In this picture, I modified an old family photograph, using
Photoshop’s paint tool. This was the
family of Gottlieb and Marie Steiner. Gottlieb
was an immigrant from Switzerland, and Marie from Bavaria. They lived in Waterville, Washington, and one
of the sons went on to become a Chelan County judge. One of their daughters, Elizabeth (I’m not
sure which she is in this picture) was my great grandmother. One of my other variants on this photo is a
colorized version, where I added some transparent color to their faces and
hands, and to the dresses of the two youngest ones. That made me feel quite sad about how unhappy
they all look, so in the next version (the one posted here), I tried to cheer
them up with a selection of Easter eggs laid out in front of them. Here's a link to the whole project, where you can see the sad colorized version of the Steiner family photograph, along with my other two photos and their modifications. http://sws.pcc.edu/student/CAS208_pdeangel_23996/barbarajohnston87/website/images/project1images/johnston_gallery/
Here are my answers to the assignment questions:
1.
What did you find most interesting about using these
features of Photoshop?
I was astonished at the variety of
results that could be achieved with the paint tool. Any of the brushes can be used to make a dot
or a circle or an oval, or other stretched shape. Transparency adjustments allow interesting effects
from the original photograph to shine through.
The sampling tool allows you to paint using the exact color of some part
of the original picture – or the exact same color you used several operations
ago.
2.
What challenges did you experience in the process?
Probably the most difficult aspect
of using the paint tool is trying to draw straight or evenly curved lines. It’s really worthwhile using the marquee tool
to limit the area where painting can be done.
The idiotic mistake I made was that I got so excited about the process,
I forgot to create a painting layer for each new photo – just did it on the
original – so I had to go back and redo those.
3.
How would you use these tools in future projects?
I anticipate that these tools will
be very useful in the future, probably in combination with other tools. The paint tool can be used to emphasize an
area of a photograph, or change the color.
Quite obviously, it can be used to create a work that is part
photograph, part painting. The marquee
tool (and its variations) will probably be even more useful, since it can be
used to select an area which can then be the target for a large variety of
modifications.
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