Photo” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeGpKh6pMfk
WEEK 7 PRACTICAL: B&W Image Recolouring Pt. II
This Week’s exercise is identical to the exercise provided to us last week however, the lecturer has provided additional resources as well as raised the expectation of these new images. These new resources are short explanations and examples as to ways to easily outline elements of the original image i.e skin, hair, clothes etc. This would be a great help when compared with last week’s exercise as if the student did not correctly paint the image, it could lead to two layers overlapping and creating dark spots. Students would be able to correctly select areas with great precision using layering-masks and a new tool called “Refine Edge Brush.” Additionally, students would get their colour palette from another image of a coloured women.
“Original Image of the Women + Sourced Colour Palette”
In order to outline the elements we wished to recolour, students would select everything but the element we wanted and then invert select. For example, in the final image I may have wished to recolour her skin so I would outline the background, hair, clothes etc. and then invert. With this, we could create a layering-mask and then refine the selection using the Refine Edge Brush. This tool would make it so that the colour of the small detail such as where the hair meets the scalp or where the fluff of the jacket blurs over the skin. In my opinion, this is the sole reason as to why these new images look a lot better because it helps blend all the colour together in a more believable manner.
“Recoloured image of the Women”
As this week's exercise required the recolouring of two images (one of the women and the other of our choice,) I decided to look at images of individuals with different features such as a darker skin tone as it reacts differently to light. This is mainly to get experience working with larger ranges of colour.
“Recoloured image of a Kobe Bryant”
WEEK 7 Resources:
“DPI AUG20 Week 5 Recolouring in class exercise” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tye0ULqK9SQ
“Composition 3: Adventure”
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