Digital Photography and Imaging - Project 1
24/9/2025 - 15/10/2025 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Cher Pei Ying (0389055)
Digital Photography and Imaging
Project 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Lectures
2. Instructions
2.1 Physical Collage
2.2 Digital Collage
2.3.1 Part 1: Hearst Mansion
3. Reflection
1. LECTURES
1.1 Introduction to Composition
Composition is the arrangement of visual elements within a frame
- invisible structure that makes visual work "work"
- ❌ style ❌color ❌decoration ✅organization (planning)
- every visual decision communicates hierarchy & meaning
Purpose of composition
1. Direct attention
2. Establish relationships among elements
3. Create sense of order/movement/story
~ Good composition =❌balanced ❌pretty ✅tension ✅imbalance
Figure 1.1.1 Principles of Composition
- the order in which the eye perceives information
- flow: big (anchor of design) > medium (reinforces and adds supporting info with variety and rhythm) > small (decorative and detail)
1.2 Introduction to Photoshop
Lasso Tool
- Draws and pinpoints specific areas of a document
- Types of lasso tools: Lasso, Polygonal Lasso, Magnetic Lasso
Figure 1.2.1 Lasso Tool in Photoshop
Pen Tool
- Create a path from scratch
- Can be used to create extremely precise shapes and paths by using manually placed anchor points
- Not natively made as a “selection tool”
- Reference: How to use the Pen Tool 1 / How to use the Pen Tool 2 / Drawing paths with the Pen Tool
- Exercise: The Bezier Game
Figure 1.2.3 Variations of Pen Tool
- Different images stacked on top of each other
- Each layer can be used without affecting another one when making adjustments
- Used for non-destructive editing = able to save a Photoshop file with all the layers included
1.3 Introduction to Photoshop 2
Adjustment Layer
- A group of non-destructive image editing tools that add color and tonal adjustments to the image without permanently changing pixels
- Can edit and discard adjustments or restore the original image at any time
- The Properties panel will allow modifications to the adjustment layer
- Reference: How to use Adjustment Layer
Figure 1.3.1 Adjustment Layer
Types of Adjustment Layers
1. Brightness/Contrast: Makes adjustments (highlights/shadows) to the tonal range of the image
2. Level: Modifies the tonal values in an image by adjusting the levels of the shadows, mid tones, and highlights
3. Curves: Adjust points throughout the entire tonal range of the image
4. Exposure: Adjust exposure levels of highlights, mid tones and gammas with three sliders: Exposure, Offset and Gamma respectfully
5. Selective color: Adjustment layer selectively modifies the amount of a primary color without modifying the other primary colors in the image
Figure 1.3.2 Types of Adjustment Layers
Filters
- To change colour, add blur or create completely new image effects
- Reference: Filters: Saturation Mask in Photoshop / Photo filter trick in Photoshop / Photoshop filters
2. INSTRUCTIONS
2.1 Physical Collage
This task requires us to choose and identify a collage's design elements from old magazines or newspapers, then cut them out and compose it into a concept and story. Pre-compositing is a important process of designing a collage, that being said, we need to pre-compose the collage's design elements into 3 compositions and take pictures of it.
Figure 2.1.1 Process of creating 3 pre-compositions
Figure 2.1.2 Three pre-compositions
After deciding on the third version, I noticed that there were certain parts of the collage with too much negative space, therefore I looked through more old magazines to find text or graphics to add on.
Figure 2.1.3 Final Outcome
2.2 Digital Collage
For this exercise, we are given multiple elements to create a digital collage in Adobe Photoshop.
Figure 2.2.1 Elements given to create Digital Collage
Figure 2.2.2 Three Compositions
Figure 2.2.3 Final Composition
2.3 Digital Imaging Exercises
2.3.1 Part 1: Hearst Mansion
In this exercise, we are required to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop to edit a figure into a background image by adding shadows, reflections and additional adjustments to make it complete. A tutorial video was given to guide us in this exercise.
Exercise 1:
Photos to edit:
Figure 2.3.1.3 Process in Adobe Photoshop
Figure 2.3.1.4 Final Outcome
After completing the first exercise, we are required to take a photo of ourselves and edit it into the same background given by applying the same technics taught.
Photos to edit:
Figure 2.3.1.5 Hearst Castle Reference Figure 2.3.1.6 Photo of Myself
Figure 2.3.1.7 Process in Photoshop
Figure 2.3.1.8 Final Outcome
2.3.2 Part 2: Recoloring Black and White
For this exercise, we are given a black and white picture and will learn how to recolor it in Adobe Photoshop. Four tutorial videos were given: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2 / Tutorial 3 / Tutorial 4
Exercise 1:
Figure 2.3.2.1 Black & White Portrait 1
Figure 2.3.2.2 Color Reference 1 Figure 2.3.2.3 Color Reference 2
Figure 2.3.2.4 Process in Adobe Photoshop
Figure 2.3.2.5 Final Outcome
By applying the same technics taught in the four tutorial videos given, we are required to choose another black and white portrait given and attempt to recolor it.
Figure 2.3.2.6 Black & White Portrait 2
Figure 2.3.2.7 Color Reference 1 Figure 2.3.2.8 Color Reference 2
Figure 2.3.2.9 Process in Adobe Photoshop
Figure 2.3.2.10 Final Outcome
3. REFLECTION
The physical collage task was so fun to me, I enjoyed exploring different elements and figuring out how to combine them together. Although it was a bit tricky to balance hierarchy with the intended design with physical pictures and printed text because the size cannot be changed, I liked how my outcome turned out. If there is something I want to change about my work, I would look for more elements that could be used from more magazines, unfortunately that was all I had at that time.
As for the digital collage task, it required me to really think out of the box as the elements provided was not related to each other, this is where creativity works. Even though all the elements have different sizes, colors and shape, I had to figure out how to arrange them in a composition that looks interesting but not too much. I had to go through a lot of versions for this task so it was quite time consuming, but I enjoyed it overall.
The digital imaging tasks turned out fascinating to me, I always wondered how two different pictures could be edited into one, and most importantly to make it look real and not abrupt. The skills learnt in this task can be conducted in real life, where I can edit my own pictures for personal use.
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