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.