the magic of photoshop

This image I selected is a photoshopped picture of Madonna. Madonna is 52 years old but with the magic of photoshop she looks 20-30 years younger. In the un-touched picture there are many visible wrinkles and imperfections on Madonna's skin. In the photoshopped picture Madonna has flawless airbrushed skin and the image has been brightened and there is more contrast. The tools that would be used for a photoshop job such as this would be the clone tool, the eraser tool, the distort tool, the burn tool, and brighten tool. And thats just naming a few. The clone tool was used to erase the wrinkles and fine lines and to give her skin a smooth and youthful appearance. The hue and saturation, as well as, the contrast have been alternate to make the image look more vibrant. Obviously the image on the right looks for appealing but what kind of example is it setting for the way that normal people are suppose to look. Many women do not look like Madonna at the age of 52 and when they see this image they will not feel very good about themselves. Fine retouching photoshopping is a good way to improve beauty but is it really worth effecting what we see as "beauty."

This photoshopped image is very interesting because it plays with our idea of reality. The woman in this picture appears to be a spider on a web but we know that this is not real. Along with having an extra set of arms, her legs have hands and fingers attached to the ends. There are spider eyes on her head and she appears to be on a spider web. The tools needed to perform this manipulation would be the cut tool, lasso tool, eraser tool, copy and paste, clone tool, blur, smudge, and burn tool. This picture would take great patience while doing because the fingers need to be individually altered so it looks like they are on the background image of the web. There would also need to be alot of playing around with the positioning of the arms and the shading to make them look real. Images like these are very interesting because they attract viewers because they are seeing something it is out of the ordinary.

type & contrast

In this spread "Something to Spray" there are excellent examples of color, type, and contrast. This spread is very legible to read due to the black type on white background in a serif font and proper leading. The color in this spread is mellow yet dramatic. There are blacks, grays, browns, and greens with intense red accents. Although I do not like the type that was chosen for the title, the title is still in correct hierarchy and your eyes know exactly where to start reading from. Despite the busy background on the right page, the white box allows for the text to be easily read. The crooked boxes gives the spread a little extra flare, which I really like. At first glance you are drawn to the big red peace sign on the left page that goes along with the title. Before even reading the article you get an understanding on what is going to be discussed. Overall, this spread has good use of colors, type, and contrast that makes it not only fun to look at but also easy to read.

                                    

This 'Modern Warfare 2' spread is an absolute disaster. The first thing you notice is how ineligible the font is in the middle of the spread. The green font blends in with the picture that is in the background leaving it almost impossible to read. The other thing that adds to the difficultly of reading this is the font that they chose. It appears to be Courier, which when is a small font is hard to read. The hierarchy of this spread is also lost. My eyes don't know where the article starts.. is it in the green boxes or in the middle? The title is noticeable and the pull quote is readable, those are about the only things this spread has going for it. The colors of this article don't really go with anything. They are fighting against a busy background which leaves the eye to see, bold green boxes and something happening in the middle. The background image used isn't even identifiable. It appears to be a solider with a gun but only after really focusing on it, was i finally able to make it out. The viewer should be focusing on the article or spread as a whole, not about staring at a blurry black image that is working against the whole article. This spread is just a mess.