The Warhol Effect

Andy Warhol was a painter and printmaker who led the visual arts movement known as pop art.  He led a fascinating life.  When you have time, you should read more about him. 

Andy Warhol photographed by Jack Mitchell

You have probably seen his work - and imitations of it - in poster shops, on t-shirts, on mugs, online, etc.

It is a bit time-consuming, but not too difficult to achieve a Warhol effect in Photoshop.  I made this in about an hour and a half, with lots of trial and error!

Here are some examples from last year's classes:

Today I'm going to walk you through the steps for achieving this effect.  The first step is to choose an image.  It should be an image with fairly clean, strong edges.  It can be a portrait or a still life.  You need to cut it out as neatly as possible using the magnetic lasso tool.

I relied heavily on Melissa Evans' blog post for steps in achieving this effect in Photoshop.  Thank you, Melissa!

Collage Me Project

You are all unique individuals with a complex variety of talents, dreams, and interests.  The Collage Me Project asks you to show who you are in a very visual way.

This Collage Me project should take you several class periods to complete.  I want you to do it well, so take your time!

PART 1:

Create your silhouette.

1.  Open a new 11x17 canvas in Photoshop.  Make it portrait style.  You're going to put a silhouette of your body or your torso/head so it needs to be longer than wider.

2.  Go to EDIT -> FILL and fill your background with a color of your choice.

3.  Pull over a picture of you from your portrait collection.  Pick one where you are the clear focal point of the picture.  Look for something that is relatively easy to trace and that makes sense for a silhouette.  If you're climbing a tree, that's probably not a great choice.  If you want to take a new portrait just for this project, go ahead.

4.  Select the MAGNETIC LASSO tool.  Use magnetic lasso to trace your image.  Then choose LAYER -> DELETE LAYER.  You should then see your magnetic lasso marching ants on top of your background without the portrait.

5.   Next duplicate your background layer.

6.  With the background copy layer selected, hit the DELETE key to get rid of the cutout (the marching ants shape) inside your silhouette.  Then delete your original background layer.

Your project should now look something like this:

PART 2:

Fill your silhouette!

Collect at least 20 different images to put inside your silhouette.  You can use pictures that you've taken OR pictures from the web.  You can use photos, cartoons, logos, etc.  Anything goes!  Your goal is to show the many sides of you.  Don't fill in your entire silhouette with pictures of the Phillies if you're a Phillies fan.  Think about the people, places, things, and ideas that matter to you.

Remember that your canvas is 11x17 (really big!)  Zoom in to 100% when working on different parts of the collage so that you can work in "real view."  

Resize, rotate and layer the images so that they fit inside your silhouette.  There shouldn't be any empty space. 

NOTE - Your silhouette layer has to go ON TOP of all the collage images.  It's like a reverse cookie cutter...

PART 3:

Make a text layer with your name.  Use at least four effects to make your name pop.   Make sure the text layer is the top layer so that it is visible.

Use the brush tool to add embellishments to the background and/or collage.  Use at least three different brushes.

When you're done, print a copy for me and save your project as a JPEG in the student common folder in the COLLAGE ME folder.

I have developed this project based on a post from Paul Ferraris, a high school teacher in San Francisco.  Many thanks to Paul and the students at City Arts and Tech High School in San Francisco for the inspiration!

Hybrid Animals Project!

Your challenge:

• design a hybrid animal that reflects your personality and/or interests
• use parts from at least 3 different animal species {head from one, body from a second, arms/legs/fins/wings/tails from a third+); you may use one of your own parts if you like
• use only high resolution images for your project - no blurry or fuzzy pictures will be accepted
• select or create an environment - can be indoor or outdoor and can be realistic or not
• scale your animal properly for the environment
• name your animal!  write the name creatively on the image using the text tool
• sign your project with your initials or first and last name in the bottom right corner in a scripty font

Bonus points (not that you have grades in this class!) if you include yourself or someone else (with her/his permission of course) in your creation.  Are you excited to see your animal?  Fearful?  Feeding it?

Tools to use:

You will need use the magnetic lasso tool for sure.  You may also want to use color replacement, brushes, shapes, and more. 

Make your canvas 11x17 (or 17x11)!

