Week 7:

Has it really been 7 weeks already? Wow, crazy. Whether you guys realize it or not you have learned new skills and improved previous skills tremendously. I'm stoked to keep seeing your growth. Please keep it up, it excites me. I'd like to start having a more streamlined approach to where our out of class work is being done based on the work we do in class on Wednesdays. In other words, if we portraits in class, our homework will revolve around working on tutorials using those portraits in Pixelmator. Lets talk about this here next Wed and see what we can figure out. For this week, I want you to go through the below tutorials and have some fun. Really focus on learning the given tool you're using for a particular task in Pixelmator.

*With each of the tutorials, you are welcome to give them your own "flare" as you see fit. Be creative and have fun!

1. I'm a fan of typography, or in laymans terms, text. I like working with text and manipulating it. You should do. Follow through this tutorial here and start to get an idea the power of text. Text can be to a design what Audio is to a movie. It accentuates it and in many ways is as powerful and important as the primary component.

2. Find an image of your choice and add rain to it. I'd prefer you use a picture you've taken or if you want to take a new picture and upload it that's fine as well. Quick and simple. Follow along here.

3. This is more advanced and will start to show you how great compositing images can be, both in speaking of realistic as wel as unrealistic terms. Follow along here.

4. This is another tutorial where we will utilize text and composite that with an image. This is a really cool effect and one I think you'll like quite a lot. I'll provide a picture below for you to use or if you'd like you are welcome to use one of your own images. Follow along here.

5. Write a summary of what you learned this last week as well as your favorite techniques learned in Pixelmator based on the above tutorials. Did anything get you particular excited?

6. Lastly, go to your classmates blogs and comment like we discussed on each of their pieces of work. Two things you really liked and one thing that you think could maybe be improved.

Good luck! As always feel free to email or call if you have any questions or concerns.

Week 6:

And we come to another week. Crazy how time flies. I hope this post finds you well and in good spirits.

We began this past week looking at the world of studio portraiture, which I think is great fun. What did you guys think? Hopefully you didn't hate it as we will come back to it here on Wednesday and continue our look into lighting, subject positioning, etc.

So here's what I'd like to see:

1. Please write a two-three paragraph response to what you learned this last week. What did you find interesting, or not find interesting? Honestly, where does studio style photography fall onto your "like" meter? In other words, do you prefer it to say on location photography for example? What areas or concepts of studio photography are you especially jazzed about if so? (this could be some kind of technique you've seen somewhere but we haven't covered).

2. Using the below images make image adjustments as you see fit. To get you started, you should be looking at things like white balance, saturation, contrast, framing, highlights, shadows, etc. Each of you will ultimately have different images, which is fine. Pretend these are images that you are paid by a client to "touch up," what will you do and why? Be able to justify your corrections and decisions. Generally, with portraits like these, clients are paying for you to show them in their best light, which means we need to know our subjects. Seeming as though these pictures are of you, you should know the subjects pretty well! Think about what your parents like, would they pay for these images? Please post your the images to your blogs.

P.S. Just in case it was in question, all of these were in fact shot by you.

3. We briefly talked about having resource images, textures, folders so make your own folder on your desktop that we will start to fill with resource images and inspiration. It should look something like this.

Inside the "Pure Inspiration" folder, go ahead and make two different subfolders called "Design" and "Photography." We will talk about these more on Wednesday.

4. Lastly, I would like for you to spend at least 30 minutes in Pixelmator aside from this, however I'm leaving it up to you as to how you spend your time. Find a tutorial online that you really like or a technique you find and follow along. You are welcome to use whatever source image(s) you'd like. Thanks guys!

Week 5:

My wonderful class.

I'm sorry for the delay, once again, with getting this assignment up. Thanks for your patience. It's much appreciated. Again, you guys are continuing to do solid work and a show a dedication to continue to become artistic photographers/designers in your own right. I'm loving your enthusiasm with learning Pixelmator so we are going to continue to jump in head first with that. Here's what I'd like to see from you for Wednesday.

1. Follow this tutorial. Upon completion upload final image to your blog. Feel free if you so desire to give your own "flare" to it. Here are the images, go ahead and download to your own desktop to use.

2. Follow this tutorial with the image below. Upon completion upload both before and after images to your blog. Seeming as though we are using a different picture, steps 11-13 especially will require your own tweaking. Although the entire image in and of itself will be yours to retouch as you see fit. When you've gone through the basic retouching process with this tutorial go ahead and jump over to this one here to learn how to change her eye color.

3. Lastly, follow this tutorial. This will dive deeper into some specialized features in Pixelmator. I figured this would be one you guys might really enjoy and it will also give you the opportunity to use your creativity a little bit. Rather than utilizing the Beatles (whom I love) image, find a picture you like especially (maybe a picture you've taken yourself or one you've seen online) and use that instead to create the same effect, just with a different subject for your light painting.

4. Have fun! These should get you excited about the power of pixelmator and the potential for your own creative work. As always, feel free to email or call if you have any questions at all. See you Wed!

P.S. If you're still hungry for more and want to explore other tutorials, check out this link. If you do anything extra, please, please, PLEASE post it. I would love to see it all.

Week 4:

Wonderful day to you all. I hope you're weekend has been tremendous so far. Thanks again for making the most out of our hour together in class and for being so involved. We are cruising now and I think you guys are going to continue to get excited about what we're learning.

Here's what I'd like to see for this next week:

1. A one sentence summary of each tool and its function located in the tool palette of Pixelmator.

2. Watch this tutorial here following through with any image you'd like for an introduction to Pixelmator.

3. Walk through this tutorial here using your own image taken from your iSight (watch for more details). This tutorial will give you an introduction into some deeper features of Pixelmator. Post your final image to your blog.

4. Create a desktop wallpaper from scratch and post to blog. Click here for tutorial.

5. Click here to create an aurora borealis utilizing the tools in Pixelmator and post to blog.

Have fun! See you on Wednesday.