Blog assignment 2: photoshop tutorial.

http://www.worth1000.com/tutorials/161596/digital-wizardry-photo-aging-making-new-photos-look-old

Here's the photo I started with:

 I saturated the photo, but kept some color in there instead of making it all black and white. I intend it to be an aged photo, but not from the 1920s (it's more from 2009-2059, but without a digital camera)

 In this step I made layers of white and brownish-yellow on top and set opacity to very low (white at 2%, yellow at 17%) to give the photo an aged quality. I also added in a white frame around the photo to look like a photo paper

 

Then, I duplicated the saturated layer and added 7.34% gaussian noise and grain

 For the last step, I rendered light effects. I made the photo overexposed and darkened the corners a bit.

I deviated from the tutorial a lot. The tutorial called for scanned or custom brush scratches and stains for the photo. I want the photo to be an example of someone taking care of a photo over 50 years, a photo of a favorite film or music star.

Blog assignment 1: Digital Artist

Surreal Digital Artist Marlon Macatuno "CyberAsero" of Manilla, Philippines. 

Macatuno specializes in photo manipulation using CS3, 3D Studio Max, After Effects, and Illustrator. His photo manipulations use various stock photos posted on deviantART.com.

 

This photo manipulation is called "The Separate Lives" and it's apparent what it refers to in the picture. A man and women are separated by a deep chasm. Possibly they are a couple that had a wedge driven between them and they live in their separate little worlds. The bed on her side and the sofa on his side shows what's comically or seriously shown as a consequence of an argument between the man and women; the women takes the bed and the man has no choice but to take the sofa. The photo on his side may indicate a mistress, as she does not look like the girl in the foreground -- some men can have entirely different households separate from their legal household. Crows, or possibly ravens, as seen in the background, are usually seen as bad omens referring to death and bad fortune, likewise with the color black, a prominent color in the composition. The black and grays of the manipulation give a feeling of dreariness and dread.

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According to Macatuno's profile, his favorite movie is The Count of Monte Cristo. The title of this particular work is "Monte Cristo", and based on a knowledge of the original novel or the movie, that the manipulation is referring to Edmond Dantes. The old photograph in the frame is could be taken as an image of a young successful Dantes before his imprisonment. The scratched stone wall is a prison cell at Château d'If, where Dantes is imprisoned. The words on the lower right "God will give me justice" refers to his wronged imprisonment and his eventual chance to exact his revenge on the men that wrongfully imprisoned him. The hooded figure is the Count of Monte Cristo, merely a shadow of Edmond Dantes.

sources:
http://cyberasero.deviantart.com/
http://artistsofphotoshop.com/2010/09/marlon-macatuno/