Zombies Maddie

For our Photoshop project, our assignment was to teach our class how to create a new effect using Photoshop. We decided to change my sister into a zombie!

The following are the steps we used to create a zombie look:
1.) Open a stock photo image of a face with eyes. The image should be greater than 900 x 1200 pixels. Smaller images are harder to work with and look bad when enlarged while larger images shrink easier.
2.) Save your original stock photo in case you mess up at a later point by pasting a copy of the stock image into a new layer.
3.) Remove the exisiting background with a dark color.

4.) Enlarge the image. Begin filling in the eyes with red by using a soft-edged brush and the smude tool. Start with the corner of each each and then smudge both of them.

5.) Add a dark liner around each eye by using the brush tool and then smudge the liners.

6.) Add a red "blood" look to the mouth by using the brush tool.

7.) Drag in a picture of a cracked texture and set it to overlay. Place the cracked texture over the face. Then use the eraser to erase parts that don't cover the skin or cover unwanted parts of the picture.

8.) As you finish with adding the cracked texture over the skin and erasing the unwanted parts, go to Filter > Liquify > Modify the face, and then press "OK."

9.) Using the soft brush tool, cover the hair with a soft black color, and then use the eraser to fix any imperfections.

10.) To make the picture have a darker look to it, change the fill tool to black, color over the entire picture, change the setting to hue, and then adjust the opacity.

  Before Picture:

 

                                                                                               

After Picture:

                                                                                               

Free Food on Friday's!

I created this ad using photoshop; and I created it to promote an event for the company logo I created last week. To create my overall advertisement I used several different elements in photoshop. I used the paint tool and dropper, to cover the back ground; so that the black would match the logo I had already created. I used the text tool to create the wording within the ad, then used the option of using a special font; also the warping of the text was also utilized with the text tool, to give it a watery wave effect; as if you were on the seven seas. I used the free transformation option to re-size and re-locate the pictures within the ad, including the pirate flag, and my logo. By using the smudge tool, I gave the flag a more tattered and worn look. A touch of creativity, and hopefully an eye catcher.

I created this ad so that I would be able to get the information out about the deal that "The Pirate Pub" was having on Friday's. This information being, free meals to children, between 6-10PM. My target audiences were, families with children that enjoy the idea of pirating, and amazing food. Not to mention families that enjoy quality time together, while getting a delicious meal and memories in a unique environment. This ad is supposed to bring additional business, and a fun time to families throughout the area.

The Pirate Pub

The logo that I created if for a fictional restaurant called, The Pirate Pub. When you look at this logo you can see that it portrays the fact that its a restaurant, it's a pirate themed restaurant in design, has a touch of a French culture, and it's located in Louisville, KY. I chose the colors of red, black, and white because I wanted the theme of a dark and ominous presence of a pirate to be evident. When you think of being on a pirates ship, you think of being in a darker place, represented by black. Possible fighting, is represented by red; and when you think of older French history, you think of royalty, and bright colors, represented by white.

Using the blur tool I attempted to give the pictures themselves a foggy, or creepy look. Using this tool I hoped to add emphasis on the skull and cross bones that I was able to draw on the upper portion of the logo. I placed the wording of the logo in the center both horizontally and vertically, so that it was able to be seen easily, with an older type of font to age the image of the logo. When I took into consideration of the white space, I decided that I did not want to have any. I wanted to cover the entire space, and fill in what I could to give the logo a more dominate look. By placing all of the Fleur de lis' it is made clear that this restaurant is unique to Louisville, and by placing the name of the city and state it gives people a look at our history by telling those who do not know that we have a French heritage. Lastly, I chose the rectalgular shape becuase I wanted to resemble a pirates colors, or flag. Over all I wanted to give the illusion that you are walking into a pirates home on the sea, in Louisville, KY.

Nobody's "Perfect"

For my attempt to create the fantasy version of myself, I used a gorgeous picture of Avril Lavigne. As for the over all result of my creation, I am happy with how it turned out; for my first time. The transformation itself is not what I had expected completely, but over all I am happy with what came out of my creation. Looking back I think that the end result may have come out better if our facial structures were the same. The fact that I know and see how the images that we take for flawless are fake, this allows me to open my eyes and see more than I did before. Knowing that huge magazines and their photographers are okay with taking someone and making them look like they stepped out of a fairy tale is sad. I disagree with it completely, these people are giving all of their readers and/or viewers a false image, and simply lying to all of us so that they can make money. After seeing what I have and learning the material that I have, I know now that the "perfect" image that we all see, and believe is the real deal, is just a dream. This lesson has taught me that the body that girls dream of having is a lie, it doesn't really exist. All of the images and material we see in today's world, tells us that all of us have to be thin, have flawless skin, and the "perfect" features to be beautiful; this lesson about the tricks of the trade helped me see through that lie. 

