OUGD405- Design process- software workshop photoshop

In the first session we were introduced to the fundamentals of Photoshop. 

Photoshop uses bitmap graphics- made from pixels

Never increase the size of an image, it will go pixelated

Always need to know the output- final presentation of the image

Always need to know the resolution- higher the pixels, higher the quality of the image

Open new document screen

Print -CMYK 300 pixels per inch

Screen - RGB 72 pixels per inch

 Proof Test

It is better to keep images in RGB whilst working on screen. If you want to check what an image would look like printed, use the proof settings.

Proof- test image/mock up

view/proof setup/proof colours

Gamut- full colour range 

Gamut warning- check if an image is out of gamut

Adjustment layer- doesn't harm the original layer

Add a hue/saturation adjustment layer

Decrease the saturation until the grey has almost gone

 change the hue to red to get a more detailed image that will create an accurate print

Adjustment Layer- Levels

Shadow

Mid tone

High light

increase the mid tone and the highlight

Mask- using the brush tool to mask out certain areas 

 

shadow/highlights

Select the statue with the quick selection tool

Levels adjustment layer- increase the highlight to get the detail in the statue

Select the sky with the quick selection tool

Adjustment layer- hue/saturation

Change the hue to what ever colour you like. You can add multiple adjustment layers to work in an nondestructive manner.

Photomerge

Select photos and tick the blend box

Simply crop the image to tidy up


Continued....

Scripts- load files into stock and tick the smart object box the flatten all the images into one layer.

Smart Object- a smart object is displayed in Photoshop but can be edited in other programs

Layer/Smart objects/Stack mode/ median

Median filter gets rid off the everything that moves in the images.

The median filter has made the sky blurry so to adjust this place one of the images on top.

To edit the image you need to rasterize the layer.

Select the sky area using the quick selection tool.

Inverse the selection and simply delete it to get rid of everything apart from the sky.

Contact sheet

A contact sheet allows you to view more than one photograph on a page.

Automate/Contact sheet

This will be useful when creating a series and you need to view and choose more than one image at a time.

File formats 

Lossless- For print (Tiff)

Lossy- For screen based images (Jpeg)

PDF- portable document format


Postcards

Above are the images I have used to create my postcards. I tried to take images that represent the shape X from an abstracted view.

To create the X shape I cut out a circle in the image above and adjusted the threshold. I duplicated the layer and overlaid the green colour with a texture. I am going to use this across the postcards for continuity. 

I am going to design them to work as a set. The green circle will be the main focus of the concept. I am going to make it look like its looking up, down, left, right and finally straight on. This will make the postcards recognisable as a set.

Postcard 1

I started off with the image below.

I used the elliptical marque tool and copied the shape onto a new layer. I rotated it slightly anti clockwise. I repeated this process, making each circle slightly smaller. 

I added a black and white adjustment layer with a filter to create a worn, faded look.

On selected circle layers I changed the blending modes to multiply, to darken the appearance.

Postcard 2

I chose the image above, duplicated it and flipped it horizontally. I repeated this with both layers and flipped them horizontally. 

I placed the circle in the middle and moved the green circle to the right.

I duplicated the photo layer and made it smaller with a colour burn blending mode.

I repeated this making it slightly smaller with a normal blending mode.

I transformed the image to fill the page and aligned it to the bottom half of the page.

I repeated the layering process but kept the blending modes as normal.

To finish I repeated the process on the top half of the page.

Postcard 3

To create this postcard I started of by adding the circle and moving the green circle to the left. Next I selected a square area of the image below.

I started off in the centre, duplicated the layer and free transformed it to make it slightly bigger to the right.

I repeated this process until the images filled the right hand of the page.

I change two of the layers blending modes to multiply to darken them as seen below.

Once I had finished this process I selected all the layers, duplicated them, and flipped them horizontally to fill the top left hand of the page.

I repeated this process two more times and flipped them vertically to connect the pattern. I alternated the  layers blending modes to get a disjointed pattern.

Postcard 4

I started with this image and moved the green circle up.

I used the same image and overlaid it just over half way. 

Next I overlaid it on the top section and changed the blending mode to colour burn.

I repeated this process aligning small sections of the image overlapping each other to create a geometric style pattern.

Finally I adjusted the levels to bring out the highlights within the lights.

Postcard 5

This postcard was created in a similar way to postcard 3. 

I layered up the image of different sizes and aligned them to focus the weight to the top of the page. 

The only difference is I experimented with a variety of blending modes; colour burn, multiply, screen, exclusion, linear burn, overlay.

Postcard Back

To create the back I simply chose one of my images and enlarged it. I added the circle at the top to tie the front and back together.