Digital Photography and Imaging - Project 1B - Digital Imaging Exercises

🐚

Week 6 - Week 7
2023.10.30 - 2023.11.10

Qistina Nuralya Maria Binti Azly / 0354180

DPI / Bachelors of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Project 1B: Digital Imaging Exercise


Table of Contents

1. LECTURES

1.1 Lecture Slide Notes

1.2 Class Summaries

2. INSTRUCTIONS

3. HEARST MANSION

3.1 Research

3.2 Ideation

3.3 Final Outcome

4. RECOLOURING BLACK & WHITE

4.1 Research

4.2 Ideation & Final Outcome

5. REFLECTION


1. LECTURES

1.1 Lecture Slide Notes

Lecture 5: Digital Photography

Exposure Settings

     Exposure refers to the amount of light that hits the film or sensor in your camera.

The camera is a lightproof box and can be split into two parts: the camera body and camera lens

     Camera Body:

  • Shutter
  • Image Sensor
  • LCD Screen 
     Camera Lens:
  • Aperture/Iris
Shutter speed and aperture (Iris) are the only two camera settings that actually impact an image's "luminous exposure." The brightness of your photos is also influenced by the third setting, camera ISO.

APERTURE / IRIS:

  • controls the flow of light entering the lens.
  • measured in f-stop. E.g. f/ 1, f/ 1.4, f/ 2, f/ 2.8, f/ 4, f/ 5.6, f/ 8, f/ 11, f/ 16, f/22 , f/32...
  • the lower the f-number is, the larger the lens opening.

Fig. 1.1.1 Correlation between f-number and size of lens opening.

SHUTTER:

  • a tiny plastic sheet that can be opened and closed to let light onto or block light from the film;
  • the speed of which it opens is referred to as Shutter Speed;
  • measured in second. E.g. 1/1000s, 1/500s, 1/250s, 1/125s, 1/60s, 1/30s, 1/15s, 1/8s, 1/4s, 1/2 s, 1s, 2s, 3s…

Fig. 1.1.2 Illustration to demonstrate different shutter speeds.

ISO:

  • originally referred to as the light gathering ability of the camera; however,
  • digitally, it is referred to as the signal gain of the camera's sensor;
  • Camera ISO settings that are commonly used are 100, 200, 400, 640, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400;
  • the lower the ISO, the less sensitive the camera is to light and the finer the grain

Fig 1.1.3 How ISO affects grain.

Fig. 1.1.4 How ISO affects light sensitivity.

Lens Perspective

There are three important types lens: standard, wide angle and tele lens.

Fig 1.1.5 Different lenses and their focal length and photography type.

Different lenses serve different functions and are made for different uses. FOCAL LENGTH is a classification system for lenses.

FOCAL LENGTH:

  • the distance, measured in millimeters, between a camera's sensor and optical center;
  • the shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view

Fig 1.1.6 The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view.

DEPTH OF FIELD:

  • the proportion of the image that is sharp and focusable, based on the camera's aperture;
  • the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field
Fig 1.1.7 Illustration on depth of field.

     Wide-angle lens are ideally used when wanting to fit a large area into the frame.

Applications: Landscape photography, street photography.

Fig 1.1.8 Wide-angle lens.

     Standard lens are great for an accurate depiction of what a person sees, both angle and perspective.

Applications: More natural-looking photography.

Fig 1.1.9 Standard lens.

     Tele lens are useful when you want to isolate a subject that's far away.

Applications: Nature documentaries.

Fig 1.1.9 Tele lens.

Lecture 6: Poster Design

There are 7 principles in poster design:

  • Emphasis : one element must be the background for another element to stand out. For there to be any visual hierarchy in your design, certain aspects must be more important than others.
  • Balance : refers to how how visual components are positioned to create a composition that appears to have features that harmonise together and whose visual weight balances with the other components in the design.
  • Contrast : helps your design's elements stand out from one another. For your elements to be readable and function well together, your background color needs to be substantially distinct from the colors of your elements.

