The magic of Photoshop

It's been too long since I have posted anything about my creative activities. Part of the reason is that at the end of last year I decided to go back to school part time to see if I might be interested in formally studying graphic design. Originally I registered for Digital Imaging and Digital Design. My Design class was an online one, and I soon discovered that the lack of communication from my professor and a pretty bad textbook was going to do me in. So I admitted defeat, dropped the class and focused on my Digital Imaging class. 

Oh what fun! We learned about graphic design, focusing mainly on Photoshop. If you have never used this program, you have no idea what your are missing. I love, love, love Photoshop! Every week I learned something that just made me go "Wow!"   We edited photos, and created digital art.  And except for having to work on projects out of the book (cause let's face it--it is always more fun to play with your own pictures and create projects from your own inspiration!), I loved every minute of this class.

Here are some examples of some of the photo editing I have done.  Pretty amazing stuff for a beginner like me!

 

This is a photo of my Grandfather, James Alexander Birrell, when he was 4 years old:

Also in the picture are his parents, John G Birrell and Mary Elizabeth Ryser, and his sister Ella, who is 4. This picture is attached to a piece of glass which has been broken. I've wanted to get this restored for several years, but never gotten around to figuring out where to do that.  When we were given the assignment to restore a picture, I thought I'd give it a try. Here is my attempt at restoration:

It's not perfect, but was I excited about how well I was able to do. Photoshop is so cool!

Here are a couple of more smaller repairs I did on photos of my dad:

Both of these photos had been removed from scrapbooks. Pulling them off the page resulted in creases and scratches on each photo that took away from these great images of my Dad. They also were a bit faded from time. I removed the creases and and played a bit with the coloring-- resulting in this:

And here is one of my favorite photo repair achievements.  This is a picture from the trip we took to Paris as a family last summer.  It is me and my husband on the hill at Sacre Coeur. 

I love this picture.  The sky, the cathedral, our smiles--everything is perfect.  Well, almost perfect.  Not quite sure what that man behind us was thinking walking into the photo.  You think people would be more respectful of people capturing memories!  Anyway, that man's backside really, really bothered me.  But I shook my head and figured it was the price we had to pay for visiting Paris in the heart of tourist season.  At least until I took my class.  Then I learned how to remove small annoyances such as this.  Here is what I managed to do:



Isn't that a million times better?  I am so proud of this.  Do you see how good the wall looks behind us?  What awesome Photoshop skills!  Now just so you know this hasn't totally gone to my head, I was not able to take away the other man standing at the right of the photo.  Duplicating the arch he is standing is front of was just beyond my capabilities.  So I do understand that I am just a beginner.  But I am looking forward to continuing to learn and get better at this wonder, wonderful program.