Lesson 1: The Self Portrait

Overview:

It's time you took a virtual vacation. In this assignment you'll lift your form from a digital picture and place you (your image) on some exotic or whimsical background. You will then touch up the image and create a vignette effect. Have fun with this assignment, but do your best work because eventually this image will grace the home page of your personal web site as the central focus.

Learner Outcomes:

At the completion of this exercise, you will be able to:

1. scan images and save them in the appropriate file format in an accessible location.
2. use a digital camera and save images in an accessible location.
3. use the selection tool in PhotoShop best suited for the task of removing a form from its background.
4. create, adjust and retouch a layer to make it blend with the overall image.
5. set an image onto a transparent background and save using the appropriate file format.
6. feather an image to create a vignette effect.

Activities

1. Discussion of guidelines for legal and ethical acquisition of images
• Only take images from Internet resources and other resources when permission is expressed (written).
• Do not assume the absence of a copyright statement or permission statement implies permission.
• If you do get permission to use an image, attribute the source of the image in your own copyright statement.
• Whenever possible use your own original images.
2. Preview the evaluation rubric that describes in specific terms what successful completion of this assignment looks like.
3. Open your background image and your portrait in Adobe PhotoShop.
4. Make your body image proportionate to the background.
5. Use a selection tool to remove your form from its background.
6. Place it as a layer on top of the background image.
7. Eliminate all extra pixels.
8. Resize the image.
9. Create a vignette effect. Follow this link to a vignette tutorial. Have PhotoShop open along with the tutorial. Use the controls at the bottom of the tutorial window to pause at each step and apply what you learn.
10. Save and optimize the image for the web. Save the original PhotoShop PSD file in a separate folder for safe keeping in case it is needed in the future for revision.

Resources/Online documents

• Photoshop
• A browser
• Vignette Tutorial

All done?

Review the evaluation rubric