Continued...

Today's lecture was focusing on Photoshop, Michael first showed us an image he had created using layers, he had created several layers containing various images and text which came out like one big poster. The layering technique reminded me of projectors and the clear sheets. You use images on each sheet and when they are all piled in top of each other and in the correct position it gives you your final image.

We watched a demonstration of how this image was created, using tools such as masking, which can be used with a paintbrush tool to hide parts of an image. We were also taught about the selection tools such as the magnetic lasso, which is a tool that recognises edges and colour differences to help you select what you need, although depending on the colours and lights in the picture it may need to be altered, this can be done by using the 'shift' and 'alt' keys to either remove or delete selected parts.

Once we had been shown what to do we were asked to use high resolution images and create a poster like Michael's, I took images from the web and at first they were coming out really pixelated and blurry and then I was told to change the format of the page to 'Web' which switches the resolution of the bitmap. Once I did this my images were coming up much clearer. I had used an ocean image for my background and found an image of a white tiger, so using the magnetic lasso I was able to remove the tiger from the jungle and put him by the sea! I then used the masking tool to neaten up the edges around the tiger, as the lasso had left a few jagged parts. I also used the clone tool to spread the background of my image.

 I now need to dedicate some spare time to making a few images and testing out what I know so far. It's a shame Photoshop is so pricey! Would be great to have it at home, as well as Illustrator and the Apple Mac. Maybe once I win the lottery.