Jewels

With this picture, I wanted to express one of my favourite things; jewelry! This was the one occasion that my mother would let me play with her engagement ring. So, I took a collection of my favourite costume jewelry, put it onto the black marble which I used to bring out the colours even more, and went to town!

Out of the 30 some pictures I took of these three rings, this was my favourite. To bring out the contrast even more in Photoshop, I used the Brightness/Contrast tool, Aetherize, a very small amount of Gaussian Blur, and the Render/Lighting Effects tool. As with most of photographs in my porfolio, I did the same with this picture with the Brightness/Contrast tool and Aetherize. With Gaussian Blur, I only used a very small amount because I wanted preserve the shine, but again, soften the rest of the picture. Now with the Lighting Effect tool, I used the Soft Omni lighting effect. I put the settings on Matte, Plastic, -8% of under exposure, and -44% of Ambience. I centred the light in the middle of the picture and spread it out almost completely, leaving the black corners of the picture to be effected by the ambience.

Autumn Leaves

For as long as I can remember, I have loved Autumn. So when I was walking around outside, I looked up at the trees and saw the contrast between the cloudy sky and the colour of the leaves...I used that opportunity to my advantage to take a picture.

For this picture, I really wanted the branches to break up the leaves so it wouldn't like a whole mess of colours popping out at you. The tools I used were the Aetherize tool, Gaussian Blur, and the Liquify tool. With the Aetherize tool, it brings more contrast to a picture than using the normal Brightness/Contrast tool. So, I used that to turn the branches from a dull brown to a pitch black to add an extreme contrast. With Gaussian Blur, I only really use that tool to soften a picture, and I did it with this one as well to give a dreamy effect to it. Now with the Liquify tool, I used that to create more branches because it looked quite dull without them and didn't give the photograph the complexity I was looking for.

As you can tell with the previous pictures that I have posted, I have been trying to "branch out" (no pun intended) with using a lot more colour in my pictures. I viewed this picture as adding to that idea, with using a lot more colour and using the beauty of nature into my photographs. With "Apples", "Altered Flowers", "Mr.Man" and this photograph, I am also trying to introduce a new subject which I have not used in the past into my "new and improved" repertoire.

The Cathedral Windows

I added the picture to my porfolio because it gives a new feel than the rest of my pictures. It is extremely gothic and beautiful. And you may or may not be able to tell that this is a computer generated image.

When I had taken this picture, it was extremely under-exposed. But the light coming through the windows was still showing through relatively clear. To add more texture to the picture, I changed the brightness of the picture to the maximum level and bringing the contrast to 50%. Next, I went to the Photo Filter tool and added a Cooling Filter to bring out the blue and purple coming through the window and shining on the floor. Finally, I used the Aetherize tool once more, and moved the Colourize tool to the maximum as well and bringing the blur to 46%.

A Drop of Envy

I mean't for this picture to be a dark, extremely dramatic view on something which is quite simple, I think I conveyed that quite well. With the contrast between the brilliant green, the black marble, and the ivory of the sink, I tried to make all of them work together as one. Now with most of my pictures, I usually do not use much colour, but with this photograph, I think it makes a bold statement, colour-wise.

In Photoshop, I did not mess with the tone of the green, or any other colours. I only used three tools for this shot, which were the Aetherize tool, Gaussian Blur, and the individual blur tool in the tool bar. With the blur tool, I went around the dropper and gave the illusion of it radiating.

Apples

I have always loved close-ups, so I thought I would use my love of them to my advantage!


To bring out the green of the apples, I used the Color Balance tool and changed the numbers from 0,0,0 to -13, 29, and -33. Next, I used the Gaussian Blur tool, to again, soften the image. Taking the Blur Tool, I used the same technique that I have used with previous projects; blurring the background and bringing the focus to the subject. The final tool that I used, was the Aetherize tool, again to make the photograph a bit more dramatic.

Sara Haloed

This is a picture of a very good friend of mine. She has always been self-conscious by the way she looks, thinking she is "overweight". I think looks absolutely beautiful! But I tried my best to improve the photo as much as possible.

