Playing With Color - Week 2(ish)

This week I was able to learn a lot about color and filters; changing normal and vibrant photos from their normal state to Sepia, Black and White, Duotones and Cross Processing.  Below is a photo of a leopard before I made any changes.

Next, I took the same photo and with a few quick steps, gave it a Sepia look.  To do this, I opened the photo in Photoshop and in the histogram under adjustments, I went into the "Hue/Saturation Presents" drop-down menu.  From here, I was able to quickly choose Sepia and the photo was instantly changed into what we see below.  

Choose "Hue/Saturation Presents"

Sepia Leopard

In order to do the black and white, I became a little mixed up and ended up with two different photos.  One that was done according to the instructions that we were given and the other according to the exploring I did.  The one that I did first, happened to be through my own instruction.  In the same adjustments menu, I chose, the "Black, & White Presents" drop-down.  From here, I chose the very first selection called, "Blue Filter.  Once I chose this, I decided that I wasn't happy with the amount of contrast that was present in the photo and decided to do even more exploring.  Under "Exposure Presents" I chose "Plus 1.0" a few times which brought me to the brightness that I was happy with which is shown below.  

Before Using Plus 1.0

After Using Plus 1.0

Once I realized out how to do this much easier, by going to the menu at the top and choosing, Image, Adjustments, Black & White. Upon trying this method, this is what I ended up with. 

After Properly Using Black & White

Thought I did like the way the previous photo came out after using Plus 1.0, this is a much cleaner photo.  One that allow you to still have a feel for the original color.  

Next, I tried working with Duotones.  This was a little hard to understand at first but easy and fun to experiment with.  You must first change your photo to Greyscale.   (Click Image, Mode, Greyscale).  After this, follow the same menu to select Duotones.  You will then be presented with a Duotone Options box where you can choose two different "Ink's" and from there you use the first box to move the line to create the effect that you would like.  Here I used a blue which I chose and a "Pantone Rubine Red C" which was available to me.  

Duotones - Using Blue & Red

Cross Processing was the final effect that I did with this photo.  It was a little difficult to understand until I was able to do it.  This is done by creating a curves layer on the layers menu.  Once this is done and you've selected a red (in this case) channel, then you are able to better determine where you would like this red coloring to highlight.  

Cross Processing - Using the Red Channel

This concludes this weeks lesson.  Though these were quite simple to a more experienced Photoshop user, these were slightly challenging while getting to know the menu but much easier to do now.  Stay tuned for next week's lesson.  

My Journey Through Photoshop - Day 1

As I begin what will be noted as my journey, I’d like to first point out that my skills in Photoshop are extremely low.  What I have managed to learn over time has come from what I viewed on YouTube or something someone was kind enough to briefly explain to me over the phone.   Everything to date has been done through trial and error and I must say that I haven’t been too happy with anything I had completed.  I’d also like to note that up until this point I had been using a generic program called GIMP which is a program that was made to look and operate the same as Photoshop with a few differences.  

A look at GIMP

After many years of frustration I find myself having made no progress.  Last year in 2011, I launched my own website which focuses on the Arts as a whole including, Poetry, Writing, Spoken Word, The Musically Talented, Visual Artists, Vocalists and Artistic Photographers.  As I work to promote my site I have grown to realize that a lot of my frustration comes from not being able to do things myself and in the rapid pace that things are needed.  Often times, my last minute needs cannot be fulfilled I know that had I possessed the skills myself, I could be much further along.  I came to the obvious conclusion that I could truly benefit from finding a formal class by which I could learn, ask questions and have a forum to practice.  I’m a firm believer that without knowledge, one will surely fail and as I take this plunge I am eager to see my progress over the next few weeks.  

The things I feel I could most benefit from are discovering how Photoshop can benefit web design, photo editing, photo effects, the designing of different things online, print items such as business cards and flyers as well as to be able to take things a step further in terms of clothing.  

Stay tuned as I submit my progress!