Zombie Maddie.

For our Photoshop project, our assignment was to teach our class how to create a new effect using Photoshop. We decided to change my friend's sister into a zombie!

The following are the steps we used to create a zombie look:
1.) Open a stock photo image of a face with eyes. The image should be greater than 900 x 1200 pixels. Smaller images are harder to work with and look bad when enlarged while larger images shrink easier.
2.) Save your original stock photo in case you mess up at a later point by pasting a copy of the stock image into a new layer.
3.) Remove the exisiting background with a dark color.

4.) Enlarge the image. Begin filling in the eyes with red by using a soft-edged brush and the smude tool. Start with the corner of each each and then smudge both of them.

5.) Add a dark liner around each eye by using the brush tool and then smudge the liners.

6.) Add a red "blood" look to the mouth by using the brush tool.

7.) Drag in a picture of a cracked texture and set it to overlay. Place the cracked texture over the face. Then use the eraser to erase parts that don't cover the skin or cover unwanted parts of the picture.

8.) As you finish with adding the cracked texture over the skin and erasing the unwanted parts, go to Filter > Liquify > Modify the face, and then press "OK."

9.) Using the soft brush tool, cover the hair with a soft black color, and then use the eraser to fix any imperfections.

10.) To make the picture have a darker look to it, change the fill tool to black, color over the entire picture, change the setting to hue, and then adjust the opacity.

  Before Picture:

 

                                                                                               

After Picture:

Where Your Pets Come First.

 I used Photoshop to create this ad in order to advertise my make believe pet store. I included the logo that I created last week, so people are sure what the ad is about as soon as they look at it. I used many different elements that are provided using Photoshop. I used the color dropper to accurately match the black outline on all of the letters. I used the crop tool to crop my logo onto the ad. I added brushes to make the ad more creative. I added a border around the text to make the text stand out and I used the lighting tools to make the ad look professional as examples of what elements I used. 

This ad was created, so that people will hopefully research how adopting is much better than buying pets. My target market is mostly adults because most kids love pets, but I'm sure they don't care if their parents adopt or buy them a pet as long as they get one in general. If this pet store was real, I believe this ad would make people stop and consider adopting a pet instead of buying one because  it says "Save A Life, Adopt A Pet" which I think are moving words that I know I would be moved by.

Precious Pets.

While creating my logo, I focused mainly on making it look welcoming because I feel that almost everyone loves pets. I replaced the "o" with a paw print and added the slogan under the logo, so people viewing my business from the outside have a clear understanding on what type of business Precious Pets is. I chose two shades of blue for my logo colors because I feel that blue is a calming color. I also made sure that I included elements in my logo to make it appealing to the human eye. The elements I included are texture, shape, and line. I know that if I was going to buy a pet from Precious Pets that I would want the people to be friendly, inviting, and educated about the pets.

My "Perfect" Body.

       The picture to the left is the picture that I started out with while using Photostop CS5.1. My goal was to sucessfully put my face onto Taylor Swift's body and to make it look good enough, so the edited picture could pass as a magazine ad. I'll admit that whenever I heard about this project I thought it was going to be easy, but I was definitely wrong. This project took a lot of effort, time, and patience due to all the elements I had to change in the original picture of Taylor Swift. I put makeup on, changed my skin tone, made my teeth whiter, and erased all the blimishes that were on my face as well as Taylor's.

      

Overall, I am quite satisfied with the transformartion. I'm aware that the finished picture looks a little weird, but that's only because Taylor Swift wasn't smiling in the original picture that I used of her and I was smiling in the picture that I used of me. After I finished this project, it made me think completely different about how society views the perfect face and body because there are so many photo editing programs that you can't ever be sure if someone really looks like the pictures you're looking at in magazines. It has also made me realize that society today is so worried about being "perfect" that most people forget to not care about what others think.
      
       I believe that I did really well putting makeup on my face because it actually look realistic and I believe I did really well matching my skin tone to Taylor Swift's skin tone. I believe I could improve and spend more time on putting my face on Taylor's body because my face looks a little smashed and I believe I could have looked more closely at the original picture of Taylor, so I would have saw that she wasn't smiling.

Practing Photoshop.

In Computer and Technology class, my class has recently been learning how to complete simple tasks using Photoshop. The collage below is my very first creation that I have created using Photoshop. The collage demonstrates a day in the life of a Mercy student. My last blog entry discussed the elements of Photography that my class was taught a few weeks ago. I included some of the elements that we were taught in my collage.

In my collage, I also used a lot of Photoshop tools that I am now familiar with. I used the crop tool, I corrected the color to make the pictures look sharper, and I rearranged the pictures on the canvas to make the collage interesting. I really enjoy using Photoshop because it is something that is brand new to me and it is a great editing program. I definitely recommend Photoshop to you all!

Practicing Photography.

