I want you to have something to show for all of your hard work and talent this semester, so I’d like you to put together a portfolio of your best work. Mr. C will guide you and show you a great way to do this, but if you prefer to take the information and display it another way (create a website, put together a video, or some other creative use of your talents), that’s fine too. This should be the kind of thing you could take with you to a job interview to dazzle someone with your skills, or prove to your parents that you’ve learned and created a lot this semester.

NOTE: Older course work was supposed to be finished by January 20 anyway, so it is not a priority. That having been said, if there are assignments that can help your mark, I will try to look at them January 30-Feb. 1. You can email me any time in Outlook if you have questions or need help with something, and I will try to catch up with anything that’s already been handed in. Anything else might be looked at before the end of the semester if I have time.

Your job in your portfolio is to display a range of photographs that you’ve taken and edited and explain the skills that you’ve gained along the way. You should be demonstrating work a range of different photographs and techniques.

Accentuating eye colour

Using custom brushes for eyes

Using custom brushes to enhance irises

Softening under the eyes

Lip cleanup

Add lip colour

Finishing up: How to sharpen a portrait

Like last time, you are welcome to practice all of these techniques on one photo. You’ll need to show me a before and after version, and include a reflection that points out what each tool/technique does and how and where you used it.

Your next assignment (coming soon) will be to practice these techniques on portraits that you take, so make sure you understand how these techniques work!

Frequency Separation 2.0 explanation

Frequency Separation 2.0 layer setup

Using the Mixer Brush

Blending color content

Fixing texture problems

How to remove wrinkles on clothing

Adding depth and dimension to skin

Like last time, you are welcome to practice all of these techniques on one photo. You’ll need to show me a before and after version, and include a reflection that points out what each tool/technique does and how and where you used it.

In order to access these tutorials, you will need a Winnipeg Public Library membership number. If you don’t yet have a Winnipeg Public Library Card, go HERE: Library Membership sign up

You’ll need that card number again, so copy and paste it into a Word document or an email to yourself or whatever! Don’t lose it!

Once you do have a card, sign in HERE: LinkedIn Learning

Then you can click on the links below to view the videos.

This last unit will focus on retouching portraits. We’ve talked about the dangers of retouching, and I think most of us agreed that it wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but it is important to know how. Please work through the tutorials and practice on the sample files and portraits that you’ve taken. You will have to complete a major assignment using these tools soon, so make sure you know what you’re doing.

For now, use a photo you’ve taken or a photo of me (available here). Believe me, there’s plenty to fix on a photo of me and I will not be offended. On one photo, demonstrate areas where you might use each technique listed below. You’ll have to show me a before and after, and most importantly, briefly explain how and where you used each tool.

Healing Brush

Spot Healing Brush

Patch tool

Clone Stamp

It’s time for Graphic Tech students to start assembling the annual Westwood yearbook! In order to do that, we need lots and lots of photos!

You will be responsible for providing AT LEAST 15 photos that could be used in this year’s book, and many of these will actually be used!

In order to be useful, a photo needs to be GOOD! Make sure the lighting and colour are right. Make sure you’ve made any adjustments that might make the photo better. Make sure you export your RAW photos as a FULL SIZED .jpg (no size restriction). MOST IMPORTANTLY: make sure you are not handing in LAZY photos. Use your knowledge of composition techniques and pay attention to cropping and the background.

You need:

5 photos (minimum) of a specific group/club/activity/class. (eg: band, art, electronics, science students doing an experiment, athletes in action or uniform, etc.)

5 photos (minimum) of student life. These are general, often candid, sometimes posed, photos of students at school. These ones can be just people hanging around in the hall, library, cafeteria, etc.

5 photos (minimum) that could serve as page backgrounds. These are just areas in and around the school that we don’t really need to pay attention to in order to understand what they are and where. These could be significant/recognizable locations in or immediately surrounding the school.

I HIGHLY recommend handing in MORE THAN THE MINIMUM. Don’t just throw out 100 photos that may or may not be good, or I’ll just look at the first 5. If you have a bunch that are good, you can make sure you’ll get 100%.

I generally can’t/won’t use photos of students unless I can see FACES. If you have photos of the backs of heads, or primarily the backs of heads, I won’t use it so it won’t count.

• Lazy photos from bad angles or with distracting/annoying backgrounds don’t count.
• Photos with terrible lighting don’t count.
• Blurry photos don’t count.
• Photos with unnecessary, excessive noise don’t count.

