Photo Manipulation

I am exploring how the use of color and textures effects digital photography. I am interested in this because I have always loved taking photographs, and for Christmas I was given a fairly nice camera. Along with this new camera came a program called "PhotoImpact". I also recieved a tablet to draw on the computer from my mother, because she knows how much I love to draw and paint. With these three new things in my possession, I have begun to use my artistic skills to edit pictures I took.

PhotoImpact was a little bit hard to use at first, and I still have not learned of all of the features or how to use them appropriately but I do feel I am improving. Along with my tablet, I have made several decent images.

In this photo I edited an original photograph I took of me at Christmas to resemble characters from the new movie in theaters "Avatar". I used the program photoimpact, with my tablet. Using saturation, color replacement pens, textures, smudging, burn tools, blur, and some drawings I created my interpretation of me as an Avatar from the movie. I know this does not relate to actual Photography, but I enjoy photomanipulation.

It has been said that one image is worth a thousand words. This could be true about this photograph because it is extremely unique in my gallery of artworks.

It really shows a darker side of my photo manipulation techniques. For this image I did not use an original photo of my self, I used a "stock" image, or image allowed to be used by the public, also referred to as a creative commons image by my teacher Mr. Allison. The person in the photo stated anyone may use it as long as they are shown the final product, which I did. For this image I also used the same program and tablet, but used different textures, edited the lighting, and used many of the burn tools, smudging tools, and so on as before. I believe the saturation used for the eyes really brightened the picture, and the texture made it appear eerie and old.

One thing that I know about photo manipulation is that it can include much more than just layering or using touch up tools provided on a simple photo shopping program. One thing that I learned is that there are unlimited possibilities to things you can do with photos. This makes me think of even more pictures I can create with this program I have, and makes me even more eager to try more challenging pieces.

The image was Uploaded on April 19, 2009
by GettysGirl and I found it on flickr, creative commons (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3566/3456945973_b0fb31c5b7.jpg). In this image, I see inspiration. I know that in time I will learn to create images like this, but probably not with the program I have. I believe this is a much larger, and elaborate program that probably took much more time to create.

The image relates to my photographs because it was also edited using a photo program, and has a similar feel to it as mine.  By which I mean, using the Cinema as your prime example. As I look at this and other images, my next image will probably be more elaborate with different backgrounds, and hopefully more than one subject per photo. If I were to look up some information about my interest, I would like to know more about sizing images, and layering. I have yet to figure out how to change the size of an image you already have, for example my stock image.

Since you are reading this post, I would like to ask you, what do you think of my photos? Are they as good as the inspiration, and do you think I have talent to progress in this field of photo manipulation?

Thanks for reading!