Photo Stop

  James Davidson

One of the most important lessons in photography, and one of the hardest to learn, is that the photographer's emotions and beliefs shine through in the pictures he or she takes.  Sometimes this is due to the framing choices each photographer makes, the lighting he chooses, the way the composition is arranged.  But sometimes it is that unexplainable something more.

It is hard to understand when I am just typing the words, but an easy enough concept.  It is why a photography teacher can assign a class to take a picture that captures the last day of school and no two pictures will convey the same meaning.  One person may take a picture of an empty classroom, another an overflowing trash can by an open locker, another kids racing from a building leaping for joy.  Each one expresses emotion.

Once a picture is taken, you can change the mood with all of the options available in photo exiting software.  Make a silhouette, go antique, even make it into a watercolor.  This month, I thought we would add a fun playful mood and learn 2 techniques:  graffiti and cartoon. 

Go Graffiti

Our starting image has a nice sense of fun and a bit of room to play with.  Lets start with adding in some graffiti.

Type your text in a font that feels like graffiti to you.  Then select the gradient tool from the side.

 Open a new layer.  Using the marquee tool, make a rectangle around your words.  Click edit on the gradient editor bar along the top of your screen and choose the shades that work for your letters.   You may need to play with them a bit.  On the screen, drag your mouse from the top of the rectangle box to the bottom of it to see your colors.

Hit control G to see what your letters look like.  Control Z will undo so you can try again until you get what you want.  

Now to add the black outline, make a new layer and move it beneath your text.  Ctrl click on your text layer--this will select your text--go to select--modify--expand and choose 3.  Next, click on your empty layer and fill it with black.  For an offset outline, give it a nudge.

Have some  fun with it now.  I used a filter--distort--pinch.  Then a few brushes on erase to let the background show through.  If you are working over a brick wall, that is key.

Page two is going to take this page to a comic.  Head over with me.

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