Midterm

1. Both of my images are related. They both show different forms of hope. The first image shows how beauty and positive things can be found when you're keeping yourself open to it. The second image shows that even when things are a mess and you may not be apt to thinking that there could be something better, life surprises you and shows you something new.

2. For the first image, I combined the picture of the beach with the two people and the balloons. I put a layer mask on the people so that I was able to make them grayscale while keeping the balloons colored. I put a drop shadow on them while putting a color overlap to make them darker. I copied the balloon so that I could have more than one and changed the sizes of some of them to show more distance. I changed the contrast of the balloons and the people. I also changed the exposure. I changed the saturation and hue of the balloons to make them more vibrant. I positioned the people so that their fingers would lead your eye straight to the balloons.

For the second image, I combined the picture of the girl with the sunset picture in the background and the kite. I cropped the background picture to find the best area to fit through the window. I used the doge tool on the background image to lighten it up to show the reflection coming onto the girl. I painted orange across part of her body and changed the opacity of it to make it lighter and more realistic. I changed the hue of the kite so that it fit in with the picture more. I played with the contrast of the picture with the girl in it to make it look more moody and depressing. I added shadows to the window to make it fade into the background more easily.

3. In my first image, I really like the way the people actually look as if they are part of the picture. I was worried that they would stick out like a sore thumb, but to me they blend in pretty well. I also enjoy how their arms completely bring you right to the balloons.

In my second image, I enjoy how you really receive a mood off of it. The girl looks weathered and drained, but then you see her soaking in the sun as if she's realizing tomorrow is another day. I also like how it really looks as if the sun is reflecting right off of her. The clarity of the picture is great too.

When I put these images together, I love how they both include grayscale and color. The contrast between them excites me and makes the images much more interesting than if they were completely color or completely gray.