Gallery Pt. 1

For this assignment, every individual in the class had to take a picture of themselves. We were then given all of these photographs and instructed to alter and batch process them. While starting with images of people, the final product did not have to still convey a person's image.

We used Photoshop to manipulate the images for this project. I chose to leave the pictures in their initial dimensions and play with the colors instead, as I already knew how to change the size of an image. I started working with my own image, and used the levels to change the colors. I then used "posterize," because I liked the aesthetic it provided. I don't know what the actual purpose of the posterize tool is, but it worked for what I was doing. After figuring out what I wanted to do for this project, I closed out of Photoshop, then reopened my image and replicated my process while saving it as an action. I then batch processed out of the folder on my desktop, and ran into a problem.

What I had forgotten to do was save my own image twice - once in the folder and once on the desktop. Since I worked off of the image in the folder initially, it ended up applying my action twice, with the result of my image looking drastically different from the rest of the gallery. This, however, was easily rectified, as I just deleted the image from the folder, processed it again on it's own, and then added it to the folder.

The final step was to go into Adobe Bridge to create a flash gallery of these images to show to the class. I chose one of the basic gallery layouts, and didn't do much to change it. All I did was input my name, and change the background to black. As most of my images were white and blue, I thought the black served to best contrast them and make them stand out from the page.

Digital Image Pt. 2

One of the things that I noticed at this critique was how many interpretations of this project there were. I personally made a landscape, while some people made interiors and others had entirely abstract images. There was also a wide variation in palettes.

The pieces that I found most successful for this project had a simple palette, with only a few colors, and then either black or white. People had such complex ideas that I felt too much color became distracting. In my own case, I wish I had made the blue more vibrant, or at least increased the opacity of each component so it held the eye better. Part of the difficulty with that may have come from the imbalanced yellow in the monitor, as it did alter my colors and seemingly wash out my piece as a result.

Something that I hadn't thought about before the critique was the background color upon presenting. We sent the images into full screen, which changed the background color to black. As the background of my actual image was black as well, it was indistinguishable apart from where the blue was. Had I had a grey presentation surface, I feel that my piece would have been better displayed.

Digital Image Pt.1

Before starting this assignment, we all had to read a Marcus Novak piece about liquid architectures in cyberspace. The thing that stuck out to me the most was Novak's emphasis on physical limitations in the real world. In our world, everything is grounded by gravity, which we accept without second thoughts. What we do not often stop to consider, however, is that even when eliminating the possibility of gravity, architecture is also grounded by plumbing. After all, all pipes drain into the ground. When in cyberspace, however, this most basic of limitations is nonexistent

When I started my piece, I decided to take the assignment literally. I chose to make a cyberspace landscape, originating with the idea of warped buildings, ones that defied gravity. To start, I made a bunch of rectangles and then individually warped each one, so they were both contorted and overlapping. I then grouped these rectangles together, and copied the resulting shape twice to either side. Playing with the opacity on each set provided an interesting layering effect, especially since everything was all the same color blue. Finally, I took the entire image thus far, made a copy, and flipped it horizontally, to make a reflection of sorts. The final image is indistinguishable as a landscape, but as far as I'm concerned, that's part of cyberspace architecture - it does not need to be confined to standard definitions.

One of the most important choices that I made was to leave my image in the bottom third of the canvas. Reflections are normally placed center, but by leaving it off center, I feel it provides a sense of openness and possibility. I also turned the background black, mostly just because I like to work on black instead of white, but also because it added more of a contrast to the faint blue.

Were I to alter part of this project, I would have centered the image rather than having it further to the left. My intent in having it to the left was to imply continuation, but instead it just looked unfinished. Had I centered it and expanded it to extend off of both the left and right, it would have achieved the desired effect and looked like a finished product.

What Is Digital Media to Me?

I, personally, am a dual major in Digital Media and Studio Art. Being a Digital Media major, one would assume that I had a proper definition for what that class or field may consist of. Unfortunately, that is not so.

From the name, I can infer that digital media is any type of media, be it art or entertainment, produced using technology. Some of the more common examples I can think of would be using Photoshop to alter or enhance a photograph or advertisement before publishing it, or using a program to generate new characters for a video game.

In terms of what I'd like to do with it, I am more interested in graphic design and the like. However, I feel like web design would be a useful asset, especially in terms of eventually displaying my own portfolio to the general public.

It should be a good semester.