Introduction to Computer Graphics – FA2900

1.  Through a scanner darkly - Due September 10

Project overview

To produce quality images for print, web, and video, students need to understand essential 2D design principles and how digital images are created. Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended is an image-manipulation tool that can help students analyze, enhance, and edit images. In this project, students learn the basics of digitizing, image composition, and elements of visual design as they create a collage.

Students take photos and gather images from various sources, identifying elements of visual design that reflect good composition. They use Photoshop to retouch and manipulate these photos and images to build 4 collages.

Project objectives

Project management skills

• Planning and creating a collage
• Organizing and managing images
• Managing files and using file-naming conventions

Design skills

• Understanding image composition
• Understanding image adjustments and effects
• Understanding file formats, resolution, and file size
• Understanding image source

Research and communication skills

• Communicating information clearly, using correct terminology
• Analyzing and critiquing artwork

Technical skills

• Using a digital camera
• Scanning images in Photoshop
• Understanding the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended interface
• Importing and working with various file formats
• Working with layers & layer masks
• Retouching photos by using selection tools
• Adjusting brightness and contrast
• Adjusting levels and tone
• Cropping, resizing, and straightening images
• Transforming images

Elements of 2d design -
MOVEMENT, BALANCE, UNITY, CONTRAST, EMPHASIS, LINE, AND COLOR

Line
Color

Hue is another word for color.
Chroma is the intensity or purity of color.
Tint is a color mixed with white.
Tone is a color mixed with gray.
Shade is a color mixed with black.

• Tone and sharpness: Use light and shadow to focus attention on or draw attention away from your subject. Have your subject in focus and blur the extraneous elements to draw viewers to the subject.
Shapes are enclosed objects that can be created by line or created by color and value changes that define their edges.
Texture is the surface look of an object created by varying dark and light areas. Roughness, Smoothness, Depth

Movement is the use of lines, color, and repetition to create the illusion of motion. Curved forms or lines, Repetition of geometric forms, Fuzzy lines or outlines

Balance is the act of comparing or estimating two things, one against the other, and the contrast between:
Empty or negtaive space and filled space, Text and images, Color and no colors and different colors, Textures against flat colors. Create a sense of weight for the elements within the frame; some objects will have a large sense of weight and some will have a small sense of weight.
There are four different types of balance when using color, shape, and position:
Symmetry -You can usually identify at least one of three lines of symmetry; Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal.
Asymmetry
Radial symmetry
Pattern
• Framing: When framing the picture, try to fill the frame with relevant and interesting elements.
• Rule of thirds: Offset your picture to help focus the viewer’s eyes on the subject.

Unity: The correct balance of composition or color that produces a
harmonious effect.

Emphasis: To express with particular stress or force. Include a focal point for the collage, a subject that is emphasized. Remove objects not essential to the composition.

Scale Use scale to capture details and highlight specific objects. foreground and background onjects, Close-ups

For more on collage and montage: photomontage, collage

Examples of collage or montage: Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, David Salle, Romare Bearden

About resolution, bitmaps and more bitmaps

Artists dealing with the power of objects: Andres Serrano, Jeff Koons, David Hammons

Photography
• Tips for first-time users of digital cameras: www.adobe.com/go/dkc_intro_photo.
• Information on image composition for beginners:
www.connectedphotographer.com/issues/issue200411/00001426001.html.
• Tips on digital photography composition:
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/digital-photography-composition-tips.
• A variety of information about digital cameras:
www.malektips.com/digital_cameras_help_and_tips.html.
• Links to tips for taking great pictures:
www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2/3/38&pq-locale=en_US.
• Tips for image composition and definitions on the elements of visual design:
http://photoinf.com/General/Robert_Berdan/Composition_and_the_Elements_of_Visual_Design. htm.

Scanning
• A comprehensive look at scanning and graphics: www.scantips.com

Collages
• Tips for working with layers in Photoshop when creating collages:
www.creativepro.com/story/feature/17023.html?origin=story.
• Techniques for creating photo collages in Photoshop:
www.adobepress.com/go/article_collages.

Graphic design
• An article on design principles:
www.digital-web.com/articles/principles_of_design.
• Before-and-after formats illustrating design principles:
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/l/aa_pod2.htm.
• A short introduction to graphic design theory, explaining the aspects of design to consider when composing a piece of fine art or producing a graphic layout:
www.usask.ca/education/coursework/skaalid/theory/cgdt/designtheory.htm.
• A brief discussion of the main principles of design:
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/principl/principl.htm.
• Definitions and examples of elements and principles of design:
www.johnlovett.com/test.htm.
• Definitions for graphic design principles:
www.msu.edu/~glazered/tc801/graphic.html.