In today’s lesson, we experimented with colour splash. Colour splash involves using the de-saturation tool to then make your image black and white. Then you use the brush tool to basically paint through the layers to make one subject in the image, for example, the foreground in colour and the background in black and white. It has a really good effect.

I experimented this with two different photographs from my environmental portraiture series and my favourite one is the cycling one as I think it works best with the colours in this one compared to the second attempt.

I then compressed and flattened the image to save it to allow me to put it on the blog as this post.

         Edited                                                                                       Original 

Here is the Original and the Edited version of one of my Environmental Portraits. We did a method called Color Splash. This is when we changed the saturation of the image by making it black and white. We then used a small brush to highlight the areas of the image that we wanted to go back to color. I made the image brighter and added more contrast.

 Today, I used a color splash technique to select various parts in the photograph to remain in color but other parts in black and white.  To start off, I duplicated the layer using Ctrl + J.   I made the background black and white and the new layer as color.  In the toolbox I clicked the black square.  Then using the brush tool, I selected areas of which I wanted to keep in color.  Carefully, I used the opacity tool and the zoom tool to have a precise level of accuracy in selecting the finer areas of the photograph.

Today in the lesson, I used the program ‘Adobe Photoshop’ to edit the image I took of my Grandpa with his tractors on one of my shoots for environmental portraiture.

Above is the original and below is the edited version. Firstly, I cropped the photograph to enable me to focus on the main aspects of the picture, this being, my Grandpa’s face, the steering wheel and the poster behind him, also about tractors. When cropping the picture, I had make sure I was obeying the rule of thirds by aligning key parts with the lines and intersections. In this photo, my model’s face is centered but I believe it has a positive effect on the viewer.

Next, I adjusted the saturation so there was none – it was black and white. By doing this, I was able to use the ‘levels’ tool on Photoshop to alter the intensity of the blacks, whites and mid-tones; essentially changing the contrast. I found a balance I was happy with, which I thought looked effective for the photo.

Finally, once I was happy with the outcome, I flattened this photograph by going to ‘layers’ then ‘flatten image’. This allowed me to put it on the blog to show you my thoughts.

The top photograph is the edited version, and the bottom is the original.

To edit the photograph, I firstly cropped the boundaries so that composition of the photograph fits in well with the rule of thirds.  I secondly,  changed the photograph to black and white by decreasing the saturation to nothing.  I did this because traditionally, portrait photographs were taken in black and white.  Finally, I adjusted the contrast using the levels tool.  By doing this, I enhanced the dark areas and enhanced the bright areas.  To compliment both of these factors I then adjusted the grey scale to create a balance between the two sides of light.

I edited this image by lowing the saturation so that the image turned to black and white. I then used the Levels tool and altered the histogram so there was more contrast and also the Curves tool to change the lighting in specific areas of the photograph. I think that by having the image in black and white it makes the photo seem more like how original environmental portraits.

Today in the lesson, we experimented with using different ISO settings on our cameras. We went around the school and chose a model to take portraits of, positioned them in an area which was light in colour and took their photo using each of the ISO settings ranging from 100-6400. We then repeated this but in an area which was dark in colour. For each image, I had to tell our subject to keep still so I could get the best possible outcome.

Here is the photoshoot. Now, the difference is hugely noticeable because the light conditions weren’t perfect but it still gives me a vague idea of the uses of ISO and it’s benefits; the lower the ISO number, the less sensitive it will be to light. However, a higher number increases sensitivity to light.

I then combined two photographs of Jack – my model so it is clear for you to see the difference ISO can make to an image. The left doesn’t have noise –  the quality is better, however, the right does have noise so the texture and look; the overall quality isn’t as good. These tow photos have been merged but are from the exact same shoot where Jack was stood in the same position.