Examples from last year:

Examples of hybrid animals:

• The Horned Alpacorse
• New Species
• Assorted Hybrids

Resources:

• AnimalPhotos.info <-- free photos of animals licensed under creative commons
• 30+ Animal Inspired Photoshop Brush Sets
• Animal Prints Patterns

Lyrics Project

Today we're going to start a new project in Photoshop.  Wahooooo!

This project will challenge you to use understanding of Photoshop layers as well as selection tools.  You will have plenty of room for creativity and customization!

Here are the steps:

1.  Pick a song that you love and that speaks to you.  The lyrics must be appropriate for school!  I chose Mean by Taylor Swift.  Tori wants to live in NYC some day and she loves this song.

2.  Pick a picture of you that has pretty clear edges that will be easy-ish to cut out with the magnetic lasso tool.  You can do just a head shot, full body, profile, etc.  Anything works, so long as you can cut it out.  I chose a picture of Tori from Easter.  I like how her elbow sticks out and thought it would look kinda cool in the project.

3.  Pick a background. You can use a textured background, a graphic background, or a photo background.  It can be a background that you made or one that you grab online.  I used a photo that Tori took in NYC.

Variety of Photoshop backgrounds

Site with a slew of free textured Photoshop backgrounds to download

4.  Create an 8.5 x 14 canvas in Photoshop. Add your background image.  Duplicate that layer and then delete the original background layer.  Resize your background to make it fit the canvas.  Create a new layer, drag it to the bottom to be the background, and make it white (Edit --> Fill --> White).  This will allow you to alter your background image more easily.  Your layer panel should now look something like this:

5.  Open your portrait image in Photoshop.  You should now have two PS panels going. You can unsnap them by pulling one off the other.  Duplicate your portrait layer.  Use the magnetic lasso tool to cut out your portrait.  Choose LAYER VIA CUT after you have it cut out.  Drag the portrait cutout onto your background PS panel.  Your layer panel should now look something like this:

6.  Resize and reposition your cutout.  Make sure that your cutout layer is the one selected.  Then choose EDIT --> TRANSFORM --> SCALE.  Hold down the SHIFT key as you resize to maintain proper proportions.  Click on the MOVE tool and use it to reposition your cutout as needed.  If you want to rotate your cutout, choose EDIT --> TRANSFORM --> ROTATE.  

7.  Create a new layer and put it on top.  Drag a text box as big as you want and in the area that you want.    Paste the lyrics inside the box.  Pick your font, size, color, justification, etc.  Create cool text effects by choosing LAYER --> LAYER STYLE.  I used a bunch:

8.  Did you notice the small VLS I put on Tori's waistband?  I was able to add that pretty easily thanks to the copy and paste feature in PS.  I made a new layer, drew my text box in approximately the right place, and typed in Tori's initials.  Then I went to my layers panel.  I right clicked on the previous text layer and chose COPY LAYER STYLE.  Then I clicked on my new text layer and chose PASTE LAYER STYLE.  I quickly made the VLS on a slight angle using TRANSFORM --> ROTATE.

9.  You should now have most of your project done.  If you have time, you should play with the opacity, glow, shadow, hue, etc. for different layers.  Have fun! 

When you're done, save your project as a JPEG and post it to the blog so everyone can see it!

Dream Trip Project

I am super excited about our Dream Trip Project!  This is going to be a great way for you to picture yourself (literally) on a fantasy vacation as well as to learn some new Photoshop skills.

Dream Trip Project Directions:

1. Select 3 or more pictures from your dream destination.  For example, if my dream destination is Paris, I might choose a picture of the Eiffel Tower, Monet's water lily gardens, and a quaint city street.  Please get all your pictures from the site Ookaboo, as *all* of the images are public domain or creative commons.  Download the FULL size images (best resolution) to your desktop.
2. Select 3 or more pictures of you from your portraiture photo shoot.  Make sure they're on your desktop.
3. Open Photoshop and create an 11x14 size canvas; give the canvas a black or white background.  The canvas can be horizontal or vertical.  It's up to you!
4. Add your destination pictures.  You can arrange them in any way you want, but try to take up most of the canvas.  You can rotate and overlap them for a collage look or you can put them in neat rows.
5. Add a large text box with your destination:  ex/"My Dream Trip to Paris!"
6. Open a new window in Photoshop and open your first portrait.  Dupliate the layer and then get rid of the original background layer. Use the MAGNETIC LASSO tool to cut yourself out.  Select NEW LAYER VIA CUT.  Then drag your cutout over to your project canvas and arrange it so that you are "in" one of your destination photos (you will probably need to resize, rotate, etc.).  Repeat this with your other portraits until you appear in each destination photo.
7. Optional:  Use brushes (default or add extras from Brusheezy) to accentuate your project.

