Still and Moving Image is a course that addresses the diverse and rapidly evolving nature of lens-based digital imagery. It teaches techniques on how to explore and manipulate the image in order to develop, support, and enhance the creative practice.
Manipulating images in Lightroom and testing different effects
The Spatial Montage
Thinking outside the box and creating new compositions with similar elements in Photoshop can be challenging. I questioned myself all time on what shape could I create to make it more interesting? What story do I want to tell with the image? It was hard to find my starting point. However, I was able to find all my answers by experimenting and testing tools.
It took me a while from the first attempt to actually create something that I liked. For some reason, I found that I wanted to create images related to natural elements such as water, earth, waves, flower, stars... Turns out, I ended up in space!
Spatial Montage Development in Photoshop
I felt the lack of visual elements to compose the image, so I added a floral background related to the 'Earth' element in nature and used the masks to change filters on them and tcharam! I was in sapce.
I also did brief research in montages on Pinterest to find some inspiration and by doing so, I found a picture of an astronaut and decided to put one walking over the moon in my head.
'Moon World'
The Looping Moving Image
I wanted to tell a story that could translate who I am and how I deal with the space around me. After the spatial montage, my mind instantly started thinking about the movement. The looping image in Photoshop allows us to create a different universe in a surreal perspective, like an alternative reality and personally, it was really fun playing with the assets and creating this GIF.
Using the static background gave me the grounded aspect in the gif and also allowed me to create this idea of being a photo in space I guess. The fun part of the Gif for me is how I go from serious black and white to a fun face crazy chick at the end, mostly because all my friends say that I live in my own little moon world. And it's a fact, I do!
So, in order to create this, I had to source all the external assets: moon, pyrite, flower, astronaut, and the space background. I used the masks to select what I wanted from the source, duplicated some of them, and twisted a bit to create the movement in the gif.
Other Experimentations:
Using task 3 as a starting point, I selected 2 of my favorite montage to create different Gifs. Both have different approaches and use different tools, blending modes, and vector assets. In the 'Moon World' I experimenting with moving things around, rotating, and cropping layers whereas in the 'Space' Gif's I mostly used rectangle selection tool and blending modes to create the looping image.
It was interesting to see how each has its own thing but yet built using completely different tools and skills.