Final Project

At first, I was thinking maybe I could shoot a video for the final project, because I got a new camera recently. But, I thought it would not be creative enough to shoot a movie. So I thought I could create an image. Since I did not do well on the second micro project, (a map of journey to class), I wanted to improve my skills in Photoshop, so I chose Photoshop to be the tool for this project. Now I know my tool to do the project, but I still did not know what this should be about. One day, when my boyfriend was watching The Walking Dead, I came up with an idea to create a zombie by Photoshop. 

After I decided to make a zombie by using Photoshop. I took some pictures of myself (by my new camera) and wanted to use them to modify, but I just could not get a picture that I like, so I went online to find a face that was suitable to be modified to a zombie. I found Picture 1 and Picture 2 to be the materials of this project. Picture 1 is a normal woman’s face, and Picture 2 is a picture of operation, which I used to make the rotten flesh and scars.

Picture 1 - a woman's face

Picture 2 - operation

Then, I used Lasso tool to cut many small pieces of the operation image and pasted them on the woman’s face, and adjusted the hue/saturation and the brightness/contrast to make them look like they are parts of the real skin. I also used Eraser tool to erase the edges of the every small piece to make them fit with women’s face. Then I used Lasso tool to select her eyes and copied and pasted them and adjusted the color of them to make the eyes look scarier. The Picture 3 is the results of the process above

 Picture 3

Then, I merged all the layers into one layer and adjusted the hue/saturation and the brightness/contrast again to make the image darker. Then I set the layer to Linear Light mode, and adjusted the opacity to about 88%. Then I clicked Image -> Adjustment -> Curves to make the picture look better. The Picture 4 is the final image – a zombie woman.

Picture 4 - zombie!!

Making this project took me much time than I expected it would take, but I am very proud of my final image. I learned a lot of knowledge about Photoshop through making this project. I did not think I could make a image like this, but I did it!

Brainstorming for final project

For my final project, I want to create a zombie picture by Photoshop. I started to watch The Walking Dead few months ago, because my boyfriend likes it, and recommended to me. So I watch it with him, and I like it!! I felt the zombies were gross and scary when I watched the first episode, but the plots was interesting, so I watched it till now. I would choose either my face or a normal human I find on google to modify to a zombie. 

Failure Paper

I think my biggest failure in this semester was the micro project 2, a map of my journey to the classroom. I feel that I could have done it in a more creative way. I was trying to show two different routes I walk to the classroom. One was when I wake up at 8am, and the other one was when I wake at 9am. I think this was a great idea, but I failed to show how different they are. They look very similar if you don’t look them in details. I think the viewers did understand what I was trying to show on this project, so I would say I did not have enough skills in Photoshop at that time. What I learned from this failure was I should take more time to know about more Photoshop skills.

I think my biggest success in this semester was the micro project 4, a sound clip of a place I often go. I shot the video in the laundry in my apartment, and remix the sound of the video. I learned to be creative in my work in this project.

If I could redo one project, I would choose the second project. I would show more differences in the two routes. I would put more photos of the things I pass by in the “8am” one, because if I wake up at 8am, I would have chances to see more things on my way to school. On the other hand, I would choose another tool to blur the map of the “9am” one to show that I did not notice what happen around me, because I walk too fast.

Micro Project 5

I chose a one-dollar bill to be my object. I only used my action word, to crumple to do this project. I took out a one-dollar from my purse, and I took some pictures of the process of crumpling the bill, and selected some of them to make my project. I put the photos into iphoto, and then made a slideshow. I decided to use one-dollar bill because I use one-dollar bills literally everyday, and I always bring some with me in my purse.

Click here to watch the video on Youtube