DPI - Project 1 / Physical Collage & Digital Imaging Exercises

April 06, 2023

DPI - Project 1 / Physical Collage & Digital Imaging Exercises

6.4.2023 - 27.4.2023 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Chong Hui Yi / 0363195
Digital Photography and Imaging / Bechelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Project 1 / Physical Collage & Digital Imaging Exercises

INSTRUCTIONS

PROJECT 1: Physical Collage

Our task is to cut out pictures from magazines and create three collages, and finally select one as the submission for our Physical Collage assignment. I have prepared the materials and decided to create a graphic design with the title "Happiness and The Lie."

Fig. 1.0 Pre-composition #1, week 1 (12/4/2023)

Fig. 1.0 is my initial arrangement, with a relatively simple composition, but my goal is to successfully convey a message. It depicts an eye that only sees a beautiful world, and the people in the eye are also looking at the beautiful butterfly. However, they have not noticed the crocodile and monkeys about to attack them. In this graphic design, the butterfly and flowers represent "happiness," the beautiful world, while the crocodile and monkeys represent "the lie." The next two graphic design have a similar meaning, but with different arrangements.

Fig. 1.1 Pre-composition #2, week 1 (13/4/2023)

Due to the smooth edges of the eye image looking odd, I decided to use some paper strips to frame around the eye, creating a sense of mystery as if the eye is peeking through a hole. However, I feel that there are still some shortcomings in this composition, as there are empty spaces in the image which I consider as an issue.

Fig. 1.2 Pre-composition #3, week 1 (13/4/2023)

Fig. 1.2 is the third composition I created, and it's the one I ultimately adopted. I replaced the person in the eye with a flower, creating a sense of tears in the eye. I feel that this design best represents the meaning behind the title "Happiness and The Lie." After Mr. Martin reviewed it, he provided some suggestions for adding small images and text to make the composition more rich in content, which resulted in the final design, Fig. 1.3.

Final Physical Collage:

Fig. 1.3 'Happiness and The Lie', Final physical collage - JPG, week 2 (17/4/2023)

Fig. 1.4 'Happiness and The Lie', Final physical collage - PDF, week 2 (17/4/2023)

PROJECT 1: Digital Imaging Exercise 1 (Hearst Mansion)

For this exercise, we were instructed to crop out our own photos and place them into a background provided by Mr. Martin. During the exercise, we can learned how to adjust our photos to blend better into the background using Adobe Photoshop.

First, I used the Quick Selection tool to subtract the background and crop out myself from my photo. The process went smoothly, as the background in the photo was not too complex. Then, I added a layer mask to the cropped photo.

Fig. 2.0 Crop of myself, week 2 (13/4/2023)

In the next step, I dragged and dropped my photo into the Hearst Mansion background, resized it, and repositioned it to fit the composition.

Fig. 2.1 Result of resizing and repositioning my photo, week 2 (13/4/2023)

To match the image quality, I adjusted the color correction and added noise to my photo.
Since the lighting in the background was coming from the left, and my portrait was lit from the right, I decided to horizontally flip my photo to make it more suitable.

Fig. 2.2 Color corrected and noised portrait, week 2 (13/4/2023)

Next, we needed to add a layer for the shadow and use a brush tool to paint the shadow's shape. Then, we applied the Gaussian Blur effect on the shadow layer, reduced its opacity. Although I found it a bit challenging to draw the shadow, this step really helped to blend the whole picture together!

Fig. 2.3 Adding shadow, week 2 (13/4/2023)

Finally, we added a layer to create a reflection of ourselves in the water, making the entire image more realistic.

Fig. 2.4 adding reflection, week 2 (13/4/2023)

FINAL RESULT:

Fig. 2.5 Hearst Mansion - JPG, week 2 (13/4/2023)

Fig. 2.6 Hearst Mansion - PDF, week 2 (13/4/2023)

PROJECT 1: Digital Imaging Exercise 2 (Recolouring Black & White)

Our task is to select a black and white portrait and recolor it. Here, I have chosen the portrait of Blackpink's Lisa.

Fig. 3.0 Colour references, week 3 (20/4/2023)

First, I used the Eyedropper tool to select the highlight color and painted it on top of the image using the Brush tool, as shown in Figure 3.1.

Fig. 3.1 Extracting the hair colour, week 3 (20/4/2023)

Next, I refined the selection using the Select and Mask tool and smoothed out the edges with the Refine Edge Brush tool after using the Quick Selection tool to roughly select the hair.

Fig. 3.2 Selecting the hair, week 3 (20/4/2023)

I created a new solid layer and chose the hair colour. Then, I dragged and dropped the hair layer mask onto the new solid layer to replace the layer mask. Finally, I selected 'Soft Light' or 'Overlay' as the blending mode. I repeated the same steps for other parts to complete the project.

Fig. 3.3 Hair Recolored from Black and White to Brown, week 3 (20/4/2023)

Fig. 3.1 Recolouring B&W photo, week 3 (20/4/2023)

FINAL RESULT:

Fig. 3.4 Recolouring B&W portrait - JPG, week 3 (20/4/2023)

Fig. 3.5 Recolouring B&W portrait - PDF, week 3 (20/4/2023)

FEEDBACK

Week 2: My first collage was simple, but it worked very well. However, the second one was better than the first one. Mr. Martin suggested adding some small text or images to decorate and enrich the composition.

REFLECTIONS

Experience:

I find creating physical collages to be very enjoyable because I love doing crafts. There are no limitations on themes, allowing me to unleash my imagination in the design process. However, the most challenging part is finding the necessary images and text by flipping through magazines. I actually went through all the magazines in my house, and I even bought one. I spent several hours cutting out pictures, but in the end, I only used a portion of them. Nonetheless, I'm still very satisfied with the final outcome.

Regarding the two digital imaging exercises, I don't think they were as difficult as physical collage since Mr. Martin guided us step by step in class. However, I enjoyed the "recolouring black and white portraits" exercise the most. Watching the black and white images gradually come to life with colors felt like magic.

Observation:

I noticed that my paper cutting skills have improved, although the practice process was a bit monotonous. Apart from that, I discovered that the Refine Edge Brush in Adobe Photoshop is truly remarkable. It allows for precise handling of details like hair, and fortunately, we didn't have to use the Lasso Tool for selection.

Findings:

I learned how to use the "match color" feature to blend subjects with their environment and convert black and white photos into colored ones. This was my first experience using Adobe Photoshop to complete projects. Although it wasn't too difficult, I felt a great sense of accomplishment upon completion. Of course, I also realized that Adobe Photoshop has many other features that I'm not familiar with.

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Chong Hui Yi (0363195)