Before

After

In the process of transforming myself into someone else, I did end up doing some things well; such as, getting my makeup and skin to be as "perfect" as possible, along with whiting my teeth. I took the time to make sure that my face was clear, my eye shadow was even, and that my eyes looked normal. Another thing that I did well was, cropping, scaling, and rotating my face so that it was proportional to hers. I believe I did well on these particular things because, I see them to be the most interesting and "perfect" parts of my transformation. These are the things that look the most natural. 

Just like in anything else, when you do some things good, you end up doing some things bad. In this case I had issues with getting my skin tone and hers to match; since this picture was already edited and she had lighting that helped make her skin tone the color it is, I had to make my skin tone as close as possible. Something else that I am not too thrilled about is, the way that her arms look after I covered up her tattoos. It is all due to the fact that I know it is there, but there are smudges where I covered and blended the colors to cover them, is visible if you look closely.  I believe that these areas are the ones needing improvement because, when you look at the photo closely, you can tell where the mistakes are. Those two are the things that stand out to me the most. Now that I have practiced with this area of Photoshop, I think that I would be able to become better and better each time I did this activity.  

Just Another Day In The Life, Of A Mercy Girl

Throughout the process of using Photoshop I have learned that you can completely change a pictures look. I learned that it is possible to combine a picture into one, re-size a picture by adding or subtracting pixels, cut out a piece of a picture by cropping, or lassoing it, and even change the color scheme of a particular photo. By using the different elements in Photoshop, you are able to add emphasis to a photo, give it a different shape, or make it into a larger picture. Using the tutorials that were given to me, I was able to transform the pictures easier, with skill and creativity. Photoshop allows you to have creativity at your fingertips, and using Photoshop is a way to make your photos even more your own.

In Photoshop I used the tools to create this collage above, and was able to fit everything together by cropping, lassoing, rotating, re-sizing, and moving the photos. To create the photos that I used in my collage I cropped images so that I was getting the part of the picture that was most important to have in my finished product. In a few of the photographs I used the lasso tool. Using this made it possible to cut out the portion of the picture I wanted and use it according to the space that I had. In some cases I had to use crop and lasso on the same photo to get the effect that I wanted, such as the Rachel's Challenge banner and the Walk Poster.  I also re-sized a photo, the Jaguar painting.When I took the picture, it was too close up and blurry. When I made the image smaller by changing the number of pixels per inch it helped clear the photo a bit. The red eye tool, I used this to get rid of the red eye that was on the pictures of people in my collage. By using this tool, you are able to get rid of the "demon look" and make them look human, again! Finally I used the Adjustments color tool, in the picture of the student sleeping in her desk, the color was a bit off because of the lighting. So, using the color adjustments I was able to make the photo look better. It gave her a better skin tone color and made her uniform stand out more by brightening its color, as well.

Can You Picture This?

In the pictures below you will see 3 different types of pictures, these depict 3 different types of images. Here I will explain how these photos indicate, framing, simplicity, and angles.

This photo was taken of my younger sister, and this is an angle photo. This photo can also be called a, "Myspace Angle," photo. This photo was taken at an angle and therefore makes the focus of the image distorted. Looking at the photograph you see that the tire swing, and my sister looks extremely larger than the leg of the swing set that is in sight. The angle that the photo was taken in also makes her legs look disproportional to the rest of her body. This makes a difference in the photo immensely, it makes the focus of the photo look completely different than it is in reality. In reality we know that her legs are not smaller than the upper portion of her body, and we know the herself and the tire swing are not bigger than the swing set itself.

This photo demonstrates simplicity. In a photo that shows simplicity the photo's focal point is evident. In the photo you see here, you automatically see that the focus is the pink carnation. The photo of the flower itself is bold and immediately gets your attention, this is what the element of simplicity is supposed to do. In the photo the items in the background are noticed, but not overly bold or noticeable to the viewer immediately. For this particular photograph, my hand is in the background, even though this is the case, you do not look at that factor when you look at the picture. The pink carnation is bold and to the point.

This picture was taken at the local zoo, this indicates framing in a photograph. If you look closely and imagine the photo without the natural elements around the bird, were not there, then you will notice that the image becomes less interesting. This is because the small elements in the picture give it the interesting and unique factors that it needs to attract the attention of the viewer. In this particular photo the bird is the more defined framing, while the frame itself that the bird has, is less defined.



