Week 6

Assignment:
-The assignment was to create a rough draft of an image that communicates a message to the viewer using as many pictures as needed.

Craft: (How did you do it?)
-Having the central theme of the image in the back of my mind I started to pick images from the contact sheet that I wanted to use in this project. After picking out the appropriate images I began thinking about the layout of the image. Having a rough idea of how things are going to be arranged I opened the photoshop program to begin working on the project. After setting up the dimensions of the new document I copy and pasted the image that I wanted to use for the background. The image that I ended up picking to use for the back ground is the photo of the park. I chose this image because it provided a lot of space to work with, and another reason why I chose this photo is because it is a photo where one can frequently find a dog with the owner. Now that the background was set it was time to fill the space to communicate a message. I added some puppies and other dogs. To cut the dogs out from their original images I used the magic wand tool. This tool allowed me to select the pixels that I wanted to keep which allowed me to copy them and paste them to the project in progress. Since one of the central ideas of the message was being forced to do what you do not want to do I had to get something or someone to help me establish this relation; to get this accomplished I found a police officer who volunteered to have his picture taken. At this point I was missing the owner who is being forced to do what he does not want to do. I took a picture of my dad with garden scissors and in scrubs; these items create an impression that the owner becomes the veterinarian who will do the unfortunate deed. To the image I added some minor detail such as the "PetSmart" logo and the clean up after your dog sign. After adjusting the brightness and contrast where necessary and making sure that the things are arranged the way I wanted I saved the copy and printed one. Having one in color I thought it would be a good idea to have it black and white; in order to make one in back and white I used the option to desaturate the color from all the layers. When I was happy with the product I saved and printed one copy. During the critique I found out the some things in the image did not really add up, thus some improvements were necessary. One area where some improvement was needed is the two individuals in the picture. Since the police officer's pointing did not mach up to where it is intended for him to be pointing I need to move the individuals a little towards the center. The dogs and the individuals have bright colors and stand out from the background and it is something that I needed to address. One way to fix this is to make the background brighter by adding color. Taking into consideration these suggestions I will improve the first draft.

Composition: (Arrangement and order of elements)
-When someone looks at this photograph the first thing that would be noticed are the dogs. This occurs because they are the closest object to the viewer. The next thing that probably is observed is the two individuals. This is enough to accomplish the central theme of the photograph. After noticing the important objects in the photograph the eye may travel around and see the logo of the store and the other puppy who is running towards the police officer.

Concept: (What are you trying to say?)
-Using a couple of photographs I am trying to get across the message that mandating neutering is wrong. The decision to neuter a pet should only be made by the owner and not the people sitting on the Board. The reason why this big decision should be left to the owner is because the owner knows the pet the best.

Week 5

Assignment:
-The assignment was to come up with an idea for the new project and take pictures that would help convey the intended message.

Craft:
-Before taking any pictures I did some brainstorming to figure out what is it that I want to say with my art. It took some time for me to come up with an idea, but as I was walking the dog I was stuck with an idea. I remembered that a couple of months ago the Cook County Board had a bill that they were going to vote on; this bill was about mandating dog owners to have their pets neutered. Having this opportunity I would like to voice my opinion on this issue. Having figured out what my central idea was going to be I went out and took pictures that would help me get my point across. I visited a couple of stores were puppies were sold and took pictures of them behind the cages. The purpose of these images is to create an emotional feeling in the audience and will create a feeling of guilt if the cute little puppies are hurt in any way. Other pictures establish and link the owner to his or her best friend; this is evident in one of the pictures where it seems like the dog is giving a "high-five." Having taken some pictures of dogs and their owners I proceeded to taking pictures where dogs and their owners spend some quality time. I took a picture of a park where during the morning hours there are a lot of people jugging with their pets and enjoy each others company. Owners take pride in their pets and pet related merchandise is a million dollar industry and some examples of these industries include hospitals, dog grooming salons, and stores such as Pet'Smart. The overall meaning of the message that I am trying to get across with this project is that mandated neutering is wrong and this tremendous decision should be left to the owner of the pet not the "man."

