Introduction to Adobe Lightroom

Black & White preset in Lightroom

Sepia present in Lightroom

Using a radial filter to add additional light to the subject

Adobe Lightroom is a program that can be used to color correct images and add additional effects loaded as presets on to your images.  Lightroom also has the ability to make books of your images or a slideshow as well.  Lightroom is another editing program that can be used instead of photoshop when editing photos.  There are free preloaded presets that come with Lightroom on the left side of the screen.  Additional presets can be purchased on the internet from multiple designers. When opening Lightroom you must import your images using the import button at the bottom of the left hand side or using File, import images or video.  In order to begin editing you must switch from the Library tab to the Develop tab located in the top of the right hand side of the screen.  There are many features such as a split screen that enables one to see the changes made to the selected image.  Lightroom also is able to apply the same editing preset to multiple images at the same time.  In order to save the image, the image has to be exported using file, export.  The screenshots above demonstrate the use of the black & white preset as well as the sepia preset applied to one of my original images.  The last screenshot demonstrates the use of the radial filter, located on the right hand side, indicated by the highlighted circle.  When placed on the image the black center circle indicates where the filter has been used.  If you do not like the adjustment the filter made you can simply delete it by clicking on the black center button and hitting delete.  These are just a few examples of the many options for editing in Lightroom.  

Introduction to Adobe Bridge

 Working with color correction and noise reduction

Screenshot demonstrating how to change the dpi to 72 and 300.

Screenshot demonstrating the crop tool feature in Adobe Bridge

Using Adobe Bridge the robin's nest image was color corrected and edited to reduce the amount of noise in the eggs.  The image was then changed to 300 dpi for printing purposes and also saved in 72 dpi for the purpose of posting on the web.  Finally the image was cropped to better show a close up of the eggs giving a different perspective than the original image.  

Introduction to Adobe Acrobat Pro

 PDF created in Adobe Acrobat Pro

Screenshots working in Adobe Acrobat Pro

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro a PDF was create using page images from my Graphic Design Portfolio 2016.  The screenshot above demonstrates how the images were uploaded in Acrobat and then placed in a PDF file.  There was an option to create a binder pdf of multiple pages but I chose to create a single page pdf with all four images combined for easier viewing.  The pdf was then saved in both pdf and jpg file formats.  The pdf was then printed and placed in my portfolio as well.  

Introduction to Adobe Edge Animate

In the Introduction to Adobe Edge Animate assignment I used the Adobe Edge tutorial on how to build a web banner.  Both png and svg files were used to create the final animated mov file.  After uploading both the png and svg files, the images were moved around and then placed into the best positions to see depth by layering the foreground, middle ground and background.  The foreground of the grass was then made to animate from dragging the selection left to right as well as set to blur as the image moved.  Additionally the middle ground and the Impala were selected to animate and begin as being blurry but then ending as a sharper image.  The final result appeared as the all the images were moving together from left to right.  This assignment was harder than the tutorial made it seem to be.    

Photoshop Tutorial: Selective Coloring Effect

Nicole Leal and Jennifer Humlicek collaborated on this selective coloring effect photoshop tutorial we wanted to showcase on our blogs. We started out by selecting the Robins Nest photo taken by Jennifer and opening it in Adobe Photoshop.  Using the selection tool (Lasso tool, Quick Selection Tool, or Pen Tool) draw a selection outline around the robin's eggs.  You should see a selection outline (marching ants) around the eggs.  

Invert the Selection.  Go up to the Select Menu in the Menu Bar along the top of the screen and choose Inverse.  A selection will appear around the outer edge of your photo.  Add a black and white adjustment layer by clicking on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.  Then choose Black & White from the list of adjustment layers.

Photoshop adds the Black & White adjustment layer and we have our selective color effect! The photo is converted to black and white except for the robin's eggs that was selected in the beginning step which remains in full color.  For an added bonus we changed the robin's eggs to purple by selecting a new adjustment layer and edited the Hue & Saturation. 

This is the original Robin's Eggs photo along with the final result of the Selective Coloring Photo.

