Photoshop Portfolio

Orange Seagull

            I started with a picture I took for the elements and principles assignment of foam in the ocean in the shape of a heart. There is grass framing the bottom of the picture and it had been made black and white from the previous assignment. I used the palette knife filter to give the picture texture. I then started to work with a picture of a seagull standing on the beach with the tide receding. I use threshold and then a color layering technique to make the seagull orange. Using the threshold I made the duck almost completely white then on different layers put more black into each layer until the last layer was completely black. I then deleted the white from the duck and placed varying shades of orange in place of the black in the picture. I then also used the palette knife filter on this picture, but only on the background not the seagull.

            I went back to the picture with the heart and blended it with the picture of the seagull. I applied the image onto the picture of the foam heart twice and used hard light. By applying the image twice it brought out the image of the seagull more, emphasizing it in a way. I then took another picture I used in the same assignment of a rocky cliff on the beach. I also used the palette knife filter on the image and blended it with the image I was working with previously. I applied my image of the blended seagull and foam heart onto the picture of the cliff. I then used a gradient that was light blue on top and white on the bottom to emphasize the blue of the water at the top of the image. I adjusted the opacity and fill on the gradient lower to integrate the blue of the gradient into the blue of the water to appear natural.

            After doing this I increased the brightness and contrast in the image. I increased both to keep a balance in the image so that it would not become too dark in certain areas. I also increased the saturation in the image to bring out the blue in the water and the orange and yellow in the sand. The last thing I did was adjust the color balance in the image. I put the setting on highlights and increased to amount of red and blue in the picture. Doing this lightened the sand and brought out the blue in the water, creating a balance between the blue and yellow/ orange in the image.