Adobe Photoshop is an extremely useful tool to create and edit images, image collages, banners, logos etc. For this module, I used the lynda.com videos to help learn about the tools within Photoshop — and there are so many! I found I had to use the “Photoshop CC Essential Training” training in order to help me gain an initial understanding of the basics of Photoshop. I will likely continue to use the lynda.com videos as I continue to experiment more.
The three activities required for this module included:
- The Bauhaus Design Exercise
- Creating a photo collage
- Creating a logo/banner for my webpage
1. BAUHAUS DESIGN EXERCISE
This exercise was great to gain experience with the different tools within Photoshop. I experimented with different ways to draw your attention to the center of the screen. Some of those examples included the following:
As I experimented with the way I placed the rectangles, I found that the bottom image shown here drew my attention more to the center of the image. The top image also drew my attention to the center three rectangles, but by orienting the rectangles 90 degrees on either side of the 3 center rectangles, that really helped draw my attention to those 3 center rectangles.
An additional part of this exercise was to arrange the rectangles to balance the top and bottom of the screen. This is what I came up with.
2. CREATING A PHOTO COLLAGE
As part of creating a photo collage, I collected ~50 images. 50 images was way too many — even 30 images was way too many! It was really difficult to select the images I wanted to include in my photo collage despite having “ranked”/”starred” them. I had too many images that were ranked at the top! I did not want the collage to feel crowded and I wanted it to have a sense of balance. The images I chose for my collage included a center image from my wedding day (my husband and I got married in Kauai, Hawaii) and then all the other images correspond to activities and aspects that are important to me. The top images include images taken while SCUBA diving with my husband. The bottom images include our “pets” — our dog and our horses. Our horses are in Arizona with our good friends who take care of them. The side/center images also correspond to things that are pertinent to my life, including being in the water as much as possible (on a Hobie cat — or underwater (preferable)). The image on the right is of a full scale model of the Mars Science Laboratory rover. In a sense, the exploration of Mars is one of the things that brought my husband and I together, so I felt it was a significant picture to include in the collage.
3. CREATING A BANNER
The last part of this exercise was to put together a banner to potentially use for our Word Press site. The first thing I did for this was to look up the banner size for Word Press. Once I created a new Photoshop document, I decided to create a simple banner that really portrayed one of the reasons I am taking this course — to help find new and innovative ways to help students explore the Earth, Moon, Mars, and beyond. I found images that corresponded to each of those themes (Earth image taken from the International Space Station, an image of Earth and the Moon, a selfie-image taken by the Mars Science Laboratory Rover, and an artist rendition of the New Horizons spacecraft flying by Pluto and its moons. I added in text at the top of the banner to tie it all together. I did replace the banner on my Word Press site with this banner — as well as have included it here.
