Rule of Thirds
In this picture I used the rule of thirds to improve its composition. The first focal point someone notices is the top of the screw and the detail in the screw. I cropped this picture so that the top of the screw would be one third over from the right and one third up from the bottom. The screw itself takes up almost the entire bottom third of the canvas. When I edited this photo I used the dodge and burn tool to darken the indention in the top of the screw to make it more noticable. I also used the dodge burn tool to darken the upper left edge of the screw to make it more noticable. Next I used the gradient tool to add a gradient to the upper left hand corner so it would not distract from my focal point. Since adding these edits the photograph has better composition and coloring.
Macro
I chose this picture for the edited macro because it had good composition. I know this is a macro photo because it is bigger in the photo than in real life. I used levels to darken the picture and bring out more detail. I used the blur sharpen tool to bring out detail in the center of the flower. Then I used the gradient tool to bring the focus to the center of the flower. After that I used hue saturation to bring out more color in the flower. After all these edits I believe the composition for macro is better.
Leading lines
I chose this picture for my leading lines project. I chose this picture because the road acts as a line leading to the subject matter. I put a purple gradient on the sky for more of a sunset effect and I blurred some of the ugly texture on the buildings so that they were less distracting. Then I used levels to pull out more details. After all of these edits I believe this picture is ultimately better.
portraits
For edited portraits I chose this picture because I think it has really good composition and lighting. To edit this picture first I cropped out the background that I didn't want. Next I used the clone tool to remove the seam in the background. Next I used the blur sharpen tool to make her eyes more noticeable. Finally I took out all of the saturation to make this a black and white picture. After all of these edits I believe this picture is better.
Monochrome
For Edited Monochrome I chose this photo because I feel it has good contrast and good shapes. To edit this photo I first took out all of the saturation to make it monochrome. Then I used foreground select to select the sky, then adjusted levels to make the sky have more definition. Finally I manually dodged and burned all of the details to give better contrast. After all of these edits I believe this photo has better contrast and shape
Priority Aperture
For this photo I used a F-stop of F9 to help blur the background, let in more light to brighten this photo, and to help put focus more on the bug. Priority aperture allows you to control many deciding factors in your photo. A lower F-stop allows you to let in more light in lower lighting conditions making the lighting of the photo appear better. A lower F-stop also helps you blur the background and put more focus on the subject. A higher F-stop is better for a sunny day, as well as capturing a larger subject or multiple subjects. A lower F-stop opens up the aperture of the camera more, making the aperture larger to let in more light, a higher F-stop closes the aperture so your camera can focus further away.
Dispersion
I edited this photo to look like Madi’s arm was dissolving away. To achieve this look I started by making sure I had made any necessary edits to make her look good such as healing any unwanted spots and making levels adjustments to help with lighting. After making these edits I selected Madi away from the background using the Foreground Select tool, and added a new background. Next I duplicated the layer and used the warp tool to drag the pixels out so I could make it look like she was dissolving away. Next I added a white full opacity mask to the first layer. I then chose the splats 2 brush and painted on the background color to remove the edge of Madi’s head, arm, and side. After I have removed the edge I then click on the mask in the first layer to paint on the pixels I moved around in the second layer to make it look like she was dispersing away.
Portraits
To create this photo I started with lighting, I made sure she was evenly lit. I created this lighting by using two umbrella lights, one on each side of her. I also used a backdrop light and hair light. In editing I started with a levels adjustment. After I used the smoke brush with a maroon color to paint smoke onto the backdrop. Afterwards I dispersed the ball to make it look like the ball was dissolving or blowing away to her right. After all of these adjustments I believe this photo is ultimately better.
