Although my most familiar software is Photoshop, it was still an interesting session to watch as I learned about art-boards which I don't use as often, and RAW images which are non-editable flattened images.
The majority of the session was touching on things I already new, such as layer styles which are used to apply over images. For example, darken is used to remove all white in the image leaving only the black, whilst screen does the reverse, creating different effects which I applied to my self portrait. We also learned about Camera RAW, a non destructive photo editing tool which provides information about the camera precisely and means you're able to brighten/modify the image without actually changing the original form.
Our project for the workshop was to create a self portrait. I touched back to my photography roots, overlaying photos from places that I've been to and lived by over a photo of myself. I used layer styles and non destructive editing by creating lots of different layers, so I could make very subtle modifications. The branches/trees were overlayed using the screen layer style, giving the edges of the picture of me that of the photo. I also used adjustment layers to modify the colour and textures of a blueprint to make the portrait more interesting and textured.
- PNG = Portable Network Graphic
- JPG = Joint Photographic Experts Group
- GIF = Graphics Interchange Format
Throughout the session, Stephen showed us dual tone images. This was a type of layer mode found under "Image > Mode > Dual Tone" and required a black and white canvas originally. It was a tool used in printing and meant we could create two different colours, similar to a black and white style, over the image. The modes menu also allows options for different printing styles such as CMYK, RGB, Grayscale and more. This tool allows quick interchanging to them all.
Adjustment layers were also touched upon, although I'm extremely familiar with this. I used them in application to my own self portrait in a non-destructive way, by applying them over the top on a seperate layer and not to the image itself. They allow modifications to colour, brightness, vibrancy etc and are useful in creating images to a certain colour palette.
In summary, although I've been using Photoshop for quite a long time, and this introduction proved really easy for me, it was still nice to strip back all the tools and focus on the simplest ones, as well as learn more about Camera Raw - which I'd touched on in photography. I'm quite happy with my portrait even though it's simple it works well using non destructive tools.