Introduction to Adobe Muse

In the introduction to Adobe Muse assignment, both Jennifer Humlicek and Nicole Leal worked together to create our design infographics website.  Adobe Muse is more similar to using Adobe InDesign in the way we were able to manipulate the program by moving around the selected graphics.  We did not need to know how to write html code in order to create this website like is necessary in the Adobe Dreamweaver program.  The screenshots above show the Master page as well as the home, about, and portfolio pages of the website we created using Muse.  A slider showcasing the design infographic images previously completed by Jennifer and Nicole was created on the portfolio page. The font, color of background, buttons, and images placed into the website were easily manipulated making Muse a much easier program to learn than Dreamweaver.  The website shown above was created in three hours of working on it.  Both Nicole and I agree that we like Muse a great deal more than Dreamweaver.  

Introduction to Adobe Dreamweaver

During the introduction to Adobe Dreamweaver assignment we learned various methods used to create our own website.  Dreamweaver uses html code in order to design websites.  Templates that are already loaded into Dreamweaver or those that can be found on the internet are an easier way to create your website especially if you are not familiar with writing html code.  We quickly found out that understanding and knowing how to write html code is key to using this program.  Jennifer Humlicek, Nicole Leal, and Kate Barnes (graphic design students) worked together as a group to learn the basics of Dreamweaver.  We found a template on the internet that we liked and then attempted to manipulate the template to showcase the design of our "website".   Although we had a template, it was still necessary to change parts of the html code in order to get the template to respond how we wanted.  Colors were changed by adding them into the code as well adjusting the look of the font.  This was very tedious and would take a long time to create a fully working website.  This gave us a better understanding of the basics of the Dreamweaver program as seen in the working screenshot listed above.

Infographics

Master Study of Elements of Design Poster

This infographic is a Master Study of Elements of Design poster originally designed by Paper Leaf.  The clean design, single font, and bold colors made the original design a perfect infographic to conduct a master study on.  The layout for this assignment was collaborated on by both Jennifer Humlicek and Nicole Leal (graphic design students).  The study was both a lesson in the elements of design as well as an exercise in becoming more proficient using Adobe Illustrator.  There are a total of 22 layers used in Illustrator to achieve the finished infographic layout.  Multiple AI tools such as the line tool, shape, and gradient were used to demonstrate the different elements of design.  The various colors used in this master study exercise are similar to those used in the original design to try to complete the study as closely as possible.  BebasNeue is the font that was selected for this assignment as it appeared to be similar to the font in the original.  The elements of design seen in the infographic are; line, color, texture, shape, size, value and space.  After learning how to create the initial layer each additional layer became easier as they were mostly repetitive due to using a single font.  This master study was successful as it does appear to closely resemble the original.  Below is the link to the original poster by Paper Leaf. 

https://paper-leaf.com/blog/2011/02/elements-of-design-quick-reference-sheet/

Print vs. Web Infographic & Master Study of Typography Guide

The infographics above were both made in Illustrator and used graphic elements. Understanding of how to use layers, grouping, and effects were used. Rulers were the first part of the process before starting anything else. The first infographic was original and shows the understanding of Web vs Print and how PPI affects the resolution of photos for printing. A select amount of file formats were chosen while there are plenty the most popular were put as an example. The typography guide was a master study of another infographic by TutorialShare and the purpose was to learn about illustrator. For the master study Nicole Leal and Jennifer Humlicek collaborated to show the comprehension of layers, grouping items together, and choosing different font faces as well as distinguishing the different type of typefaces. 

Photography Copyright Law Research - using images on blogs

The $8,000 Mistake That All Bloggers Should Beware

While researching photography copyright law infringement cases, I found this article on The Content Factory by Kari DePhillips that everyone with a blog or website should read.  Ms. DePhillips explains how The Content Factory was sued over a single copyrighted image that had been posted on one of their client's blogs.  The writer that posted it didn't notice the image had been copyrighted and the editors also missed that it was as well.  It wasn't even a famous image or from a known photographer but this mistake ended up costing them $3,000 (they were originally sued for $8,000).  Please click on the link above to read the entire article.  Ms. DePhillips gives helpful advice by outlining that under the Fair Use Copyright laws you are financially responsible for posting copyrighted images even if you:

- did it by accident
- immediately take it down after receiving a takedown notice
- resized the image
- linked back to the photo source and cite the photographer's name
- have a site that isn't commercial and you make no money from your blog
- have a disclaimer for your site
- embedded the image instead of saving it to your server
- found it on the internet

Bottom line and moral to the story......Do Not Ever use copyrighted images for any reason unless you have paid for the rights to use them (purchasing a single image does not mean you own the rights to reproduce it).  When it comes to using images it is your responsibility to know the copyright laws, ignorance will not save you when it comes to being sued.

