Week Two (cont.):

Here are a few pictures from a road trip that I took over the summer with my family. They bring in a feeling of family togetherness and also show how open and beautiful rural landscapes can be, which is something that I'm definitely trying to portray in my concentration. This series is proving to be a lot harder than it seemed originally, because getting my family or a group of friends together over the weekend, when all of them are working or doing homework is next to impossible. I'm hoping to take my younger sisters on a hike this weekend, if the weather is nice, and take some pictures that represent the love and friendship between siblings.

 

 

 

I edited the second picture from the top using the rainbow tutorial in my previous post. It's rough, but I got the basic idea of how to use this tool in photoshop so that I'll be able to apply it to pictures in my final concentration if I want.

 







Week Two:

Over the weekend I spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas for my concentration series because my original idea ended up being too dark for me to concentrate on for six whole weeks. My new idea is to do a series on growing up in a rural town like Hood River. I love photographing both kids and nature, and in this series I'll get to do both. Once the weather clears up, I have a photoshoot planned with a two year old who will be the beginning of my concentration. I'll focus on scenery around The Gorge and how beautiful of a place our home is, while also bringing in ideas like parental love and friendship. I haven't taken any pictures yet this week, but I found a really cool website with a million photoshop tutorials that I'll use at some point during my concentration.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/

I really liked their tutorial on selective coloring, which is something that I've always wondered how to do.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/selective-coloring/

So, I tried it out on an old photo of mine, just for practice. The edges are a little rough, but once I have a picture I want to use this technique on, I'll spend more time making it perfect.

 

Another tutorial I was interested in was one about adding rays of sunlight in to a picture. This could be useful while photographing sunrises or sunsets because it's an easy way to add something to the photograph that is hard to capture, especially here in The Gorge when sun is so scarce.

 

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/light-rays/

 

I also found a few more natural looking tutorials which I look forward to using as I begin editing my images.

 

water reflection effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/water-reflection-effect-in-photoshop-cs6/ 

 

water ripples effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/water-ripples/

 

rainbow effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/rainbow/

 

lens flare effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/lens-flare/

 

action blurring effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/action-zoom/

 

glow effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/high-key-glow/

 

soft glow effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/soft-focus/

 

warm golden sunset effect: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/photoshop-sunset/

 

All of these tutorials will help my pictures to look more natural and cheerful. By Friday I'll have pictures taken and ready to edit using these techinques. 

Week One:

Over the weekend, I experimented with the actual subject matter of my series. I started out by taking a few pictures of empty pointe shoes in front of a mirror, which brought out a feeling of dejection and giving up. Originally, I had wanted to focus on the life of and pressure on a serious dancer in highschool. But then I opened my medicine cabinet to find some advil, and I found bottles of prescription medication. This got me thinking, and I decided to focus more on drug addiction that results from too much pressure in my concentration rather than just the actual pressure.