Another Photoshop Experiment
Here are more examples of my photoshoping skills. This weekend, February 19-20, I was down in Hurricane, Utah for an Intermountain Reining Horse Association horse show. I took these pictures while I was there and fiddled with them in Adobe Photoshop Elements for a class assignment.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
The original photo was taken inside the barn area, so the lighting was pretty dismal. The sign was also near the open garage door, so the sunlight posed a problem. Once I opened the photo in Adobe Photoshop Elements, I immediately resized the image. After this step, I worked on the levels of the photo; I usually prefer my images to be a little darker with more contrast. After adjusting the levels, I needed to darken the white aluminum to the right of the sign, and darken the black drape, which looked gray. To do this, I created new layers and worked with the burn, dodge and erase tools. There was also a distracting socket box, so to get rid of this problem I used the clone tool.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
I took this during the youth reining classes. This was outside during the early morning, so the lighting wasn’t perfect. When I opened this picture, I resized it so I could work with it easier and post it to this blog. I then cropped the image to get rid of the half-man standing in the background. I couldn’t get rid of all of him without cutting out the focus of this picture, so I had to used the clone tool to finsh the job. Next, I adjusted the levels like I did in the previous picture. I decided to keep the focus in color and the remainder of the picture black and white. I created new layers and selected the focus and inverted the selection so I could adjust the background to be black and white. I also made a duplicate layer of the original picture in back and white and placed the color+black and white layer on top. From there, if I had any extra places in color that I wanted to be black and white, I used the erase tool.
I really enjoy working with photoshop. I am currently working on some advertising fliers with my trainer’s wife for his business. I also have worked on some other images, check those out here: More of Lisa’s Work and Even More.
Photoshop Assignment
My online journalism class has been working with Adobe Photoshop the past few weeks. These pictures were part of a required assignment, enjoy!
Phone Lines and Internet Lines – A Blurry Picture
Little known fact, your internet lines and your phone lines are some what linked. I admit that I had no idea the two were even somewhat connected, shows what kind of tech-geek I am. According to the article The Coming Tug of War over the Internet by Christopher Stern in the Washington Post, phone companies are becoming a little irritated with some popular internet sites and their bandwidth usage. Google and Apple are among the names of sites that are under scrutiny. According to the article, phone companies such as BellSouth and AT&T are having trouble with the idea that internet sites using massive amounts of bandwidth, which are regulated by phone companies, are not being charged extra. OK so what does this have anything to do with the internet user? Let me explain.
The phone companies have suggested several ideas to fix the imbalance between profit and usage. For example, they suggested that Apple be charged for every iTunes song that is downloaded. This charge would then be put upon the customer, which seems outrageous to the person buying the music, as if $1.07 isn’t enough for one song on an album. However, there seems to be something else lurking in the background that people might not realize. Since these phone companies control the bandwidth, they could put a damper on what sort of information, how much information, and where the consumer could get their information if the problem gets too out of hand. Another issue to take into consideration deals with newer companies trying to get their hands on a piece of land overrun by conglomerates. Sure the big names like eBay and Amazon can pay whatever is needed if a charge was placed on bandwidth, but starter companies would not even have a shot at getting their foot in the door without an immense amount of financial support. This seems a little contradictory of the whole “marketplace of ideas” metaphor that is so prevalent in media today.
I understand that bandwidth is important and that time is money. The faster you can jump onto eBay the faster you can out bid hotmamma on that Andy Roddick autographed tennis ball. If eBay, and the other internet giants, seek to be at the top of their game (that includes bandwidth) they need to figure out a way to appease the phone gods or we could have some serious problems on our cyberspace hands.
Google, not so great
I was once a Google addict, I admit to it. Things for me changed over the recent holiday season when every time I used Google to search for something, all the results I received were associated with shopping websites. My annoyance and distrust with Google has only increased with the article written by Declan McCullagh called FAQ: When Google is not your Friend. The article discusses legal issues surrounding Google’s records of search histories. Remember the day your little sister looked up Hannah Montana on your computer, well your virtual identity will be linked with that search for awhile.
I have to say, I am kind of concerned with the whole idea of Google keeping your search history for an indefinite period of time. At the same time, I can see how these records could help prosecution in some cases. I am sure that I would be more than happy for lawyers to use Google’s records if a terrorist was convicted or if a murder suspect was found guilty, as in the example given by McCullagh. This whole issue seems to be a double-edged sword; we like it when it benefits us but we hate it when it works against us.
I think there should be some revisions to laws surrounding privacy. For example, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was written in 1986 which means that act is 22 years old – a lot has changed in 22 years including the internet. The movie industry revamps its rating system every so often to fit with the changing times, I think it’s due time that internet regulations and guidelines be reevaluated. My suggestion: keep search records for an allotted period of time. It would please the people who claim invasion of privacy, but at the same time, if records needed to be searched there would be some available.
Internet Courtesy: What you should know about wandering in cyberspace
There is something to be said about etiquette and the Internet – everyone is not on the same page. It seems that common sense is not really all that common and there are those individuals that might need a little push in the right direction.
E-mail is fantastic. It’s faster than the traditional stamp and envelope method and gives those petrified of face-to-face contact a way to correspond with another human being. You can send pictures to grandma in Portugal (hopefully she can figure it all out) and with another click you can let your employees know about Monday’s meeting agenda. Despite all the positives, e-mail can be a little too much for some people. This is where that common sense thing should come into play.
And I give unto you a basic guide to e-mail etiquette, courtesy of emailreplies.com. I admit I had no idea what a CC field was or that a BC field is a better way to send out the same e-mail to several people. In my opinion, one of the best lessons one needs to learn about e-mail is that just because you deleted it, doesn’t mean the receiver deleted it. That nasty comment you sent to your co-worker about your awful boss might just get circulated to the rest of the department because someone was a little unhappy about the outcome of the volleyball game at the company picnic. On that same note, be nice and keep things short. Or if you’re not a nice person, be courteous, it’s not that hard to keep things in the green.
The Internet requires netiquette. These words that keep getting added to the dictionary amaze me – netiquette is recognized by WORD now. Stupid as it may sound to say “netiquette” out loud, it is an important, and often times overlooked, manual for wandering through cyberspace. Common sense is important here too, be nice and play well with others.
For those not so hip on netiquette, Virginia Shea has compiled the rules into a full-blown book and albion.com has created an easy to browse through page with the basics. It’s a useful tool for those who might need a little refresher course on what is expected of them while browsing the Internet. I think people need to keep in mind that not everyone is an honest individual. Yes, we like to think that all people are inherently good but that is not the case. When you don’t have to show your face to the people you’re taking to, people seem to take that to mean, “I can say whatever I want.” OK, maybe you can in some situations, but it is annoying. If you are a legitimate car repair man, please give me more information about my broken transmission, but if you are a 37-year-old mailman who wants to get a laugh out of giving me false information, please refrain.
In conclusion, I would hope that most people understand the basics, but I realize that not everyone gets it, and that is rather sad. So if you’re a newbie or a top-five contributor in your diesel engine forum, figure out what’s expected and keep to the rules. You’ll make it a lot easier on the rest of us surfers.
“The Internet is like a vault with a screen door on the back. I don’t need jackhammers and atom bomb to get in when I can walk through the door.”
-Anonymous from Quoteland.com
Lisa Janssen's Blog 