1. What did you learn?

I learned how to better use Photoshop to make my photos appear more vibrant. Using the “curves” and “levels” adjustments in Photoshop wasn’t necessarily a new concept, but it was one that I initially didn’t have a good understanding of, and this lab definitely helped with bettering that understanding.

2. What was easy?

The easy part, in my opinion, was adjusting the image size, both for the thumbnail and for the actual image itself. The steps only took a few seconds, and after the first few images, I was doing it without thinking about it.

3. What was challenging?

The most challenging part was definitely taking pictures that I was both satisfied with and could realistically edit to my liking. If I didn’t have something I liked, editing it was much more difficult than I thought it would be.

4. How could your submission be improved?

My submission could be improved improving the lighting of some of my pictures before I took them. I wanted to play around with darker images, and I did that, but I just was not completely satisfied with how it turned out, and I think it shows in my work.

5. How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class?

I think a more thorough, slower tutorial with InDesign could have been helpful. On one of my pictures, I couldn’t change the text box at all. It was stuck with “Image Title,” regardless of what tool I used to change it.

6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

In future assignments or work scenarios, my knowledge of retouching will help me in knowing what to remove and what not to remove with cropping and healing tools. Both proved to be immensely valuable during this project.

7. How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you?

One of the posted readings was about retouching. It helped me with cropping unnecessary parts from some of my originals, parts of the picture that otherwise would’ve been distracting or unappealing.