OUGD404 - Circle Postcard development.

Circle Postcard development

1. I started off with this image, which I thought was already interesting because of its high contrast in lighting.

To ensure I didn't harm the original image, I create a new adjustment layer and adjusted the curves so that the background was crisp black:

Then, creating another adjustment layer, this time altering the colour balance. 

I chose to increase the pink and red, to look like a hazy sun.

Then, I went to the original image and chose filter > blur > motion blur. I set it to 20 pixels.

The first finished piece:

Because I liked the original image so much, I didn't really change it a lot in Photoshop.

2. The second image I picked was visually very similar in composition and lighting. But it had a lot more detail in and so had much more opportunity for development. 

I made an adjustment layer and changed the colour balance to a more bronze-y shade.

After that, I made another adjustment layer, this time changing the brightness and contrast and bringing out the detail in the middle of the lamp.

I really liked this effect because it brought out yet more depth in the photo, and so I yet again, created another adjustment layer, this time altering the curves to make the darks darker and the lights stark and bright.

I then duplicated the original image and went to filter > pixelate > crystallize. I made the crystals quite large but I only wanted them in the centre of the image with the neat border around the edge of the lamp to remain intact so I used to eraser tool to delete the crystals around the edge.

I set the duplicate layer to 'multiply' mode. I also resized the original photograph so that it was centred and symmetrical to the postcard size.

The finished image:

3. The third image I used was very different to the others. The bright greyscale colour scheme was not as dramatic as other photographs, but I liked the reflection in the glass of this security camera:

I wanted the image to look less ordinary and more abstract or almost alien-like and so re-adjusted the angle so it is almost unrecognisable.

I created an adjustment layer and changed the lighting using the curves. I wanted the dome to be as dark as possible, but still showing the details inside and the reflections. I also used the clone stamp tool to fill the gap and the bottom of the image and duplicate it from the original image because I wanted as much blank space at the bottom as possible.

I changed the brightness and contrast and even duplicated the layer and set it to 'lighten' mode.

The finished image:

4. Again, in contrast to the other images, I went for an image with lots of potential for colour:

I started by changing the levels to a closer range of input levels, making the colours deeper, darker and more varied.

I went to image > adjustments > brightness/ contrast, trying again to make the tone as varied as possible.

I liked this effect but I wanted to make it even more dramatic and so created another adjustment layer and changed the curves settings.

And again, to increase the range of tones in the image I brought the brightness down and the contrast slightly up.

And finally, I went to image > auto tone to balance out the tones:

The final image:

5. Lastly, I chose a photo of a fire door sign:

After adjusting the tonal range by using the curves tool, I filled a new layer with red.

I then set it to 'difference' mode, leaving the image in this colourful state that reminded me of an infra-red camera, which I thought was very effective since it's a fire door...

But it was still a little bit dull.

And so I went to image > adjustments > brightness/ contrast and turned both dials up.

The final image:

For the back of the postcards, i drew a circle and centred it in the middle of each postcard, with a subtle drop shadow on Adobe Illustrator. I wanted to keep the back simple but still show the theme: