Week 6 - Re-color Collage

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CRAFT:
The first thing I did was remove the craquluer filter. I used the magnetic lasso to remove the images of Laura from the backdrop, then cleaned up the edges with the eraser and a soft brush. I resized the background layer to get rid of some of the bright stripes towards the top of the image. I added a separate layer to create a glow around the teddy grahams. I just used a large, white, soft brush and tampered with the opacity. In #1, I decreased the saturation of the background. In #2, I desaturated the background and then used variations to create a new background. In #3, I saturated the graham crackers, Laura, and the background(slightly).In #5, I made the background black and white and decreased its value. In #5 I made Laura and the teddies grayscale, added a motion filter to a second layer of teddy grahams lying behind the first, and drastically altered the hue and saturation of the background. #6 is my original image from last week.

CONCEPT:
I was still trying to work towards the idea of distractions from working. The girl furthest away is studying adamantly even though there seems to be a distraction right in front of her. The middle girl seems to be trying to study, but she has obviously noticed something far better than her work. The closest girl no longer has any reference to work and is reaching out for the distraction presented in front of her.

COMPOSITION:
#1- I tried to make the teddy grahams the most "distracting" part of the image, so I increased their brightness, contrast, and saturation. I positioned them across from the girls as distractions from her work. The background and girls I kept simple because I did not want to overpower the teddy grahams. I also darkened the teddies to make the one furthest pop out the most, as that is the pairing that should be seen first.
#2- I darkened the background a bit because I felt that it looked better, but I left the teddies the same, as well as Laura. With the darker background, the brighter teddy caught the eye better.
#3- I saturated Laura significantly, as well as the teddies. I also tampered with the color variation of the teddies to make them look golden and shiny because to me, that is desirable and distracting. The background hue was altered so that it contrasted with the other objects, but still pulled the image together.
#4- I decreased the value and saturation of the background in order to bring out the other elements. The teddies seem unnatural, though.
#5- I wanted to do a reverse effect with the black and white, so I made the subjects monochrome and the background vivid. I still feel that they stand out before the background, however the ability to lead the eye was lost.

Week 5 - Re-collage

CRAFT:
I replaced the images of Rebecca with ones of Laura, so I used the magnetic lasso and a soft eraser to remove her from the background. I placed the teddy bears across from laura and used the polygon lasso to trace the edges of the keys and remove the proper parts of the teddies. I applied a glow with a white brush and put a craquluer filter on the whole image in attempt to hide the impurities.

CONCEPT:
As stated before, I am trying to convey the message that when you're working, you are plagued with distractions. In this particular case, food.

COMPOSITION:
I placed each teddy graham across from the girl to not only correlate her to a distraction, but to also balance out the image. I added a glow to the teddy grahams because to me, illumination is distracting so it draws attention to the teddies from the girl as well as the observer.

Week 4 Collage

What's unexpected? Maybe the fact that there are multicolored teddy grahams popping up all over the keyboard of an ancient PC? Perhaps the fact that there is a girl with her tongue out who magically fits on a key?
...or that the keyboard magically spells...

YUM


CRAFT
The keyboard I photographed was ridiculously old and dusty, so I applied the sume-i filter. I used the smudge brush on Rebecca and the teddy grahams. I blacked out the letters on the keyboard and replaced them to spell YUM. I tampered with the hue and saturation of the teddy grahams in order to make them flow with the colors Rebecca was wearing. I applied craquelure to the whole image to give some consistency. I was going for a more painted look rather than a photographed one.

CONCEPT
Whenever I am working on homework, I am usually munching on some Teddy Grahams. Many of my assignments require the use of a computer, so I'm usually eating teddy grahams while at my laptop. I didn't think to combine the images of Rebecca, the teddies, and the keyboard when I took my photos, but as I dabbled around with the images I had, the message became clearer to me. I positioned the bears behind the keys and Rebecca standing on the keys trying to taste the snacks. After critique, I have realized that the homework aspect of the art is missing. I have some ideas on how to fix this that will appear in my next edition.

COMPOSITION
The teddy grahams are popping up between the keys of the keyboard with Rebecca trying to taste them. I positioned both her and the teddies where I felt necessary in order to balance the image. I dulled the keyboard so that Rebecca and the teddies stood out more. The colors of the teddies were changed to match Rebecca so that they did not take precedence in the image, as she is the first thing I wanted the viewer to see.

Week 3 - Reshoot

things

places

people


CRAFT
I used a GE 12.2 mp camera with and without flash, depending on the lighting. I tried to find the simplest backdrop when possible. I did not have the means to create a black backdrop or a well light one either. I also used a couple of images I took from various trips abroad.

CONCEPT
I did not have a particular "vision", so to speak. However, while eating a bowl of macaroni and cheese, I decided I wanted to use it as my place with people jumping into the noodles and lounging around the bowl, like a spa. Oddly enough, the picture of the macaroni that I was so set on using did not please me. I figured that my images would come together some how.

COMPOSITION
As I previously mentioned, I was going for a macaroni and spa theme. I didn't really know which objects to use, so I snapped random ones on my desk...and an exit sign, which I snapped thinking the text could be useful. I selected locations that I thought were unique and that I could work with. They're actually some of my favorite things--food, computers, the apls... I photographed the people last in order to get them in poses I thought I could use with my objects/places. All of my favorite poses happened to be set up for the macaroni, aside from the horn player. I just think he's cool.