adv editing

In this image I adjusted the contrast with brightness/contrast and curves. Then I selected the lower section of dark bark, selected the inverse, and used the Gaussian blur to soften the main area of the tree trunk. I wanted to enhance the texture of the dark bark. 

mask layering!

I open the levels option to the original image and created more contrast with the darks and light. then on that level (mass level) i inverted the white layer to black. then i used a white brush to uncovered the mask level. Emily Chan

Timmy

I had to upload these images of my girlfriend's turtle, Timmy. He's just really cute and about the size of your palm.

The Creek

Here's a random picture I took of the creek near Warren Olney. After cropping, I neutralized the black and white in the image. Then, I increased the contrast in Curves and heightened the amounts of cyan and blue, but tried to keep the whites in the highlights in the foreground and waterfall. Finally, I sharpened the image as much as I could, but it was particularly difficult because the image was initially blurry.

Any suggestions?

Bottle of Notes

This is a sculpture in Middlesbrough town centre by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.  I deliberately tried to make this image appear drab and washed out because this area is drab and washed up.  Even though it's where I grew up and I love it, it is one of the most poverty stricken areas in the country and it always strikes me that there would be this huge, beautiful piece of art right next to a neighbourhood that is riddled with crime.  Although you can't see it in this picture, the bottle also stands next to the Mima, The Middlesbrough Museum of Modern Art that is a recent addition to the area.  All museums and art galleries in England are free to the public and my hope is that in it's attempt to bring art to the people, Middlesbrough becomes a safer and more prosperous place to live.  Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen also did Cupid's Span on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

Artist Links for Truth and Fiction

Hi Everyone,

A couple of the artists we looked at today have websites. Here are the links:

Kelli Connell:
www.kelliconnell.com

Katie Kingma:
www.katiekingma.com

Amy Stein:
www.amysteinphoto.com

Today's Critique

I wanted to express my excitement about today's critique. Not only was it wonderful to get great feedback on my project, but it gave me a lot of insight as to where I will continue to go in terms of the same assignment for Advanced Photo. I feel full of inspiration right now, and can't wait to jump behind the camera again. I'm very inspired by everyone's opinions shared today. It was especially interesting to think about myself as a possible mannequin and what that means. I hope that all of our critiques go like this! Thank you everyone :)