Evaluation

Evaluation – Photo Skills B

Laura Parkinson

Photo Skills B proved to be a very challenging unit for me; I had never edited a photograph in depth before, only dabbling with the brightness and contrast, curves, saturation and cropping before. Using masks, lassos and clear brush tools was something I could not grasp. However, the workshops I attended brought me some knowledge, and self study and editing time brought me up to speed with most people in my class. Using masks is still something of a problem for me, I could not grasp how to use them effectively in my final edited photograph, and so I left them out. I couldn’t understand why they would benefit me, or help in any such way.

I am impressed and surprised with how my final image turned out. It took me four photo-shoots and about 7 hours of staggered editing, but the end result represents how I pictured a cyborg well. I originally was going to make the background darker after taking the photograph of the arm on a cream/white background, however, I decided to take a photograph in a graveyard and edit it onto the back of the cyborgs arm. This worked exceptionally well, and gave the image a professionally edited look.

If I was to take this unit again, I would think more about where I was taking my photographs. Not using a studio location and taking the shot within my house made the editing task a lot harder. I had to use the clear paintbrush to clear away the white background to reveal the gravestone, whereas if I had used a studio I would have used the magnetic lasso tool. This was made near impossible in places that I had to edit, as the shadows were too strong and blended too closely with the arm. I would also stick to my proposal from the beginning, as I have a habit of steering away from my original idea and beginning a new one. This idea that I submitted as a final was based on my proposal, but far from the image I had in my head from the beginning.