  • Repetition : to create a sense of consistency. It's employed to attain originality and consistency. The concept of design repetition essentially refers to the full or partial reuse of graphic elements.
  • Proportion : the apparent weight and size of the components of a composition, as well as their interrelationships, are known as proportion. Approaching your design in segments rather than as a whole can usually help.
  • Movement : controlling the elements in a composition to guide the viewer's eye from one to the next and effectively convey information to your audience.

  • White Space : the blank space on your website that surrounds the composition's elements is known as white space. 

example for principle of design repetition: vertical numbers and text design
Fig 1.1.10 Example of Repetition in design.

Fig 1.1.11 Example of White Space in design.

1.2 Class Summaries

Week 6 :

We got to finish our Hearst Mansion Part of the project with Feedback from Sir Fauzi. Then we got to see a demo from Sir Fauzi on how to start colouring our Black and White photos!

Week 7 :

We showed Sir Fauzi our finalised colourisations and got a thumbs up to finalise our Project 1B! We then were briefed a bit on our Project 2A.


2. INSTRUCTIONS

File 2.1 Module Information Booklet


3. HEARST MANSION

3.1 Research

Usually when I'm stuck in the rabbit-hole of watching YouTube Shorts or TikTok or Reels, I get a lot of Photoshop videos recommended to me. Most of which, actually relate to the current assignments I'm doing! 

Video 3.1.1 "Things people paid me to photoshop (Wedding Edition)" by sarasnapshots.

For example, the video above shows many examples of photoshopping people in AND out of a photo. In the 4th wedding picture, you can see Sara editing a picture of the family from inside into a picture of the wedding outside and she actually made it look very convincing!

Another good video:

Video 3.1.2 "Photoshop but you can't tell the difference" by sarasnapshots.

In this one, she flawlessly photoshops people in and out of photos despite the photos' quality and lighting. 

3.2 Ideation

Part 1: Shazam!

We were provided with two photos for this part; one of the Hearst Mansion and one of the Shazam movie poster. We were instructed to photoshop Shazam into the Hearst Mansion convincingly. 

Following closely to the tutorial slides, I started creating my picture.

Fig. 3.2.1 Shazam! Progress #1

I cropped out Shazam by using the Quick Selection tool and set a clipping mask onto the selection and Shazam.

Fig. 3.2.2 Shazam! Progress #2

I placed Shazam into the Hearst Mansion image; I put him next to a pillar near the one of the lamps and made it look like he was leaning against it.

Fig. 3.2.3 Shazam! Progress #3

Then, I played around with the adjustment layers, making sure Shazam had a blueish hue to him so that he could blend with the surrounding lighting. 


Fig. 3.2.4 Shazam! Progress #4

I added pattern overlay onto Shazam; the pattern was Noise and I played with the blending modes to see what fitted better. In the end, I went for Color Burn with a 48% opacity.

Fig. 3.2.5 Shazam! Progress #5

I added shadows behind Shazam as instructed, but I also added slight more depth into the shadow where his shadow follows behind him rather than beside him; this also added more interaction from the shadow to the walls and floor.

Fig. 3.2.6 Shazam! Progress #6

I duplicated Shazam and flipped him to be under the original Shazam. I noticed in the tutorial that it didn't include duplicating the shadow, but I decided to do so because it looked more natural to me. Then, I adjusted the Hue/Saturation of the reflection to be a more blue hue and darker to match the tone of the other water reflections.

Fig. 3.2.7 Shazam! Progress #7

Due to having problems using Photoshop on my laptop, I resorted to using Photoshop on my iPad. The interface was different and a few of the features on laptop were missing on iPad. I had to improvise the wavy  look on the reflection by using the Smudge tool. I quite liked the effect even though it wasn't as instructed by the tutorial.

Part 2: Qistina! (Hearst Mansion with my own photo)

For this, I basically repeated the process from 'Shazam!' but now with my own photo.

The funny thing was that I didn't have a proper place to really take photos so I had to improvise and take a photo inside my room whilst standing on my chair :')

Fig. 3.2.8 The photo I chose to edit (Please excuse the mess)

Anyways though, I used the 'Select Subject' tool on this photo since it's quite busy. After that, as I said, the process was basically the same.