I followed the same steps that I did in "Perfectionist" to improve her skin. Which was the spot-healing tool, copying the background, using the Dust and Scratches filter along with Gaussian Blur, all set on the same radiuses as my previous photograph. To preserve what I had done with the previous steps, I had to save this picture as a copy and then reopen it in Photoshop. If I had kept it open, it would have shown through the "painting" and gave her an extremely blotchy look.

With the photo re-opened, I slimmed down her face with the Liquify tool. I pushed part of the picture in around her chin and on her left (our right) cheek. Afterwards, I thought I would bring out the colour of her eyes, which are a dark brown. I created a new layer and used the Elliptical Marquee tool and went around her eyes. Using the Brightness/Contrast tool, I brightened them up a bit, leaving contrast where it was. Finally, I used the Elliptical Marquee tool again and went around her lips to give them a bit more colour. I left brightness where it was at zero and used contrast and brought it up to +2. The background was not touched in this photograph, the lighting is as it was in the original.

Mr. Man

My Pekingese, Furby, is incredibly photogenic. So the day I brought him home from being groomed, I thought he looked adorable and it would make a great photograph.

Again, with this picture, not much was required. What I did do though, was use the Brightness/Contrast tool and brought the Brightness up to +6 and the contrast down to -2. Next, I used the History Brush Tool, to go over Furby's face to bring out the original colour because it was nearly black when I changed the contrast. My final touches to the picture, were to use the blur tool to go over background. Because my camera does not automatically focus on the subject I am taking a picture of, I have to do it myself in Photoshop.

The reason as to why I chose the picture for my portfolio is because I love the texture of his fur and of the chair he is sitting on. Some of the other photographs that I have included in my portfolio do not show as much texture, but I thought this was a great example of variety.

The Perfectionist

This picture came by as an accident so to speak. It was about 2 in the morning, and I had recently recieved a make up mirror. I saw how the light had reflected in my eyes and thought it would make a great picture.

Now Photoshopping this picture did take some time. First, I used the Spot Healing brush to clean up any blemishes or imperfections on my face that I thought would take away from the "idea" that I was trying to get at with this photograph. Next, I made a copy of the background, by dragging it down to the "New Layer" button at the bottom of the layer palette. On the new layer, I went to Filters and applied the Noise/Dust and Scratches tool by setting it at a radius of 10. Next, I went to the Blur/Gaussian Blur tool, and set it at a radius of 4.7.

With the new layer selected, I added a layer-mask and pushed ctrl-I to mask or "hide" the previous steps that I had done (the blur and the dust and scratches). I then selected the paint tool and sized it to the appropriate amount which was a Master Diametre of 76px, and "painted" my new skin on. The reason for me doing that, is because I wanted to convey a perfectionist looking into a mirror. So, I made my skin soft and nearly perfect, with no scars or blemishes to reflect how a perfectionist might see themselves in a mirror, or how they want to. Finally, I darkened the background to bring all focus onto the subject (myself in this case).

Altered Flowers

I had taken this picture close to a year ago in the height of Spring.
The original colours were simple yellows and whites. When it came time for me to
design and put together my own portfolio, I found this picture and thought I would spice it up a bit.

First of all, I used the Color Balance tool to modify the original palette of yellow and white, to a
brilliant blue and purple. Next, I used a Gaussian Blur effect to soften the picture. To finish the
picture off, I used some blur effects to bring more emphasis on the three flowers closest to the camera, by blurring the remaining background elements. I chose to use this picture because it was one of my earliest photographs, and I wanted to illustrate how you can take a simple, so-so picture, and turn it into something vibrant.

The Diamond

With this photograph, I tried to give a sense of elegance and a clean look to it. I didn't have to do much to the photograph, but what I did do, I changed the brightness and contrast, by bring the light up and the contrast down. Next I added a lens flare onto the diamond as you can see. My final step, which I usually do with most of my photographs or pictures to give them a more dramatic look, is used the Aetherize tool which I had purchased from Flamingpear.com.

The reason as to why I chose this photograph for my portfolio, beside it being one of my favourite photographs that I have taken, the colours work together perfectly. With the deep, almost black, blues of the sapphire, and the contast between the black marble of the counter top and the ivory of the dish work together perfectly.