Week 1 Work

Lesson 1

OK, so here's the first lesson. The assignment was to make use of Plug-in Commander, and create something using a Puzzle-piece plug-in, a page curl plug-in, and some Filter Factory plug-ins.

Well, Plug-in Commander, the puzzle-piece plug-in and the page curl plug-in don't run on my computer. But I wanted to learn the techniques involved with using them, so I've created a few pieces with similar plug-ins.

I am NOT complaining that things don't run on my machine. I knew this was a Windows-focused class when I signed up and have no complaint

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Now, on to the work. Clicking the thumbnail will open the full picture in a new window. To get back to this window, just close that one.

Finally, I've got the screenshot and a couple of Filter Frenzy Factory works. The fellow has not come through on e-mailing Gallery A, so I had to use another set I had hanging around.

Thumbnail	Full Title	Explanation
	Barrelcony	This is the first (publicly viewable) attempt at using the puzzle piece texture with the Texturizer filter within Photoshop. It's a lot of work, involving erasing the "pieces" you want to remove from the "puzzle," deleting that area from the top layer to expose the lower layer, then multiplying the top layer with the puzzle layer to expose the lines. I'm not really satisfied with this, but it's a start.
	Fiery BuffalOwl	Yes, I know: it's actually a bison, not a buffalo, but "bison" didn't fit with the intended pun. Same routine, but it went more smoothly this time, so I was able to make use of the "Fire" Filter Factory filter I got from somewhere on the some. Sorry I can't be more specific about where, but I've had it for a couple of years, so it's possible that link-rot has set in anyway. Still not totally satisfied, but I'm getting there.
	Lo! The Happy Couple or The Commercial Balkanization of the American Family	Finally, one I'm actually happy with. Again, same routine, but I when I was finished with the puzzle routine (down to 15 minutes; stick with the regular plug-in if it works for you), I was completely unhappy with two things: The interpiece lines showed on the outside of the briefcase, and The lighting of the briefcase was quite different from the lighting in the portraits (which, incidently, are just some stock photos I had hanging around). To relieve (2) I applied a Levels adjustment layer over the Briefcase level to darken things up a bit, then changed the blending mode, which darkened the briefcase up enough and, as a delightful side effect, took out the lines outside the briefcase.
	Jamanji Refrigerator	This is an attempt to use the page curl, adjustable transparency and a third level in a single composition. Although the outline of the refrigerator door is blown out and nearly indistinguishable, I decided to post it anyway, because I like the idea (and because I don't have another stock photo of a refrigerator around -- at least not one I could find). By the way, the page curl is part of KPT 3, rather than the "official" plug-in.
	American Heroes or Welcome to the World of Challenger	Of all the work this week, this is the one I'm proudest of. I think the idea of using the "reflected" page curls to provide corners and center circles provides an interesting and effective framing technique. The center part is the result of a pattern adjustment layer with a color adjustment layer added on top of that.
	Screen shot	PiCo doesn't work with my machines, so here's what I do. When I download a new set of filters, they go into the Plugins Untested folder. At test time, the folder I'm going to test (in the case MacKang) is moved out of that folder to its own. Photoshop is set to look at that folder as its "alternate" plugin folder. When I've decided which of the filters I want from the set, they're moved to the Plugins folder, which is the "alternate" when its production time.
	Maltese Star	This was made with the MacKang "Peacock Variations" filter, done over itself twice, with a bit of Filter>Render>Lighting Effects added.
	Eye of the Flower	Another of the "Peacock Variations", again with Lighting Effects using the blue channel as a texture map.

A word about the sources here:

Most of the pictures here are from a couple of stock photo CDs I keep around for my work. The obvious exceptions are the piece of William Blake in "Jumanji Refrigerator" and the four excerpts from works by J.D. Challenger in "American Heroes." Note that the Blake and the Challengers are credited, are used in an academic exercise, and -- in the opinion of my copyright advisor -- are completely valid under the Fair Use clause,

So that's it for this weekend. I'm off to work with a few more of the Filter Factor filters. I'll probably put them up on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'll be interested in your comments. Thanks for reading all this.

That's it for this week; I look forward to seeing Week 2's lesson and everyone's work!