Composition:
-The two photos located in the beginning of this post are possible candidates that will make the cut to be used in this project. The reason why I like the park photograph is because this is an area where I frequently see pet owners come out and play games with their pets such as Frisbee. The owners play a pivotal role in the life of their pets; from the daily tasks such as feeding to taking them to the veterinarian for a physical. It only seems right that the decision is left to the owner. The second photograph appeals to the audience by appealing to the soft side of the emotions. Seeing a couple of puppies in the cage awaiting their unfortunate destiny will make any man cry. When one looks at this picture the puppy is staring back with those puppy dog eyes that creates a sympathetic feeling. Thus creating a situation where a questions arises; the question becomes "How can a law that mandates debilitating procedures on puppies exist in our society?"

Concept:
-By meshing a couple of pictures into a collage using the photoshop program I am trying to get a cross the idea that mandating neutering is best left to the person that knows what is best for the animal and that person is the owner not the elected official on the Board.

“200 Lincolns” Abraham Lincoln Exhibit

-This was an optional assignment that became available once the Abraham Lincoln projects were done and were on display for the public to see. To fulfill this assignment one had to go to the gallery and take a picture that would prove one’s attendance.

-The first thing that I needed was to find out the address of the gallery where the exhibit was taking place. This information was provided to me as well other students in the e-mail that was sent by Professor Peck. This e-mail also contained other vital information and that was the time and day the exhibit was going to be open to the public. After arriving at the destination I noticed that the place was packed, and it looked like there was no more room for more people. This overpopulation was also why some people were standing outside. Getting inside and walking around the gallery was a challenge, but well worth it because the work that people put into their project was incredible.

-There was a lot of art work on display, but it does not feel that way when one walks into the gallery. This was accomplished through strategic layout of the art work that was submitted. The available space was maximized, but the walls did not appear cluttered. There was enough space between two adjacent art works that made it possible to focus on one picture at a time to get an appreciation for the hard work that was put into the work. What allowed enough room to be available between art works and provided a unique feature to this exhibit was that some of the work was hanged on the ceiling.
-There are a couple of things that I like about the “Abe & Andy” photograph. The first thing is that the photograph looks like it is in an album thus giving it the real life feel to it. Another unique feature is the burned and wrinkly state of the photograph itself. What this provides to the overall message is that this picture was taken in the 1950’s and recently resurrected and put on display.
-Another work that I liked was the enlarged one cent. The first thing that came to my mind when I was observing this work is how Abraham Lincoln changed lives and the history with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The “In God We Trust” brings the idea of hope that everything will eventually get better. The smeared face on the coin is done on purpose and that purpose is to show that change may come from any one person. Today the country is going through some tough times and the people are looking for some change. This change is coming and the first step is Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.

Week 4

Assignment:
-The assignment was to take the information received during the critique session and apply the comments to improve the photo.

Craft: (How did you do it?)
-After the critique session with the group it was obvious that some additional work had to be done to make the photograph presentable. What I intended to say with this photograph is that Abraham Lincoln is a regular citizen who likes to spend time with his family and celebrate holidays amongst them; however, this was not what the photograph presented because some key elements were missing. One key element was that there was nobody else in the picture but Abraham Lincoln; to make the message more vivid it was necessary to add family members. In order to add more people, I had to take some new pictures because none of the old ones fit the theme or the people were in the wrong position. After uploading the new photos into the photoshop program it was time to manipulate them. The first thing that had to be done is remove the color. This was done by unsaturating the picture, thus making it black and white. After cutting the appropriate parts from the new photos they were pasted in a new layer over the photo from the previous blog. It was necessary to get the scale of the photo right so it looked believable, and after completing this task I cleaned up the rough edged around the newly pasted photo so it blends in with the other picture. To have some choice in the end a couple of versions were created of the same photograph with varying positions of the individuals in the photograph, but the same process, cleaning the edges, was taken to make the photo look good. This addressed the issue of not having any members of the family in the picture. Another issue that arose during the critique was that no one was smiling. I was able to fixed this problem by adding smiles using the liquify function. Using the burn tool I was able to darken the neck of Lincoln's body because before it looked like the shirt and the neck blended in together. The last step was adjusting the brightness and contrast to make sure that all parts of the photograph fit together.

Composition: (Arrangement and order of elements)
-When someone is looking at the second and third version of the photograph the first thing that probably jumps out is the Christmas Tree and then the family. This, however, is not the case in the first version of the photograph. When looking at this picture the first thing that an eye notices is the boy and then the eyes travels in succession of increasing height of individuals in the picture. Abraham Lincoln during his presidency was always in the spotlight and the center of attention in the pictures, but these photographs key-in on the idea that he is a regular citizen of The United States of America who likes to spend time with his family, and that is why he does not jump out at first glance.

Concept: (What are you trying to say?)
-What I was trying to accomplish through these pictures is link the past and the future and trying to imagine what Abraham Lincoln and his family would do on Christmas. There are a couple of features that help establish the era of these pictures. In one of the pictures there is a laptop, which is a good indication of the 21st century. Another feature is the Christmas Tree itself. It is a modern idea to get a Christmas Tree and decorate it. Overall the purpose of these images is to connect past and the future in subtle ways.

Week 3

Assignment:
-The assignment was to create a portrait of Abraham Lincoln using two photos, one new and one old.

Craft: (How did you do it?)
-Before beginning any meshing of photos it was necessary to come to a conclusion about what the overall message of the final product is going to be. After having that figured out it was time to search the contact sheet for photographs that would convey that message in a clear manner. The photo that was picked for the background was "Friend Christmas." Having the background picked it was time to pick a photo of Abraham Lincoln that would be used to create the portrait; in the end the photograph that was decided on was the "Lincoln in Chair." Now that the starting photos were picked out it was time to move on to photoshop. The two photos that are going to be used to create the draft were dragged into the photoshop program and photo editing can begin. First the dimensions of the page were setup then the background image was pasted on the page. Using the corners of the image to increase the size of the image so it fits the over blank screen; increasing the image dimensions was done while holding the shift button because this way the image proportions remained the same, and after the desired size was reached I hit enter and the image was set. Now it was time to remove any color from the image. To do this I selected the "image" function and under "image" opened the adjustment functions which allowed me to select the hue/saturation function. Using this function all the color was removed from the image. Now the image was black and white, and ready for further editing. Now I turned my attention to the photo of Lincoln; using the lasso tool a rough cut-out was made around his head. To make the picture more realistic the rough edges needed to be cleaned up. Using the "magic wand tool" I selected the pixels that I wanted to keep and deleted the other pixels. Lincoln's head was a little to small for the picture so adjusting the scale of the picture was necessary. This option was found under "edit" and "transformation." After getting the right scale the head was superimposed on the individual's head in the background picture. Once the position of the head was just right the image was saved. Before printing the image out the page was setup. The height was set to 8.5 inches and width was set to be 11 inches; now it was ready to be printed.

Composition: (Arrangement and order of elements)
-When someone looks at this picture the first things that probably jumps out at them is the Christmas Tree, and the second thing that jumps out is Abraham Lincoln himself. Finally, the last object in the picture that stands out is the chair. It does not look like the picture has any areas where there is a lack of information and the picture is also not cluttered with information. The most important information that is going to help convey the message across to others is in the middle of the photo.

Concept: (What are you trying to say?)
-Using photoshop program and a couple of pictures to create a Lincoln portrait there is one thing that I am trying to say. Using this image I am trying to say that Abraham Lincoln is a regular Joe who likes to spend time with his family and celebrate holidays amongst them. This image also shows the other side of him; the side that is not all about business.