Photography and Photoshop

Continuing on from our induction, we moved onto the photography side of Photoshop.

After being told about the Rule of Thirds we were split into pairs and given guidelines of which photos to take, for example 'take a photo with some trees' or 'take a photo where the subject is running'.

I took 76 photos with my Nikon D60 camera and transferred them to the Mac where I then made a contact sheet.

After this I started to use Photoshop to crop the images, viewing them on a black background and using the Rule of Thirds to try and create a more interesting photograph. I edited the photos on Photoshop, adjusting the brightness, contrast and saturation of some of the images as well as being less subtle with others, playing around with the curves and levels of colour.

Below are the images I edited on Photoshop which I consider to be the best few out of all the photos I took.

I increased the contrast on this photo to make it a bit more vibrant. I didn't want to do too much to it and only cropped it a little bit at the bottom and the sides. It was taken when I got my subject to walk towards me down a corridor.

This photo was taken under a bridge. It required some rotation as the original photo was slightly wonky.  I didn't crop it too much as the large, dark space really adds a lot to the photo, making the subject seem very distant. 

I increased the contrast on this photo to make the colours a little more vibrant which works especially well with all the greens of the trees. I tried to use the Rule of Thirds with this photo by placing the subject slightly off centre but I think this positioning with the subject in the middle is much more effective, particularly as the trees on either side seem to 'frame' the image.

I cropped this photo to place the subject slightly more to the right and to also cut out the bins in the background on the left. I lowered the vibrancy in Photoshop and then increased the contrast which gives these dull yet strong colours. I think this suits the emptiness of the background and the sullen expression of the subject.

I cropped this photo to, again, place the subject slightly more to the right. I think this works well, with the pillar on the left balancing this out. I changed the photo to black and white which I think gives an intense emptiness to the photo.

With this photo, I played around with the colour balance and the curves of the image.  I then increased the brightness and lowered the saturation to achieve an old-photograph feeling.

This photo had a lot of light in the background and the subject in the dark. I altered the saturation so the bright, vibrant orange of the wood in the background changed colour. It looks really surreal and I think the brightness of the colours in the background with the silhouette of the subject in the foreground works really well.

I tried again with this photo, altering the
curves in a different way and trying to achieve
a softer effect. I also increased the brightness
quite a lot which adds to this effect as well
as adding a little more life and vibrancy
to the photo.

With this photo I altered the curves in a certain
way to try and give it a retro appearance.
I don't really like this one though - I think
it looks a bit too dark and dull and sucks
a lot of the life out of the photo.

I cropped this photo to remove the rest of the subject's head which I think works well as it makes the photo seem more intimate with only part of the head showing. The blurred background ensures that all of the focus is on the subject too. I altered the curves of this photo in Photoshop to give a more earthy, toned-down feel to the colours. I then increased the contrast to highlight this and to make everything a little more vibrant.

The original photo was quite wonky so I rotated it slightly in Photoshop. Unfortunately, when rotating I cut off part of the subject's foot which I dislike as it feels like part of the photo is missing. In Photoshop I considerably increased the vibrancy and contrast and decreased the saturation. This gives the photo quite a light, neutral feel which works well with the softness of the light from the window in the background.