LMA News; Piracy Podcast

My group and I recently created our first podcast, in Garage Band. The material that we used were made up scenarios. When we did use something that had a copyrighted name, we made sure that we stated the owner of the material. In our case we decided that we would give a report on the creator of Limewire. Although, again, we made sure that we addressed who the owner was, and did not take anything as our own. The other material that was used in the making of our podcast was made up completely by us. We interviewed celebrities and pretended to be them, but that was not breaking any copyright laws. Their name isn't copyrighted. Take a listen to what we have done, I hope that you enjoy it! Welcome to LMA News...
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B1tLTHAv-qltNjM4OTdhMzAtMGE5Mi00YzJlLTk5MmMtMTZmMjZiZjU1OWY1&hl=en_US

In my opinion, after doing all the research that I have, I find that downloading music is wrong. I never took into consideration that doing something that seems so small could have such an impact on the music world. I think that this material on copyrighting should be taught to all students, so that they know who they are hurting.  Copyright laws need to exist, they make it clear that it is theft, and wrong. When the copyright laws were not in place, people everywhere had the opportunity to take what was not theirs, and use it for themselves. Back then it may not have seemed like a big deal, but now it is a matter of having food to put on the table, and not. Piracy is so prevalent in our society because, of the world that the people doing it have grown up in. People now look at others as little or nothing. People never take the time to think twice and do what is best for the other person, only themselves. When it comes to piracy, people in our world are only looking at what they can do to save money, take the easy way out, or even how they can make something harder on someone else; for their personal enjoyment. This fact is extremely sad. I hope that soon people will know what copyright laws are, and how important they are in our society.

If someone were to take the podcast that I helped create, and use it for themselves without asking me, I would feel like I was being stolen from. I would feel like I was being taken advantage of, it would hurt. I know that I would not like my work that I put so much into, taken from me. I have really opened my eyes throughout this experience, and I am going to think twice before doing something that is wrong. I am going to put myself in their shoes.

Piracy, It's Illegal

I have done more and more research on  piracy, and its consequences. Piracy is more punishable, serious, and wrong than I ever thought. Learning the serious consequences someone could end up serving is a scary thought. Music is my life, I know that I could not live without it, and now I realize what piracy does the bands I love. It ruins their work, their income, and careers. I never really put it into perspective until now.

I decided to look up an example of a Piracy Case  that was taken to court in 2007. In this example, a single mother from Minneapolis was charged with piracy for stealing from six record companies. Apparently the computer security experts hired by the record companies, traced the songs back the mothers IP address. Even after having this evidence, the woman still pleaded not guilty. The hard drive that was supposedly the home of the illegal downloads was never used in the case; the mother stated that the original hard drive was defective and had to be replaced.

A total of 1,702 songs were illegally downloaded, but only the top 24 were considered in the case. At the end of the trial, the jury did not buy the excuse of the defective hard drive, so they ordered that she pay $220,000, or $9,250 per song. This might seem like a lot of money, but it is a better fate than paying a total of $150,000 per song.

This mother is breaking the law of downloading songs illegally, stealing from record companies, and musicians. Her punishment of paying fines seems like a fair trade, rather than having to pay more than double what she did, not having jail time, and not being charged for the 1,702 songs that were stolen. Studying the acts of piracy has made me think twice before I take the easy way out.

The Amazing World Of Technology!

Hello, world of bloggers! I am new to putting ideas and such on the internet in blog form, but I am here to give it my best shot. Lately, I have been thinking a ton about what life would be like, for me, if technology was completely removed… It is a scary thought! I use technology every day, and to be honest, I don’t know if I could actually live without it. I believe I would start having withdrawals extremely quickly.  

So, I have decided to tell the world, in a nut shell, how I use technology. I utilize technology in the class room, at home, and on the go. These days school almost revolves around using technology. We all use it in school for different reasons, a book report, a science project, a history paper; my list could go on and on. At my high school, technology is essential, I believe. Teachers, staff, and students use it every second of the school day. The world of technology has opened a world of new ideas and wonder for us. It makes life easier, simply put.  

At home, the endless world of technology basically consumes us all. Being a teenager in this day and age, coming home and getting on the computer is a daily activity. It’s a sad truth in all actuality. I don’t think that there are many teens out there that aren’t living on Facebook, or tweeting on Twitter. At home we are surrounded by the internet and its wonders. For some of us, having a computer gives us the time and needed information to procrastinate on the project we haven’t done; that has never happened to me… Anyway, at home, our need for technology seems to be at its highest.

Technology on the go, this is where we hit some issues. Cell phones, a hand held computer for some of us, me included. Teens and adults, alike, have their phones glued to their hand. It seems that 24/7 our phones are beeping, ringing, or buzzing, I know mine is! From cell phones to lab tops, we are in one form or another connected to the world. America never seems to sleep, in a way we are always up and moving. We always have the world at our finger tips. Wow, in a way that sounds extremely frightening to have all that power!  

Talking about all this has me in a thinking mood. Future technology…that makes my mind run wild! In my mind technology is not going anywhere, it will just advance. Who knows, one day we might be able to push a button and teleport to another state, location, or even country! Maybe, we will be able to go to a different planet. Okay, now I am getting a little crazy. Or am I? We have already gotten to the point of our cars having phones in them, what next? Our world could become a complete computer. Robots could be in every one of our houses, cooking us dinner, or cleaning my room! I may even get my Dad to buy me a flying car! I don’t think that I am over thinking this one; I believe that it might be closer in our future than we think. Soon our world will be completely different; everything will be about technology, even more than it is now.

I am just like every other person in the world; it is a waiting game to see where we will go in the future. I am ready for an adventure! 

Till' next time!