Creative Photo Effects 1
Instructor: Les Meehan
Description
Examples of solarisation and hand-colouring (from bw original)
This course will introduce you to a collection of fascinating photo/image techniques used by experienced photographers and fine art print makers. With this set of creative photo effects you will discover and enjoy an exciting new journey of self-expression.
With digital technology, image manipulation has never been easier and this course will open the way to self-expression by giving you the confidence to enhance your own photographs and elevate them to the realm of ‘fine art’.
Each easy to follow technique will be clearly explained so that you can understand the background behind the process and not just blindly follow a step-by-step process. In this way, your imagination will be stimulated and at each stage you will be encouraged to explore your creative impulses.
The techniques are fully supported by video tutorials to make the learning experience more enjoyable.
Skill Level
Beginner to intermediate.
Since this is a creative techniques course, I will be assuming everyone has some prior knowledge of and hands-on experience with a mouse (clicking, dragging etc) and the computer’s operating system e.g folders and files management.
I will also assume some basic knowledge of Photoshop BUT will explain in detail virtually everything you need to complete the course. Those of you with good expertise in Photoshop should forgive me if at times it seems I am ‘teaching my grandmother to suck eggs’ since there will be others with less expertise! Have patience!
All the techniques have been prepared in PS CS3 but should still be workable in most previous versions and CS4 as I have tried to avoid CS3 specific features in favour of a more general approach.
Software Requirements
- Adobe Photoshop – windows or mac version.
Hardware Requirements
- Any computer capable of running Adobe Photoshop
- A graphics tablet makes life a lot easier but a mouse will do the job
Course Gallery
Before Class
I recommend you read the ‘How to get the most from your course’ information. Then open your mind to creative input and output!
Week One
Any colour you like as long as it isn’t black!
Week one will be all about adding colour to images. We will deal with a variety of methods for replicating the traditional ‘darkroom toning’ of an image and also explore hand-colouring; another highly effective and popular technique for adding your personal touch to a photo image.
Week Two
Beyond the range of the eye and into the infra-red!
Week two will deal with adding pseudo 3D effects to an image based on the traditional darkroom methods and an exploration into replicating the astonishing visual effect of infra-red black and white film.
Week Three
Move over Hockney, Warhol and Man Ray!
Week three will deal with posterisation and the ‘pop art’ look followed by another very popular darkroom ‘arty’ technique; pseudo-solarisation. These two techniques can produce very stylish, graphic images.
Week Four
Lith it here, lith it there! SX-70 it everywhere!
Week four will explore a real favourite amongst traditional fine-art photographers known as the ‘lith printing’ technique. This is a technique capaple of producing beautiful and unusual images. We will complete the course by learning to simulate digitally one of the truly unique techniques ‘discovered’ by art photographers when Polaroid introduced their SX-70 instant film and cameras. The digital Polaroid SX-70 technique, like the original method, is capable of producing quite individual and beautiful results.