Digital Photography & Imaging - Exercises
Week 10 / 02.06.2021
Lecture 9 - Introduction to After Effects
For this week, we were given an introduction to the use of Adobe After Effects. It was a build-up for our completion of the Final Project where we can apply our knowledge of After Effects into our work of design.
What is After Effects? It is a software that allows its users to compose 2.5D animation, visual effect and motion pictures. The software is widely used in a variety of media, such as films, videos and TV programmes. It is commonly used during the post-production phase of a design/project and it comes with a wide range of built-in effects that can manipulate images.
Exercise - Animate
Final Outcome
Week 4 / 21.04.2021
Lecture 4 - Introduction to Photoshop 3 (Adjustment Layer & Filters)
In this week, we continued to learn more about Photoshop, specifically the Adjustment Layers and Filters. From what I have understood, the Adjustment Layer is applied as a non-destructive image editing tool, a layer that is independent from the original image. I find this an extremely useful tool in editing the images as we can edit or discard the adjustments any time we want and restore the original image.
Here are some of the new terms that I have learned during Mr. Martin's:
- Tonal Adjustment - it refers to the adjustment of the highlights (white), midtones (grey) and shadows (black) of an image. Brightness, Contrast, Levels, Curves and Exposure are the tools used to apply said adjustment. Among these tools, Brightness and Contrast are known as the most fundamental tools for tonal adjustment.
- Vibrance & Saturation - both tools are used to adjust the intensity of the image, but Vibrance is more "subtle" in comparison to Saturation as it has less effect on the warm tone and skin tone. Therefore, Vibrance is the preferred tool for adjusting portraits.
- Hue - it is used to adjust the colours of an image. Digital graphic designer would focus on the use of RBG colours (red, blue and green), whereas printed designs work would use the CMYK colours (cyan, magenta and yellow).
- Clipping mask is the option that only effects the layer directly below the adjustment layer.
Week 3 / 14.04.2021
Lecture 3 - Introduction to Photoshop
In this week's lecture, we were given an introduction to the basic tools of Photoshop. The focus was given on tools such as the Lasso tool and the Pen tool, as well as some basic yet essential techniques like masking, layering and making use of the path. Mr. Martin encouraged us to open up Photoshop and try editing the downloaded images as he demonstrated in class. This introduction was given to help us have a better understanding of Photoshop as we would need to start using it to make digital collages.
The Lasso tool allows us to draw and pinpoint certain areas of an image, whereas the Pen tool can be used to create paths; both tools can be employed to make selections of an image. Personally I prefer using the Pen tool when making selections as it allows me to make precise shapes and paths. Masking is one of those techniques that I have heard of but never really understood what it truly means. Mr. Martin explained that it is equivalent to cutting out unwanted areas of a piece of paper. On the other hand, layering is a technique that I am familiar with as I have been practising it while using other drawing software.
Exercise - Compositions of Digital Collages
Same as the physical collage, we were instructed to come up with three different compositions of digital collages. However, in this exercise, we were limited to use only the images compiled by our lecturers and it is required the compositions are done on a vertical A4 canvas. The submission of the compositions would be done via Google Classroom.
During the tutorial session, Mr. Martin also demonstrated on how to compose a digital collage. He also urged us to not limit ourselves to using only the tools and techniques taught in class and encouraged us to explore and play around with the tools and options available in Photoshop.
Week 2 / 07.04.2021
Lecture 2 - Introduction to Composition
In this week’s lecture, we learned about basic composition in graphic design. The following shows a summary of my understanding of the elements of basic composition according to the lecture slides and further readings:
- Focal point - it helps the viewers' to focus on an important piece of the design.
- Scale & Hierarchy - Hierarchy is the arrangement and placement of the design elements in order of their significance, whereas scale can be referred to as the relative size of a design element in comparison to another element. Scale is used to communicate hierarchy by drawing attention toward and/or away certain elements.
- Balance the elements - visual weight is the notion that design elements have varied weight (e.g larger objects may appear more "heavy" than smaller objects). In order to achieve balance in a design, one needs to consider balancing the visual weight of the design elements in order to make them look equal. If the intention is to draw attention to certain objects, the balance could be thrown off to create visual hierarchy.
- White space - also known as the empty space to help balance up the main focus of a composition.
The Rule of Third
Next, we learned about the Rule of Third. According to the lecture slides, it is a process of dividing up an image into thirds, using two vertical lines and two horizontal lines. The imaginary grid yields nine parts with four intersection points. By positioning the most important elements of a design/image at said intersection points, it makes the design/image more natural. The rule is a way of employing composition techniques to align and arrange elements that is naturally pleasing to the eyes, using negative spaces creatively, as well as creating conversations between the subject and the background.
Retrieved from lecture slides
https://thelenslounge.com/photography-composition-rule-of-thirds/
Prior to the lecture, I was already aware of the Rule of Third and have been taking it into consideration when taking photos. However, in this lecture, I got to learn something new about the rule, that is 41% of people tend to focus on the intersection located at the top left of an image, as shown in the figure below:
The possible explanation to this tendency is that most of our scripts are written and read from left to right and top to bottom. Hence, we can say that our way of viewing images is influenced by our habit of reading written text.
