Maggie Taylor and Jerry Uelsmann Blog
September 18, 2014Maggie Taylor is an artist who works with digital images. Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe and is represented within the permanent collections of several galleries and museums. She is the third wife of American photographer, Jerry Uelsmann. She produces prints by scanning objects into a computer using a flatbed scanner, then layering and manipulating these images using Adobe Photoshop into a surrealistic montage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Taylor
Uelsmann composes his work in black and white, with a vast complement of grays and mid-tones throughout. One of the defining characteristics of his work, however, is the stark contrasts seen throughout Uelsmann’s body of work. He contrasts the organic with the artificial in almost all of his work, and frequently includes the use of more than one focal point in his work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Uelsmann
Photo Journalism
September 10, 2014http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-photojournalism.htm
http://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/understanding-and-appreciating-the-basics-of-photojournalism–photo-1218
https://nppa.org/code_of_ethics
1)Photo journalism is branch of journalism characterized by the use of images to tell a story. They narrate the events occurring in the pictures.
2) The difference between a photograph and photo journalism is that photo journalism tells a story or depicts events while a photograph doesn’t have to do any of that.
3) The NPPA is a a professional society that promotes the highest standards in visual journalism. They inform the public of different events.
4) The NPPA code of ethics are standards set for visual journalists. The code list is:
- Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.
- Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.
- Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording subjects. Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups. Recognize and work to avoid presenting one’s own biases in the work.
- Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.
- While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.
- Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images’ content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.
- Do not pay sources or subjects or reward them materially for information or participation.
- Do not accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.
- Do not intentionally sabotage the efforts of other journalists.
5) The media needs ethics because it needs the public to be able to trust them and have assurance that the pictures provided are honest and depict the truth.
The picture above shows a bombing in Pakistan and the man risked his life in order to save the girl. He put his life on the line in order to save her, so this picture demonstrates that.
Cyanotype
September 2, 2014Cyanotype is a 170 year old photographic printing process that produces prints in a distinctive dark greenish-blue.
David Chow:
Anna Atkins:
Photoshop Tutorial
August 29, 2014http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/07/07/photoshop-scatter-effects-tutorialdownload-our-free-brushes/3/
1) Open scatter_before.jpg then press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate the background layer. Grab the Polygonal Lasso tool, then click around the model to make a rough selection. Once the selection is complete, right click inside it and Choose Fill.
2)Go to the Layers panel (Window>Layers). Click the eye icon on the top layer to hide it, then highlight the layer below. Grab the Magic Wand tool from the Tools panel. Use it to select the background. Set Tolerance 10 and check Contiguous in the tool options at the top, then hold down Shift and click around the background until the whole area is selected.
3)Hit Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+I to invert the selection so that the model is selected. Next go to Select>Refine Edge. Use the sliders to improve the selection: check Smart Radius then paint over the model’s hair to increase the area of refinement around this tricky part of the image. choose Output to: New Layer and hit OK.
4)Go to the Layers panel and drag the newly made cut-out layer to the top of the layer stack, then press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate it. Double click the name of the top layer and rename it as ‘scatter’ and the one below as ‘holes’. Reveal the hidden layer we filled in earlier in step 1 using Content Aware Fill, and name this layer ‘behind’
5)Highlight the ‘scatter’ layer at the top. We’ll use the Liquify filter to spread the pixels out to the right. This will form the base for our scatter effect. Go to Filter>Liquify then use the Forward Warp tool to push the pixels outwards. Gradually fill out the side to the right of the model. Hit OK to apply once you think you have enough material to work with.
6)Alt-click the Add layer mask icon in the Layers panel to add a full black mask that hides the scatter layer. Grab the Brush tool and click the Brush Picker in the options, then click the fly-out menu. Choose Load Brushes, then load the ‘Scatter’ brush set supplied. Hit X to set the color to white, then use the brushes to paint on the mask, revealing the scatter layer.
7)Continue to build up the effect. Experiment with the Brush Tip Shape, Shape Dynamics and Scattering controls in the Brush panel to change the characteristics of the brushes. Highlight the ‘holes’ layer, add a layer mask, then grab the Brush tool and paint with black to create gaps and holes, revealing parts of the background below.
8)Highlight the ‘behind’ layer, then go to File>Place and choose scatter_bg. Next Place texture01. In the Layers panel, change the Blend mode to Soft Light. Add a mask, then grab the Gradient tool and hit D. Choose the Radial gradient style and drag from the centre to add a white-to-black gradient. Place texture02 in the same way and paint a mask to hide the edges.
9)Lower the opacity of both texture layers to tone down the effect. Highlight the top texture layer, then create a Solid Color adjustment layer. Select a bright blue colour, then change the Blend mode of the layer to Divide. Finally, Place palm_tree.jpg. Again, use the Soft Light Blend mode to blend the layer, and paint on a layer mask to hide the bottom.