Color Adjustment and More Masks

Various methods of selection were used on the fries (magic wand), the milk carton (lasso tool), and the lettuce (quick selection) to create new adjustment layers and enhance or alter the colors. In the case of the fries a levels adjustment was made, and a drop shadow was used as well. For the milk carton the colors were inverted. A hue/saturation adjustment was made to turn the lettuce into red cabbage.

 This image is a composite of the background, which is an image I took near my home in the Santa Cruz mountains, and the dove. The dove was selected from it's background using the color range command, which was very simple since it was against a solid blue sky. I used the refine edge tool to decontaminate the blue out of the edges and clean up the margins. I also brightened up some of the greens in the background using a layer mask and the hue/saturation adjustment.

These statues from Easter Island were dropped onto a background with a more dramatic sky than the one they came from. I used the color range command to select them, which again was very simple because they were in front of a solid blue sky. The refine edge tool was used to reset the radius of the selection, move the edges and increase the contrast. After they were moved onto the new background I used the magnetic lasso to clean up a few spots that came with them.

More Drawing in Illustrator

Cityscape & Landscape

Drawing in Illustrator

Rocket Science

This image was taken at the Embarcadero in San Francisco. The color was manipulated using Alpha channels to mask and create the individual selections, then creating adjustment layers. The rocket, the boy, the sidewalk, and the bricks in between were each masked, selected, and adjusted separately using the hue/saturation tool.

Collage

This image was created in response to an assignment to create a collage centered on an artist or artists from the 19th century. All of the images in this collage are of or by the pioneer women in the field of professional photography, including the background image. I worked with the opacity of each image as I brought it in, to maintain the integrity of the torso as canvas. Because photography was limited to black and white at that time, there was no need to work with color adjustment. The text is from an advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle I found during the course of my research.

Magazine Cover

This is a simulated magazine cover I designed in the poster style because I prefer a clean, uncluttered format. The cover image is a composite of my face, (several of them, actually), and a photo of Marlene Deitrick, sans Marlene. Once the image came together it was just a matter of selecting the fonts I wanted to work with and experimenting with different fx to enhance the magazine's theme. I kept the cover lines simple and symmetrical to keep the focus on the image. I have always found black and white photos capable of creating the most striking visual effects. The red makes the image pop, and is a classic compliment to the black and white combination.

Masks & Overlay Blending

This was my first attempt at using the calculations tool to blend color channels to create a mask. I used the pen tool to include parts of the image that the mask didn't pick up. Then the overlay brush is used to finesse the selection. This is a very effective method for masking a tricky subject. The air guitar/tennis racket player was lifted from his original background and placed on this green field. I failed to address the shadows on his legs, however, creating an odd lighting discrepancy in the overall image.