The Golden Ratio
Then, we learned about the Golden Ratio. It is a mathematical ratio that is commonly found in nature and further applied to designs to foster organic and natural-looking compositions that is pleasing to the eye.
Exercise - Pre-compositions of Physical Collage
During the tutorial session, we were instructed to choose and identify the design elements of our collage and start pre-composing the elements into a composition. Next, we should take three photos of the pre-compositions of the collage and submit them via Google Classroom. This exercise was conducted to help us practise with composition.
Compiling some potential cutouts and materials retrieved from the internet and the old magazines beforehand was a good start for this exercise as it helps me to form some basic ideas for the pre-compositions. Not to mention that looking up on Pinterest for collage inspirations and references is also extremely helpful when I was running out of ideas.
Composing the cutouts of design elements into a collage was a fun yet challenging experience to me. The fun part of it was that the possibilities of the arrangement and design elements are basically infinite and it was fun exploring and combining different elements together to create a unique collage. Paper bags, notebook pages, magazines, different textured and colour papers were some interesting elements that could be applied. However, the challenge of it was estimating the scale of the cutouts. For example, there were some cutouts from magazines that really sparked my interest and I wanted to include them in my composition, but the problem was that some elements were either too big or small which ended up not looking good in the composition.
After many trials, I have finally come up with three pre-compositions:
Week 1 / 31.03.2021
Lecture 1 - Introduction to Photography & Imaging
For our first meeting, we were greeted by the lecturer, Mr. Martin. Later, he began the lecture by preaching to us as to why we need to learn Photoshop along with its importance to a graphic designer. Furthermore, he showed us several tips to become a successful graphic designer, including look up for tutorials to improve our skills, organise folders and files properly, memorise keyboard shortcuts, and last but not least, experiment.
Next, Mr Martin explained the instructions for our projects and work submissions. Explanations were given with the aid of presenting the works of past semester students. I was impressed by the final work produced by the seniors. Just by looking at their work, I felt excited and began to anticipate what design and work I could come up with in the coming days. Also, I really appreciate Mr Martin's kindness and consideration for giving us recommendations on the cameras and equipment that we could use for the module and future works. I was clueless as to what equipment I should get, thus the recommendations came in very handy.
Our first task of the week was revealed later in the practical session. We were instructed to complete the document posted in Google Classroom and began updating the content on our e-blog. The task is shown as below:
- Play and practice using the Pen tool on the Bezier Game.
- Create an e-portfolio using BlogSpot.
- Register an account on Pinterest and Behance.
- List down 3 of my favourite graphic design works from Pinterest and provide an explanation for each work.
The Bezier Game
This is a learning game designed to help beginners of Photoshop to practice the Pen tool. According to the demonstration by Mr Martin, we should use the Pen tool to trace the outline of an object given by each stage. The player is given a specific amount of "nodes" to complete the tracing. It is also encouraged to not use up all of the nodes; the ideal number of nodes will be shown as well by the end of the stage. If one is not satisfied with their results, they can always repeat the stages.
3 Favourite Graphic Designs from Pinterest
As I was looking through Pinterest for reference images for another module, I came across this design. The two mugs are in different colours and sizes which created visual contrast, I believe this is why it caught my attention in the first place. Upon closer observation, I realised that the rims and the inner space of the mugs are created to resemble speech bubbles, which then leads us to the human faces, as created using the handles. I like how I could get the message suggested by the elements by just looking at it - two people (friends, family members, couple) sitting down together, having a conversation while enjoying a mug of beverage. Not to mention that the beverage could be hot chocolate, as suggested with the use of brown. As I was searching for the source for this image, I found out that the title for it is “Tea for Two”, which summarises the work perfectly.
I have been following the artist’s work on Instagram for quite some time. I truly adore his art style - the combination of geometric shapes and organic shapes, contrast in colours and the incorporation of animals and plants! At first glance, it seems like a regular design of Japan’s Mount Fuji, due to the red circle in the centre (it resembles the country’s national flag) and the iconic snowy mountain peak. However, as l look closer, there is a small twist to this design work. What seems like the snowy mountain peak is actually a white cat lying on top of the mountain! I like how the artist put together two unrelated and unexpected subjects (cat and mountain) into one work, and it immediately increases the visual interest of it. Furthermore, I love the colours in this design. The red contrasts with the dark blue, yet it looks harmonious because both colours are quite desaturated. Another thing to point out is I like how the placement of the red circle behind the mountain peak draws our attention to it, which then allows us to discover the cat on the mountain.
I got to know the artist and his work from another module. According to the artist, the design is created to celebrate Malaysia’s diversity and our 63rd Independence Day. I admire his bold use of colours and how it contrasts with each other. Not to forget that the colours used are inspired by the national flag, Jalur Gemilang - read, blue, white and yellow. The design features the different ethnic groups in the nation; each representative of the ethnic group can be recognised easily because of their hair styles and head pieces. Furthermore, the artist cleverly incorporated some elements of the national flag, such as the crescent moon and the fourteen-pointed star as accessories.
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