Last week in Computer and Technology class, my class learned about some of the elements of photography. Our assignment was to take pictures that demonstrate three of the elements that we learned about. I took three pictures that demonstrate a picture in motion, simplicity, and framing. 

The picture to the left demonstrates a picture in motion. The water falling under the dolphins and how the bodies of the dolphins are curved shows that the dolphins are in the middle of jumping out of the water beneath them.

The picture to the right demonstrates simplicity. If you make sure that the main element is in the center of the picture that you are taking it helps draw the attention of the person looking at your picture. In my picture, I made sure that the goat's head was in the center of the picture because it's the main element and the goat eating the carrot draws attention.

The last picture that I took to demonstrate framing is the picture to the left. The large door frame acts as a frame to the pictures that are hanging on the wall. Framing causes the person looking at the picture to look through the frame where the main element of the picture is usually located.

Piracy Podcast.

Morgan, Lisa, and I created our first Piracy Podcast in our Computer and Technology Class. In our Piracy Podcast, we created the artwork and recorded our own voices to make it. We also made sure that the music we added to our podcast was in the public domain, so we could avoid Copyright Infringement.

In my opinion, I think that downloading music is extremely wrong because it's keeping the artist from not making the money that they should be making. I don't think anyone would want to make music and not get rewarded for their hard word and time. I also think that downloading music is wrong because downloading music and sharing it with your friends is preventing other artists from being noticed which is hurting the entire music industry. Copyright Laws are important and they should exist because the laws make it clear to people that piracy is illegal. I think that piracy is so prevalent in our society because technology is everywhere, so it makes it easier for people to try to get around Copyright Laws.

I'll openly admit that if someone used our podcast as their own that I would be mad because we worked very hard on making sure that we obeyed every single Copyright Law. I know that I'm going to think back on this class every time I'm faced with making the decision whether or not to illegally download music or copyright work that isn't mine. I also know that if I was working hard on making music that I wouldn't want people to illegally download it or illegally share it with their friends because I wouldn't be making the money that I should be.

Say No to Copyright Infringement.

For the past couple of days, my Computer and Technology Class has been learning about Copyright Infringement. Before I was taught what Copyright Infringement is, I thought it was the law that you simply couldn't steal work that isn't yours and use it as your own. I've quickly learned that there is a lot more to it. It's very true that you can't steal work that isn't yours and use it as your own, but there is Fair Use.

I think "stealing" music is one of the main ways to copyright. "Stealing" music is completely illegal and you can get in serious trouble for doing it. I'm sure most people have their minds set that they aren't going to get caught which causes them to think that it isn't a big deal. If you copyright music then you're stealing music, hurting the artists in sales, and making it harder for new artists to get their music out.

Limewire is a perfect example of how people could copyright music at one point in time. I said it's a perfect way that people could copyright music at one point in time because Limewire is currently under a court order. Limewire is illegal because it's a way that people can download music that they don't have to pay for. If you click on the Limewire link it will take you to the offical Limewire page that explains more as to why it's illegal. I've heard stories of people getting caught with illegally downloaded music on their computers from Limewire, but I never thought that it would be under a court order.

Say No to Illegal Downloading!

In my opinion, I think the makers of Limewire are going to have a very large fine to go with their other possible consequences. If the makers do have a large fine, I think that they will deserve it because they have made it very easy for people to steal music for many years. I think the Music Industry is going to go down due to lack of new artists and the current artists not making enough money if people continue to steal music.

The next time you go to illegally download music you should think about how you would feel if you were putting your heart into making music and people were stealing it from you causing you to not make as much money as you should be making. I know that if I was an artist, I would be mad and frustrated if people were stealing my hard work. People that make music work hard and they should be rewarded for it.

Technology Everywhere!

     Technology is one of the fastest growing forms of communication today. I don't know a single person that doesn't have a Facebook account or that doesn't browse Youtube. Even schools and work places are moving towards technology. Homework and advertising websites are two different ways that people are trying to utilize technology in every day life.
     Throughtout my school years, I have taken several different basic computer classes. I mainly use computers for homework and to communicate with other people. My school even assumes that all students have computers because most of our assignments require us to use one. Some of my school books are online and all my teachers have websites that keep us updated on what is due in class.

     Since technology is growing so quickly, I think that computers and cellphones will eventually be the only two ways to communicate. Sadly, I also think that letters, books, and newspapers will be things of the past. I have a six month old niece that will most likely grow up in a world full of only technology. I don't think that she'll know what newspaper is or what a mailman is. I find it very obvious that paper usage is going to drastically reduced because everything will be viewed online. Technology is pretty much taking over the world.     
     This is my very first blog, so hang with me. I am mainly going to use this for my Computer Technology Class, but I am sure I'll post about other fun stuff as well. Feel free to follow my blog if you're interested!