3.3 Final Outcome

Fig. 3.2.9 Shazam! Final (JPEG)

Fig. 3.2.10 Qistina! Final (JPEG)


4. RECOLOURING BLACK AND WHITE

4.1 Research

I decided to go for the old reliable YouTube for inspiration after classes just so I could squeeze in as many lessons into my brain about recolouring monotone photos. Here are some videos I watched:

Video 4.1.1 "How obsessive artists colorize old photos" by Vox.

Video 4.1.2 "Colorize Black and White with Realism in Photoshop" by PiXimperfect.

4.2 Ideation & Final Outcome

Exercise 1

For exercise 1, we had to follow the given practical's instructions. I followed step-by-step and added my own flare to the colourisation. Like changing the colours and adding different hues of red along the cheek area and ear (basically area with most blood flow realistically) just to seem more realistic. I don't feel that a whole process for this is that necessary since I only followed the instructions and not much more so I'd be repeating myself really.

Fig. 4.2.1 Exercise 1 - Before
 
Fig. 4.2.2 Exercise 1 - After

Exercise 2: Part 1

Similar to Exercise 1, I had to follow the instructions given in the practical slides for this one as well. The thing I really added that changed from the slides were the choice of colours as well as the added makeup (eyeshadow and lipstick). Again, I feel like it's unnecessary to repeat the process from the practical slides so I'll leave this here.

Fig. 4.2.3 Adding make-up to the model.

Fig. 4.2.4 Exercise 2: Part 1 - Before

Fig. 4.2.4 Exercise 2: Part 1 - After

Exercise 2: Part 2

Unlike the previous two, Exercise 2: Part 2 was more as an extra exercise for us to do where we had creative freedom on how to colourise the photo. I'll show the process of this one since all of the steps came from myself (from what I learned the past 2 colourisations of course).

We were given a lot of options to choose from a google drive folder and I decided to choose a photo of Adut Akech :D She is a South Sudanese-Australian model.

Fig. 4.2.5 Exercise 2: Part 2 Progress #1

I started by blocking out her skin and hair. I wanted to stay as close as possible as I could to her dark skin tone so I chose a dark rich brown as the base. Of course, I had to add different hues of it around the face to give a more realistic look.

Fig. 4.2.6 Exercise 2: Part 2 Progress #2

I added lipstick with highlights to add a bit of flare and depth. I also started colouring her hair as a dark red using a Multiply layer. It might not that noticeable but the subtleness adds to the beauty :D

Fig. 4.2.7 Exercise 2: Part 2 Progress #3

I added more highlights especially on the parts where light clearly shines on her face. Additionally, I added colour to her earrings and also her eyes since the sclera (white part of eye) isn't perfectly white.

As you could also see, I added colour to her shirt and also the background. I chose yellow/orange for the shirt since I think it complimented Adut's skin tone. As for the background, I made it a muted light blue to create a good contrast between her and the background.

Fig. 4.2.8 Exercise 2: Part 2 Progress #4

I added a light source using Soft Light as the top right and also created shadows to the left side of Adut.

Fig. 4.2.9 Exercise 2: Part 2 Progress #5

Some finishing touches... and done!

Fig. 4.2.10 Exercise 2: Part 2 - Before

Fig. 4.2.10 Exercise 2: Part 2 - After


5. REFLECTION

Regarding the first part of the project, Hearst Mansion, I remember having fun just making sure the characters (Shazam and me) fit into the cool Hearst mansion! Especially the part where I had to create the wavy reflections in the water because it just added that slight "oomph!" to the picture.

I'd like to say though, I had the most fun colouring the black and white photos! Being able to bring life to the three monotone photos was an experience was me because I was always interested in doing these types of "art restoration" things. Adding the final highlights really made the photos pop up more! I loved the creative freedom I had with Exercise 2: Part 2 but I loved the vibrancy I achieved with the previous two :)

Aside from the exercises, I loved looking at how differently my classmates coloured the first two photos and seeing how they interpreted and executed their works!

🐚

Comments