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Lab Assignment 4: Manipulating Digital Images

 

Assignment

Find or create a digital photograph, then use Photoshop (or a similar tool) to transform the image into something very different. You have a lot of freedom in determining how to transform the image: you might merge two or a more images to create a new image, alter the color, add or remove elements, etc. You can use a filter in Photoshop (e.g brush strokes, blur, etc), but the effort involved should be more substantial then just using the filter. Aim to spend about 45 minutes to an hour on this assignment (give or take a few minutes, depending on your experience with photoshop). For some inspiration, check out ZDNet's "Fun With Photoshop" (http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/stories/articles/0,4413,2661696,00.html) or HotTips: Pedro Meyer (http://www.state51.co.uk/hottips/396/meyer.html). The complete assignment is due by 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 24.

Goals

This assignment has two main goals:
  1. To give you a basic familiarity with Photoshop.
  2. To prompt you to think critically about the characteristics of digital images.

Process

  1. Find or create a digital photograph.
    • You can take your own photographs using the digital camera on reserve for HANS 320. The camera should be available by Friday, October 12 at the reserve desk. Initially you will be able to check it out for 2 hours; after Oct. 24th members of the class can check it out for a full day. Computers in the Etext Center have been set up with the software for transferring the photographs from the camera; if you would like to transfer the photographs to your own computer, you will need to check out the Olympus Digital Camera Software CD-ROM from the reserve desk. See the digital camera guide at http://www.rice.edu/Fondren/ETC/tutorials/camera/
    • You can scan the images out of a book, so long as you keep copyright considerations in mind. For more on copyright, see Georgia Harper's Crash Course in Copyright at http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm You can avoid copyright problems altogether by scanning your own photographs. You probably will want to work with jpegs (or gifs, if there are a lot of solid colors).
    • You can download the images from the web, though you should be mindful of the image quality and ask permission of the person you're copying the images from.
  2. Use PhotoShop (available on all Owlnet machines, as well as in the Etext Center) to transform the image. For help using Photoshop, see the Etext Center's Photoshop Guide (http://www.rice.edu/Fondren/ETC/photoshop.html), Scanning and Editing Images in Adobe Photoshop 5.0 (http://www.rice.edu/Computer/Documents/protected/Mac/mac1.pdf), or the online help provided through Photoshop itself.
  3. Make sure that you save both the original image(s) and the final transformed version. Incorporate the new and orginal images into a simple web page, noting the source(s) of the original(s). Include an explanatory paragraph about how you created the final image and what inspired the changes you made.
  4. Save the html file as yourlastname_photoshop.html. You may want to create a separate images directory for the accompanying images.
  5. Transfer the html and image files to the course web site.
    1. Open the SSH Secure File Transfer client. Connect to gg.owlnet.rice.edu using your owlnet user name.
    2. Choose operation, then choose Go to Folder and enter /net/course-a/hans320/public_html/projects. Find your folder and place the files there, then email me at lspiro@rice.edu to let me know that they are online.

Last updated October 10, 2001 by Lisa Spiro.
Hanszen 320: The Documentary Across Media