Jenna French
What did you learn?
Before taking this course, I have never used Photoshop or really any other digital software like it. Through this project, I learned some basic methods which are used to optimize photos in Photoshop. For example, I learned the importance of making layers when either changing the levels, the brightness and contrast, and so on. Overall, I have learned many different techniques and ways to optimize an image.
What was easy?
For this project, I rented out a camera from the media center, and it took me a few shots to figure it out, but overall, taking and scanning the photos was the easiest part of this project for me.
What was challenging?
The most challenging aspect of this project for me was Photoshop. It took me a while to get a hang of it and learn where all the certain tools are located. It took some practice and some extra help to get through this portion of the project because I have never used Photoshop before.
How could your submission be improved?
When looking back on this project, I think I could have improved the overall quality of some of the images. As I move forward in this course, I think I will get better at it because it just takes practice. For some of my photos, I wanted to use the clone tool, but I was coming across a lot of issues using it, so I decided to stay away from it and focus on other ways I could enhance the photo.
How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class?
Even though we did have a workday where we could ask questions, I thought it would also be helpful to go over the project as a whole again. For example, I had trouble with Brackets, and I think it would have been helpful if we went through this part in more depth.
How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?
Since this course focuses on 2D design, I think that I now have built a basis of knowledge about software like Photoshop. Now, that I have some basic knowledge it will be much easier to get through some more complex tools on Photoshop or software programs that I will come across in this course.
How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you?
While going over how to retouch images in class, I thought it would be interesting to focus on house plants for this project. I remember during a class demonstration we went over how to retouch a flower drawing in Gimp, and I thought with some editing, the result turned out really nice. Therefore, I decided to focus on house plants. There are many plants around my home and many different variations, which made this compilation of photos more interesting to look at. Overall, I knew that I would have a lot of content to take photos of or images to scan. More importantly, I was drawn to this theme because each plant is unique and the colors are vibrant, so I thought these images would transfer well.