Again, some neat techniques that you can add in Photoshop to add some creativity to your photos.

If you don’t yet have a Winnipeg Public Library Card, go HERE: Library Membersip sign up

Once you do have a card, sign in HERE: LinkedIn Learning

Then you can click on the links below to view the videos.

Adding lens flare

Creating a tilt-shift effect

Simulating long exposures

Removing distortions using Adaptive Wide Angle

Once again, complete those tutorials, then take your own photos, or photos from Unsplash if necessary, and apply those effects/techniques. Put those together with a reflection briefly explaining how to do each technique and what it does to/for your photos. Hand all 3 in together. You need to give me the .psd Photoshop files so I can see what you did, and you need to name the files according to the techniques.

Again, some neat techniques that you can add in Photoshop to add some creativity to your photos.

If you don’t yet have a Winnipeg Public Library Card, go HERE: Library Membersip sign up

Once you do have a card, sign in HERE: LinkedIn Learning

Then you can click on the links below to view the videos.

Files used in the examples are HERE

Lesson 1: Selective texture overlays

Lesson 2: Adding a deckled edge 

Lesson 3: Creating an image transfer effect 

Once again, complete those tutorials, then take your own photos, or photos from Unsplash if necessary, and apply those effects/techniques. Put those together with a reflection briefly explaining how to do each technique and what it does to/for your photos. Hand all 3 in together.

Here’s a really cool technique that I want you to spend some time on creating something really creative and interesting.

Creating a double-exposure effect (files)

This is a really fun one to play around with, so grab your camera and take a new profile picture or use a photo that you’ve already got and combine it with some kind of other image/texture to create something really amazing!

It would be great if you could take both photos yourself, but if you wish, you could get that other image from Unsplash.

Take your time and come up with something that we can print out and show off. If you get it done fairly quickly, you could even submit it as an entry in the division Graphic Art contest!

We will be going through a number of different tools & techniques in Photoshop that can make your photos really stand out and look amazing.

Most of the tutorials I’m going to show you are available through LinkedInLearning, which you can access through the Winnipeg Public Library: LinkedIn Learning (tutorials) / Library Membersip sign up

Please don’t hand in every tutorial separately! I will tell you when to collect your examples together and hand a bunch in as part of a document, slideshow, or folder. I will provide the files used in the tutorial, but I always want you applying the techniques to one of your own photos!

1. Using adjustment layers to change color and tone (files HERE)

2. Using adjustment layers in a multi-image composite (files HERE)

3. Using Smart Objects instead of adjustment layers (files HERE)

Use those techniques on your own photos. Put them together in a document or slideshow with a little reflection explaining the technique and what they could be useful for in your editing/retouching work and hand that in.

As we move into editing and retouching photos, it’s important to have a discussion about the ethical issues involved.

First, what are the differences between editing and retouching:

Do You Know the Difference Between Editing and Retouching?

But the question becomes, how much editing/retouching is too much?

https://petapixel.com/2022/05/21/real-or-photoshop-how-much-photo-editing-is-too-much/

There is a lot of controversy sometimes around edited photos, especially if you are presenting them as a depiction of real life. Consider the famous photographs by Steve McCurry

https://petapixel.com/2016/06/07/eyes-afghan-girl-critical-take-steve-mccurry-scandal/

And then of course there’s all of the controversy around what unrealistic images are doing to young people, especially girls, on social media.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/filtered-images-and-unrealistic-expectations-social-media-s-link-to-depression-and-self-harm-1.894653

Here’s a talk by one of the most famous photo editors/retouchers in the world:

This video has some great points and examples:

Your job today has two parts:

1) In a reflection document, explain your thoughts on photo retouching. What are some good things about retouching and what are some of the negative issues that it can cause? Where would you draw the line on what’s right and wrong when it comes to retouching a photo?

2) Take a high-quality portrait, ideally that you have taken, and look at it zoomed out. What imperfections do you see that could be edited or retouched? Then zoom way in and find little marks and blemishes. Tell me what you see when you zoom in. If you took all of those out, would it look better or would you feel like it was unnatural or dishonest? Why? You should have plenty of portraits to look at by now, but if you aren’t comfortable looking for flaws in those, you can use a photo of me. I have plenty of flaws to look at! Download one HERE

Hand in a document or slideshow explaining your thoughts before we move on to learning the secrets behind photo editing/retouching.