Things to remember about copyright:

• Copyright is a property right. 
• Just because you buy a print does not mean you have purchased the copyright.
• Professional photographers are the smallest of small copyright holders. 
• Under the Federal Copyright Act of 1976, photographs are protected by copyright from the moment of creation.
• Photographers have the exclusive right to reproduce their photographs (right to control the making of copies). 
• Unless you have permission from the photographer, you can’t copy, distribute (no scanning and sending them to others), publicly display (no putting them online), or create derivative works from photographs. 
• A photographer can easily create over 20,000 separate pieces of intellectual property annually.
• Professional photographers are dependent on their ability to control the reproduction of the photographs they create. 
• It affects their income and the livelihood of their families. 
• Even small levels of infringement—copying a photo without permission—can have a devastating impact on a photographer’s ability to make a living.
• Copyright infringements—reproducing photos without permission—can result in civil and criminal penalties

http://www.ppa.com/content.cfm?ItemNumber=1720

Passage of Time Movie

Passage of Time movie:  project showcasing the passage of time through use of images

Artist Statement:  

                     For the passage of time project, I chose to make a movie using images of my daughter, Jenna Nicole.  This movie exhibits the passage of time by highlighting the milestones of Jenna's life from the time she was born up to her present age of 14.  Additionally, this movie will have more images added to it for the next four years and displayed as part of Jenna's memory wall during her Senior year of high school.  Originally I selected images from the past 14 years that I felt were an important part of Jenna's life and ended up with 129 photos to create the passage of time movie.  Not only did it make the movie over 7 minutes long, the images kept showing out of order which was not showing her age progression.  After troubleshooting and several attempts of recreating the movie, I decided to narrow the image choice to 38 photographs taken during each of Jenna's birthdays and milestones.  This solved the issue of the movie showing in the correct order and shortened it to 3:01 minutes.  A black background template with reflections of the images that were being shown was designed to give the movie a quality high-end feel that showcases each image.  Two versions of Jenna's movie were created using different music to show how music selection can heighten the viewer's understanding of the importance of the images.  The first movie was created using royalty free music titled "Festive Hearts" and provides an upbeat tempo to the video.  The second movie was created using a purchased soundtrack of Justin Bieber's "Born to Be Somebody" which can not be used for monetization purposes but adds sentimental meaning to the movie and creates emotion for the viewer.  This is my favorite of the two because it can bring the viewer to tears by understanding how important my daughter is to me.  Both movies were uploaded to a private YouTube channel only for classroom viewing purposes and not intended for the public eye.  A screen capture image was created and posted in this blog in to exhibit the beginning of Jenna Nicole's movie. 

Concept Visual

Mondrian style concept visual poster

This Mondrian style concept visual poster was designed to showcase both of my blog designs in various mock up settings as well as my logo design.  There are four main colors used that are listed above my logo on a white background and are repeated throughout the poster.  The software used to design this poster was photoshop.  The font used for my logo is flowerlly bold.  

Mock Ups for Branding

Mock ups for Assignment Blog

Mock ups for Professional Blog

These Mock Ups were used for the purpose of designing a conceptual visual branding poster for Graphic Design.  The templates used were free for use.  The mock ups show both my assignment blog and professional blog on a mobile device and a Macbook in different settings.  

Blog Research

Visually Interesting Photography Blogs

Plain Photography Blog

Research was conducted looking at various photography blogs.  The top two pictures are photography blogs that I found visually interesting and beautiful.  The third picture is of a photography blog that contains a lot of information but is more plain and not as stunning as the first two.  The research conducted on these photography blogs was used when designing my own professional photography blog.

Logo Research/Design

Logo Research

Logo Design

After trying out several different logo sites, I decided to design my own.  The top picture is a sample of a few logos that were researched.  The bottom picture is the both the white logo and inverted black logo that I designed and decided to use as my personal logo.  It is also seen located at the top of this blog which is my assignment blog for graphic design class.  

RGB/CMYK GIF

RGB variations GIF

CMYK screenshot

The RGB/CMYK assignment was to complete an infographic showing the differences between RGB and CMYK.  I created an animated GIF using RGB that rotates from the original file that is 1.43M thru 13 files to the final file which is 35.32K and only 2 colors.  It demonstrates the changes of an image when size, dither, and the amount of colors have been reduced.  When the original RGB file was converted to a CMYK file there was not enough variation in color to make a difference.  Additionally when the CMYK file was saved as a file or screen shot the computer automatically converted it back to RGB on the monitor.