When you're done, call me over to check it, and then we'll print it!  We'll also save it as a JPEG for your portfolio.

Magnet Project - Intro to Photoshop

I am super excited about our first Photoshop project.  It involves some of my favorite things:  QUOTES, FONTS, PHOTOSHOP and... MAGNETS! 

Have you ever seen an image online with a quote on top of a background or photo?
Check out my Pinterest board of quotes for some examples:

Your next project is to make your own cool quote image.  You can pick any quote you want, so long as it is appropriate for school, and can use any image you want, so long as it's appropriate for school.

A good place to go for backgrounds is http://photoshopbackgrounds.com/

It will take us most of today to set up your project.  Tomorrow we will learn some more Photoshop tricks, finalize our projects, print, and create our magnets. 

The goals for this activity are:

• to set up a canvas in Photoshop
• to add and manipulate a background in Photoshop
• to add and manipulate a textbox in Photoshop
• to learn about layers in Photoshop
• to learn the difference between saving as a Photoshop file and as a JPEG
• to make a cool magnet!

Here is my sample:

Portraiture Day 1

Today we will begin exploring portraiture!  I am super excited because portraiture is one of my FAVORITE photography genres.  I love people...all different kinds of people...even the annoying ones.  Documenting their personalities through photography is an exciting challenge.  

Before you jump into your photography, I want you to take a few minutes to explore some portraits and get some ideas.  I used Pinterest to gather examples.  Click on the screenshot below to go to my Pinterest board with portraiture samples.  Come to the rug in four minutes with at least four ideas for portraiture.

Getting to know a DSLR camera

So we have these big fancy black cameras here at NFS, and you might have one at home too.  And you probably know that these take "better" pictures than other cameras and also cost more.  But you probably don't know why...

These larger black cameras are called DSLR cameras:
 D   =   digital
 SL  =  single-lens
 R   =  reflex

Let's watch a video from About.com that explains the difference between a DSLR and a point-and-shoot camera.

• What are some benefits of a point-and-shoot?
• What are some benefits of a DSLR?
• How can a DSLR with lower megapixels than a point-and-shoot take better photographs?

Now that we know a little bit about DSLR cameras, let's learn what some of the buttons do.

Grab a camera and let's find these buttons together:

• shutter button
• AF/MF
• on/off
• camera mode dial
• aperture/shutter dial
• ISO

ISO is a really important term in photography.  You need to know:

• what does ISO control?
• what happens when the ISO is set to a low number?
• what happens when the ISO is set to a high number?
• what is the recommended setting for ISO for different situations?

As you know, I'm not an expert in photography.  I am an AMATEUR :)
So let's watch this YouTube video from Kerry Garrison and hear an expert explain ISO.




That is enough vocabulary for today!  We'll explore more later this week.

Now I want you to do practice using the DSLR cameras and start gathering photos that we can use for future projects.  Go outside (or stay in if you like) and take at least 10 pictures each.  If you like, you can play with the ISO setting to see how it affects your photos.

PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR GLOG!

Hey guys! I am looking at your glogs from home and realizing that I totally forgot to tell you to put your name somewhere on your glog. So go ahead and do that! Thanks, and have a great weekend!

The History of Photography Glogster Presentation

Click on the image to view our glogs about the history of photography!

 

History of Photography Mini Project

Woohoo, a mini-project!  I love mini-projects.  It's hard to do something really meaningful in one class period, but sometimes big tasks are overwhelming and I get bored by the end.  A mini-project is the perfect in-between...a few days to do something cool and then you're on to the next big thing!

Ok, enough small talk, on to the project...

Since I'm not with you in class this week, it is the perfect time for you to dip in to the history of photography and learn a little about how cameras have evolved.  I would like you to present your findings in a glog.  This means that you must know your glog username and password!  It should be the same info that you use to login to the computers at NFS.  If you need help, email me during Monday's class period.  I will be online during that time period and will be able to help you reset your password very quickly.  *Remember to login to edu.glogster.com * If you go to regular ol' glogster.com, your usernames won't work.  

You have four class periods (Mon, Wed, Thurs & Fri) to complete this project.  I will be able to track your progress via Glogster and will link them all together into one super glog.  You can work on your glog at home if you like, but this isn't necessary so long as you use your class time efficiently :)  Efficiency is great.  You should give it a whirl.

Oh wait.  Before we go any further.  Let me be clear.  DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!  No!  Don't even think about it.  This is super duper important so listen up.  I expect you to make every effort to use your own phrases and sentence composition.  Lots of times you'll hear teachers say "put it in your own words."  That is all good, but some words can't be changed.  For example, there's really only one word for camera.  What teachers mean is that you have to put the words together in your own way.  I shouldn't be able to Google a chunk or sentence from your writing and find it online in someone else's.

So no plagiarism, ok?  Promise?  Ok, phew.  We can keep going now.

In your glog, you must include the following:

• When did photography start?  See if you can find out who/what/when/where, as that's a pretty easy way to organize this kind of thing.  [a beefy paragraph at most]
• How did the first photographs actually get made?  We're talking physically here.  What did they actually use to make the photos? [a beefy paragraph at most]
• When did digital photography start?  See if you can find out who/what/when/where. [a beefy paragraph at most]
• How has the digital photography changed the world?  If you Google this question, you'll find a range of different ideas and opinions.  There isn't necessarily one right or wrong answer here.  That's a-ok and whatever you decide is fine by me.  The best questions often have no clear answer, and my goal is for you to think.  [a beefy paragraph at most]
• Who is a famous photographer?  How did she or he influence photography?  There are loads of people to choose from.  Pick anyone you want. [a beefy paragraph at most]  
• At least three pictures!  This IS photography class, after all! 
• A bibliography of your sources.  You should have at least three.  Use MLA format.  It's okay to use www.easybib.com or www.bibme.com  See Ms. Hensley if you need help with this. 

Here are a few more options.  I like choices, and maybe you do too.

* Instead of typing out your paragraphs, you can do audio recordings.  The perks of this method are that you don't have to worry about spelling and punctuation.  Woot!  And, as if that wasn't enough of a reason to try this out, you also get to use those nifty audio players that Glogster has.  So cool.  Ms. Chiko would say "huzzah!" about this option.  Instead, I'm going to say "YOWZA!"  Ask Jody Smith about YOWZA.  Don't tell her why though. Just say, "hey Jody, I just want to say YOWZA!"  Trust me, she will definitely love this and give you mental brownie points.  And who doesn't want mental brownie points from Queen Jody?  Ok, back to the options...

* Instead of jamming all this in one single glog, you can build two or more glogs and then link them.  This doesn't necessarily mean you're writing more.  It just means you can make your text bigger (easier to read), use larger pictures, add more spinning graphics, etc.  I bet a lot of you are thinking no way am I doing this.  That seems like a boatload more work.  Personally, I think this maybe takes a little more work, but not really if I want my glogs to look good.  Crowded and cramped is no fun for anyone, including glogs.  Give your glog a little room to breathe and stretch out, ok?

All-righty, that's probably enough to get you started on this fine Monday morning.  I rambled a bit here tonight so you better get going.  Efficiency, right?  

Peace y'all.

~ K

Lesson 1: Welcome to Digital Photography Class!

Today we are going to complete two baseline assessments:  one written and a photo shoot.

We're going to do the written one first.  When you've completed it, please bring the paper to me and then I will put you in a group for your first photo shoot.

Photo shoot rules:

1. take turns with the camera so that everyone gets a turn
2. each person must shoot one landscape (outside), one still life from the school supply pile, and one portrait (photograph someone in your group only)
3. it is okay to help each other

When you come back inside, you must transfer the pictures into the student common folder.  I will show you how to do this if you don't know.

These baselines will be useful to you later in the quarter as you reflect about your growth.