Violation of Reality

* For those who don't already know, I have just finished my two year Foundation Degree in Photography and Digital Imaging. The course was run by Bucks New Uni but I actually studied the course at Amersham College, which I had previously done a BTEC National Diploma in Photography. *

Well, here it is! The final piece for my degree exhibition! I have been waiting weeks to share this with everyone, but I wanted to wait until the exhibition was over.

Violation of Reality.
'In a medium whose very essence is the ability to reproduce the look of everyday reality, one of the surest ways of attracting the viewers attention is to violate that reality' (Paul Messaris)

We are subconsciously drawn to unfamiliar objects, even when they are only slightly different to the familiar ones. This work demonstrates how real objects and scenes can be manipulated into something far from real, to attract the public’s attention.

Created with a real landscapes, toy dinosaurs and male models, combined in photoshop to create a surreal, unfamiliar piece of work.

BMW on the beach

I have been using photoshop consistently since I started by BTEC course in 2010, which was 4 years ago! My skills have grown so much throughout that course and my Foundation Degree. It's now become my strongest point when it comes to photography. Even though I know so much about photoshop now, I still love seeing how people create their images in photoshop. So i've decided to share one of my photoshopped images with you, along with print-screens and short explanation of the editing.

BMW On The Beach

Printscreens:

 1. After opening the background beach image and cloned out any unwanted marks or objects.

 2. I added the car to the beach image, then masked out the unwanted areas (selected). I also horizontally flipped the car as it worked better with the ground.

 3. As I flipped the car image it meant I needed to flip the number plate and car number back. I also added a layer where I added more shadow with a low opacity dark brush.

 4. Using a curves adjustment layer with the curve right down, I added shadow to the image. This was done by masking out the whole image, then bringing back the areas where shadow was needed.

 5. I then did the same for highlights, this time the curve goes up in the middle, to brighten the image.

 6. Lastly I added contrast and brightened the image a little with a levels adjustment layer. To add contrast I bring in the black marker and the white marker a small amount. Then I brightened the image slightly by moving the central marker to the left.

I have explained this very briefly as I know if I explained every tool and technique it would be a very long post! This is just a run down of the layers on the final image.