Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Inspired Improvisation Working with Matt’s image of Christine

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Matt’s Final Assignment: Matt used Christine as the model to tell his very interesting story. It’s his best shot to date. It has ‘inspired’ parts to it along with the mundane. Everything happening on the floor is inspired. The kitchen cabinet in the background is the mundane.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation First Things First: Lab work process the image in Photoshop using the non- destructive layer adjustments: 1.Levels adjustment 2.Brightness/Contrast 3.Color adjustment Compare this and the previous slide using the keyboard Up and Down arrows.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Dealing with Distraction: I find the kitchen cabinet to be very distracting. It takes away from the somewhat surreal and emotionally suggestive scene happening on the floor. Mat mentioned trying to turn the cabinet color to blue to suggest the ‘lonely’ mood.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Colorizing: Just changing the cabinet colors wouldn’t do much to make it lesson their presence. In fact, the colorizing is usually used when trying to bring more attention to the element. As always, I am trying to come up with the simplest solution that incorporates some of the ideas expressed by Matt.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Mirror Image: I like the mirror image idea because it’s easy, fast, and it can make sense when handled correctly. The composition worked out conveniently with a 1/3 by 2/3 spatial break up.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Matt’s Story: Blue colorization was applied with a ‘feathered’ transition to blend between the real and the symbolic world. This is a stage 1 improvised visual solution. I could stop here…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation My Concerns: I don’t want it to be a simple ‘this vs. that’ visual solution. I want visual complexity that might make the image more believable or intriguing. I start out with diagonal top and right edge ‘burn’ using the masking technique that you’ve seen me demonstrate a number of times already. Please continue to use the keyboard up and down arrows to see where we were vs. where we are now.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Pack similar objects in both worlds and apply appropriate image manipulation to make the changes live believably in each world.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Detail 2 Use the Up and Down arrows on the keyboard to go back and forth as needed.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Detail 3

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Detail 4

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Detail 5 Increase color and tonal contrast…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Detail 6

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Detail 7

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Detail 8 Clean up neckline detail but leave it unchanged in the blue world…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Inspired Improvisation Blending Worlds: Somewhere along the way, the finger nail polish got cleaned up… And, in this final version, Christine’s eyes are closed. I wanted it to be more than just a simple mirror image.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Other Worldliness: I used Matt’s image and story as a starting point. I applied my intuition, imagination, and skill to amplify on Matt’s story. In Jazz terms, I improvised from Matt original image…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I x x