PHT 233
Commercial Photography Class
Research and Findings:
Week 7, Topic 7, Assessment 1: What’s New in Photoshop
Photoshop is the premiere software for transforming good pictures into great ones while also allowing entirely new compositions to be brought to life. Keeping pace with the ever-changing world of software upgrades, Photoshop has done an admirable job of adding new and exciting updates.
For 2024, here are some of my favorite Photoshop upgrades.
- Generative Fill Tool: It is now quickly accessible from the taskbar. Instead of hunting through dropdown menus, Generative Fill is right at our fingertips. I find that I use it a lot more than I did before and it is awesome for generating backgrounds.
- Generative Fill Expand with Crop Tool: This is another great way to generate a background with the crop tool. This shortcut saves the time and frustration of looking through menus to find it. This tool also makes creating backgrounds a snap.
- Pinned Bar Position: Instead of the taskbar popping up at random, the pins allow the user to pin it to one spot that is out of the way.
- Selection Brush: This tool allows a quick way to paint a selection.
- Contextual Taskbar: This taskbar allows the user to flip an image and change the shape properties quickly.
I have used several of these new upgrades and have found them all to be useful and assist in speeding up my photo editing tasks.
Week 6, Topic 6, Assessment 1: Night Photography
Video of Shoot and Edit Night Photography
Before
After
Week 5, Topic 5, Assessment 1: Combine Images in Creative Ways
Video of Combining Images
Week 5, Topic 5, Assignment 1: Creating a Composite
Before
After
Explanation: The three pictures used for the composite are a sunset, a jumping pony, and fireworks. It was challenging to merge three different photos while making them appear natural. The assignment made me consider things from a new perspective.
Week 4, Topic 4, Assignment 1: Album Cover Design
Explanation: The album cover was a fun challenge. I used puzzle pieces, flowers out of my garden, a cross necklace, sheet music, a hardwood top for the background, and raindrops. The puzzle pieces are three in one, the flowers two in one, the wood top two in one, and the cross is one. I made the logo and the group is fictional. I designed a logo for the fictional music group. And I added the bar code to the back. This week’s assignment has made me look at what elements it takes to make an album cover.
Week 3, Topic 3, Assessment 1: Food Photography
Video of Food Photography Editing
Sunchips Front Side Angle
Sunchips Close-Up View Angle
Chocolate Chip Cookies High Angle Side Right
Chocolate Chip Cookies Low Angle Side Left
Chocolate Chip Cookies Side Angle Left
Chocolate Chip Cookies Overhead Angle
Grill Side Angle Right
Ritz Crackers Overhead Angle
Ritz Crackers Front Side Angle
Appel Juice Front Angle Backdrop
Apple Juice Front Angle Side Right in Front of Door
Topic 3, Assignment 1: Food Photography Editing
Before
After
Explanation: Food photography is challenging. Food does not move like people or pets, but it does melt, wilt, burn, smoke, turn to mush, or dry out. The grill shots inspired me when I saw my dinner BBQ-ing. I learned that quick shots are important. I found it best to do the staging before I put the ice in the glass, the chip in the dip, or the cheese on the Ritz. This fun assignment challenged me to look at food in new ways.
Week 2, Topic 2, Assessment 1: Product Photography
Video of Photography Editing
Finished Photos of Products Featured in the Above Video
American Indian China Doll
Scissors for Sewing
Christmas Cookie Tins
Week 2, Topic 2, Assignment 1: Product Photography
Before Photo
After Photo
Product Scenario and Process: The “client” for this exercise is Better Homes & Gardens. The products are sets of drinking glasses. The target audience is readers of Home & Garden Magazine or websites that promote their products. I would expect to see this photo in social media ads, magazine advertisements, or even a billboard. I used a backdrop light with a filter positioned on the left of the photo setup to cast light from left to right. I also adjusted the light setting to a more yellow tone to match the fall theme I created in my setup. The props that I used were two new boxes of glasses that were stored in our pantry, silk flowers and leaves from Dollar Tree, a brown/gold ribbon from my sewing supplies, a tablecloth with an autumn theme, and Kool-Aid Lemonade mixed in a Tupperware container. I also added ice cubes of various sizes to the classes. The last few minutes of my Week 2 Assessment Video above covered how I created the scenario for the backdrop and I included candid photos of my home studio and the multitude of props I rounded up to choose from as I set up the series of product photos I shot for week 2 of this course.
Week 1, Topic 1, Assignment 1: Portrait Editing
Video of Portrait Editing
Before Photo
After Photo
Philosophy of Editing/Retouching Statement: My philosophy of editing/retouching a photo is a strong desire to retain the original image and only enhance it with tools, such as Photoshop, to capture the true feeling of the subject. For this photo, I felt it was ethical and honest to replace my older brother’s smirk with a nice smile in a previous shot. He was tired of me positioning everyone and gave such a sour look. So, replacing his facial expression with one from another photo in the sequence I was shooting gave a nice picture to our parents. I wanted to show all of us enjoying our vacation to Yellowstone National Park, which we were. I also felt it was fine to use background from other shots to broaden the photo and create landscape and portrait shots so my mom could frame it any way she chose. I used AI features to generate the additional background that I needed which was acceptable to me since it was not changing the photo’s integrity.