Photo Manipulation. Assignment Two.

Original Photo One "Breath of Fresh Air"

The first photo I am using I have titled “Breath Of Fresh Air”. It is a photo of my boyfriend, his brother and I. I chose this picture because I captured it using my Cannon camera and a tripod. I took the photo from behind the leaves of another tree to create the image of being watched. I didn’t want it to have an ominous feel, I wanted it to feel like it’s coming from the eyes of an innocent animal watching and feeling a serenity and have the eyes its being seen through seeing us as a friend and not feel threatened. I decided to edit this photo with Photoshop Express for the iPad. I increased the contrast to make the colors more intense and stand out against one another better. I then applied greyscale to the image to make it black and white. I did this because I thought a black and white effect would make the image more classic. I felt it would emphasize the serene essence. The leaves closer to the camera became almost solid black which I thought added to the watched by an animal vibe. The lack of color makes me feel like the elements and the nature surrounding us is frozen, encasing the moment in this picture, as if this photo is a perfect rendition of the feel of the surroundings. Finally, I cropped out the time stamp to make the image reflect and evoke the feelings I wanted to come across to the viewer with any obvious signs that it is a photo and that you are not looking directly at people through an animal’s eyes.

Manipulated Photo One " Breath of Fresh Air "

Original Photo Two "Do On To Others As You Would Have Them Do On To You"

I decided to use a self portrait for the second photo because I recently dyed my hair dark and ever since then I have had a fascination with the change in my features. So, because of this, I decided I wanted to use a photo I took of myself. I decided to smile in the photo I took because I wanted it to represent balance. I titled it "Do On To Others As You Would Have Them Do On To You". This photo depicts me smiling, I am smiling genuinely, to reflect positive energy. I used an application for the iPad to create the effects I used on this photo. This application was called PixLromatic. This application gives you the opportunity to edit the photo using effects that change the photos colors and add texture but not change the shapes in the image itself. I cropped the image to improve the size and center my face. I added the "Tony" effect to create an ethereal glow to my face and eyes. After this I used a boarder and texture effect called "Trashy" to give it a rough look to remind the viewer that everything no matter how perfect or beautiful has two sides. And that you get what you put in.

I chose these images because they are meaningful to me and the extra beauty that the manipulations brought to them truly makes me feel my photos have become works of art. I feel my manipulations are ethical because they are my photos, and I am not putting someone elses face on my body. I am not making anything to be something it is not, simply editing images unlike the photo in week 4's readings of Abraham Lincoln. When people see only edited images their perception for what is real and what is not is blurred. When the image is not your own and you are falsifying it (such as putting your head on someone elses body) people feel tricked or betrayed. I feel it is only ethical to edit an image when it belongs to you or you have permission. Otherwise it feels sneeky and like a lie rather than a beautiful art form. for example if you take two photos, one where your eyes are partially closed and one where they are open but you dont like your smile, editing the eyes from one onto the other is ethical because it is not a lie, it is your image, your property and it enhances the over all beauty of the image. It makes the image more like you yourself want it to look. The fact that a simple picture that was beautiful as a photo can turn into a peice of art with such small manipulations makes me proud of my work as a amateur photographer.

Manipulated Photo Two "Do On To Others As You Would Have Them Do On To You"

Icevska, Gordana. "Week 4 Readings." Weblog post. Photography Shooting the Truth. George Brown College, 9 Jan. 2009. Web. 20 Jan. 2012