Retouches

Layer Masks

I really enjoyed making these layer masks and had a lot of fun with it. I really liked mixing a crashing wave with the stars, I thought it made a nice contrast. I had a hard time trying to get more of the starry layer to show though, and I wish there was more of it in the image. 

For this layer mask I did a sunset image, a cheetah, and an image of snowy mountains. I like how it looks like the mountains blend in with the cheetah layer and how to sunset layer mixes in with both.

Updated Collages

Here are my improved collages where after some revisions:

I'm happy I added more planets to this and I like that I added an outer glow also to the planets, it makes the image more complete. 

I got rid of the cats in this one and replaced them with some more a paisley pattern. I had a hard them selecting that pattern because there were so many little parts to it, so it took me some time to get it perfect. I added a ballerina with a drop shadow, and I think it looks like she is almost jumping out at you.

Selections & Collage

Here are my two collages I created by using selections. I found that I used the magic wand tool the most and it just made everything a little easier to select, especially the tricky images. I also did the online tutorial about how to make an outer space background which I really enjoyed. I just found my image to be a little dark after I added the clouds filter. I find it crazy that you can do so many things on Photoshop!

Altered Self Portriat

This is my altered self portrait! Here is a before picture:

I found this project to be pretty difficult. I probably redid this about five times until I finally got what I wanted. The instructions from the tutorial were very vague, so I had to fool around on Photoshop to figure out what to do. My hardest part was the nose. I didn't realize how gentle you have to be using the liquify tool, so I ended up going on YouTube and watched videos about using the liquify tool, which helped me out a lot.

I'm really happy with the finished product, and before I did this I had no experience at all with Photoshop, so I think that this really helped me get an idea of how some tools work.