MIDTERM PORTFOLIO

For my “Midterm Portfolio”, six pieces were chosen from a range of projects I we completed. All of them display skills used in Photoshop CS5. While some of the skills, such as the idea of “photo correction” might seem basic and simple, they produced a more eye-pleasing image. Compositions that took a longer time to complete, such as the combing of different images to create a new and composited image, was equally as interesting.

            I will begin with first piece displayed below. Unlike many of the other pieces shown in this “Midterm Portfolio”, this one in particular would be classified as a more graphic and abstract piece. I am a graphic design major, so I decided to make this particular piece very typical of a graphic designer. The irony is: the images used to compose this final piece were not abstract shapes or generated with a program such as Adobe Illustrator. The faces in the background was a single photo of a comic book-like painting, hanging on the wall in Holman Hall on the campus of The College of New Jersey. They were simply copy and pasted behind the blinds. The blinds were in front of a window, also located in Holman Hall. The only editing done to the blinds was the removal of a crooked blind to the far right, to keep the geometric flow more even.

            Moving on to the next piece, you can see a Georgian-style building, complete with plant-life and bushes in the foreground. This image was composed of three separate images: Green Hall (located on the campus of The College of New Jersey), a clouded sky, and bushes. The sky image was taken at Sourland Mountain Reserve in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Green Hall was kept the same (only the sky of the picture was removed). Finally, the shrubs were placed in front. The shrub in the front was slightly altered color-wise so it could show-up better. A slight blur was added, as well, to add depth to the final piece.

            The third image depicts stop signs placed in a simple geometric pattern. Like the first image, this one I wanted to do graphically, as well. This is a great example of how “simple is better”. It is simply a stop sign shape copy and pasted over again but placed in a geometric pattern. It also represents internal graphing, as you can see from the faint grey line. The entire image roughly forms an “x” shape image. The strength of the red sign against the white background was enough to allow me to not add more to this image.

            The fourth image brings us back to “real life” and more realistic images. It is a “before an after” piece, depicting a color change to make the photo look more pleasing. To begin, I used the Pattern Tool to erase the crumbs to make the image look cleaner. Next, a color change via saturation and vibrancy made the image more lively and appealing. It is important to note that image may not look 100% realistic. However, what is more important is that it looks more appealing. It looks like what we interpret “realistic” and “perfect” to look like. This type of image could be seen in a magazine ad, food poster, etc.

            Piece #5 is an ironic, but realistic image. The piece consists of two photos edited together to form a composite image. The first one was an image of a street and shops along that street in downtown Princeton, New Jersey. In the foreground is where the second image is located. The second image is that of lawn chairs, sitting in the snow. This image was taken on the campus of The College of New Jersey. The lawn chairs are seen sitting in the road and in snow. This is a very ironic picture because of the fact that summer lawn chairs are sitting in snow and that the chairs, which represent relaxation are placed in the hustle and bustle of one of New Jersey’s most exclusive towns.

            Finally, the last piece is a physical/digital drawing and painting. More specifically it is a self-portrait. First, I drew with a pencil, the basic outline of the face and features. Then I scanned the image into the computer. Using Photoshop CS5, I painted on top the pencil outline. I wanted to keep the colors light but make my eyes really stand out and be the focal point.

Self- Evaluation:

I started using Photoshop about a year ago and ever since I have grown to like it more and more. The pieces depicted in this Midterm Portfolio express the knowledge that I have acquired both in and out of the classroom.

Though I believe that the pieces are well done I always think there is room for improvement (no matter what the topic). Especially with a program like Photoshop, that is so complex and changing, it is impossible to learn everything at once. For the knowledge that I currently posses, I feel that the projects I have completed are completed in a clean and organized manor. I am happy with the projects I have chosen for this portfolio and feel that they represent the "best" of my work.