Digital Photography and Imaging — Exercises: Collage
1.9.2022 — 22.09.2022 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Rachel Madeline Purwanto / 0356994
Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design in Creative
Media
Exercises
INSTRUCTIONS
Physical Collage
1. Choose and identify your collage's design elements to be cut out
and compose them into your own concept and story.
2. Pre-composite your collage's design elements into a composition.
Digital Collage
1. Download all of the images
from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bmJvf485Zjxmbk5dKVOmVPiJZdUkF4OA
2. Follow this tutorial demo as a reference to create your digital
collage: https://youtu.be/BlW7F-fTsbE
3. Create 3 different compositions (digital collages) from the images
that you've downloaded.
4. A4 canvas size (vertical) in Photoshop.
Week 1 — Physical Collage & Introduction to Digital Photography and Imaging
Lecture
Importance of Photoshop for Graphic Designer
1. Express your creativity
2. Create graphic design
3. Restoration of old images
4. Integrate graphics with text artistically
5. Make use of brushes
6. Change photo colour
7. Rectify mistakes in photographs
Photograph Manipulation
Photograph manipulation involves the transformation of a photograph which
uses various methods and techniques. In the 1850s they combine multiple
images on one negative.
Digital Imaging
Digital Imaging converts the printed text, artwork, and photographs into
digital images using a digital scanner or another imaging device.
Tutorial & Practical — Physical Collage
On week 1, we had to choose 3 graphic design art works from pinterest and
explain why we like the designs.
Design #1
Fig 1.1 First chosen design
I was always interested in surrealism or unrealistic dream-like visuals so this design caught my eye because it combines various living things and non-living things to convey a message in a surrealistic approach. I find it appealing how they contrasted the colours between humans and flowers to convey the message of feminism.
Design #2
Fig 1.2 Second chosen design https://id.pinterest.com/pin/936959897449771847/
I like this design because it expresses the focal point which is the man’s style and individualism in a magazine layout. It also includes the person’s basic information about themselves like their date of birth, their real name, stage name and other information in the style of a magazine cover. The colour of the individual contrasts the design’s black and white colour palette which makes the focal point stand out more and also balances the colours of the elements of the design. The design is also minimalistic and simple and it is able to express the individual’s aesthetic and origins by including japanese text.
Design #3
Fig 1.3 third chosen design
This design caught my eye because it manages to express the main figure’s fashion in a collage type of design. I like how the pastel green hue and the pastel beige colours complement each other and how the design sticks to a warm nature colour palette which makes it pleasing to the eye. The smaller objects surrounding the focal point and the colours of the smaller objects surrounding the focal point also contribute to the balance of the design.
For our first task exercise, we had to make physical collages out of magazine cut-outs.
Fig 1.4 Pre-compositions of Task 1
To make it easier, I went for a theme for each of the designs which are
both fashion and a specific colour scheme. Pre-composition one and two
both have a fashion themed design and a warm colour scheme.
Pre-composition two has a monochrome element to contrast the warm colours
and create balance. Pre-composition 3 has more of a feminine theme due to
the pink colour scheme and the cosmetic elements used. I utilized the
cosmetic elements coming out of the woman's head to express the woman's
passion and fondness for make-up.
Week 2 — Introduction to Photoshop
Lecture — Introduction to Composition
Basic Composition
- Focal point : catches the eye's attention to the main element of the composition
- Scale and heirarchy : helps to communicate hierarchy by drawing attention towards and way from certain elements.
- Balance the elements : the elements should should have weight to it to be balanced so that the focal point can stand out and make the composition aesthetically pleasing to the eye
- White space : an empty space to balance up the main focus of the composition
Rule of Thirds
It refers to the process of dividing an image into thirds, using two
horizontal and two vertical lines. It yields nine parts with four
intersection points.
Fig 2.1 Rule of Thirds Example with Grid
Positioning the most important elements of an image should be at the intersection points to produce a much more natural image. Any horizon is placed on either the top horizontal line or the bottom horizontal line.
Its used to:
- Use composition techniques that are in line with what's pleasing to the eye
- Creatively use negative space
- Create conversation between the subject and the background
Golden Ratio
Its a mathematical ratio, commonly found in nature. When used in design it fosters organic and natural-looking compositions. Its a useful guideline for determining dimensions(1:1.618) of the composition or layout.
Fig 2.2 Golden ratio in Art
https://www.compulsivecontents.com/detail-event/the-golden-ratio-and-fibonacci-sequence-in-art/
Framing and Cropping
These refer to how your subject is positioned within the borders or edges of your photograph, in other words, how much of the subject and the background visible and cut off.
Tutorial & Practical — Digital Collage
Create 3 different composition digital collages in A4 canvas size in Photoshop only with the images provided. Apply the rules of third and golden ratio on the digital collages.
Pre-composition #1
Fig 2.3 Digital Collage Composition #1
Pre-Composition #2
Fig 2.4 Digital Collage composition #2
Pre-Composition #3
Fig 2.5 Digital Collage composition #3
Doing these collages helped me explore different tools to enhance my skillset in Photoshop. Different tools have different specific functions and uses for different situations such as cropping geometrical shapes and non-geometrical shapes, which could be cropped by using the pen tool and the magic wand tool respectively. Upon doing these digital collages, I decided to experiment on blending modes to enhance the collages and create contrast between the elements and the background, to balance out the composition.
FEEDBACK
Week 1 — Composition is good, layout and colour scheme fits the theme, no other specific remarks were given.
Week 2 — No specific remarks were given to change or improve the artwork.
REFLECTION
The collages were a great medium to explore various compositions as well as to get familiar with the basic compositions such as rule of thirds and the golden ratio. I especially enjoyed doing the physical collage as it was abstract and a hands on project where we could just have fun and experiment with various images and cut outs from a magazine which was a fun challenge to do rather than the digital collage since for the digital collage we were only limited to 8 images.
Comments
Post a Comment