Illustrator/Photoshop

Illustrator file type –  .AI

Pixel based program – Photoshop (is resolution dependent, which means it has to have the resolution to have a good image)

Vector based program – Illustrator (isn’t resolution dependent)

Photoshop resolution is measured in DPI (Dots Per Inch)

A4 page has a resolution of 300 dpi

Web page has a resolution of 72 dpi

Alpha channel = Transparency of a picture (like .png)

PNG format is a lossless compression file format, which makes it a common choice for use on the Web. PNG is a good choice for storing line drawings, text, and iconic graphics at a small file size. JPG format is a lossy compressed file format. This makes it useful for storing photographs at a smaller size than a BMP

Scalable Vector Graphics – SVG

Illustrator gives you CMYK, Photoshop gives you RGB

Selection Practice

In class we had to use the selection tools to create a square, and then overlap it with other shapes. The selection tools available were, rectangle marquee, lasso tool, polygonal lasso tool,  quick selection tool and the magic wand tool. I mostly used the rectangle marquee tool though as I wished to keep simple shapes as this was my first attempt at selection on the macs at this college.

I made a pale yellow and then multiple different coloured rectangles over the top on a different layer, I then used the smudge brush to mix the top layer rectangles together so the pale yellow rectangle was see able.

I feel I could have improved the image by using different types of selection to make more interesting shapes than just rectangles.

Lighting! Contrast! Saturation! Oh my!

I edited this wine bottle by using the magic wand selection tool, creating a new layer and then going to the adjustments panel, where I could change the colour, saturation and contrast.

Saturation is the intensity of the colour on a picture, contrast is the general brightness of the colour and image.

I also took all saturation out of the background, to keep the focus on the bottle in front.

Spot Healing

Spot healing is a process big brand companies use on their images, these images range from movie posters used for advertisement, to magazine pictures in Vogue and I tried my hand at doing it with Morgan Freeman. The aim was to get rid of his freckles and I think I succeeded in doing, however, as you can probably see, his left eye area has been blurred, I’m not sure how this happened but I can guess that I overused the spot healing tool brush on this area.

Creating a low poly robin

I created the low poly bird by creating an action, an action is a set of instructions that can be redone with a button shrtcut.

To create the action for the low poly bird I went to the actions tab and made a new action named, Average

This is the result of the low poly bird assignment, by using the rules on Photoshop I have created a bird that folllows the rules we were set.