DPI - WEEK 1
21/04/25 - 30/05/25 (Week 1 - Week 6)
Lim Jia Xuan (0371026)
Digital Photography & Imaging (GCD 61204)
1.0 Lecture
Introduction to Digital Photography & Imaging
1. Why Learn Photoshop?
Photoshop plays an important role in the design industry. It’s more than just a tool for basic editing — it helps designers develop creative and practical skills that are useful in areas like branding, advertising, and digital media. Mastering Photoshop allows designers to bring ideas to life and stay competitive in the field.
2. TheValue of Photoshop
- Express Your Creativity
Photoshop offers endless opportunities for creativity. The more you explore its functions, the better you understand your own potential and strengthen your designer mindset. It not only enhances your technical skills but also helps you think more creatively and push the boundaries of your design work.
- Create Graphic Designs
Photoshop is often the starting point for many creatives — what begins as simple photo editing can evolve into full-scale design work. Gaining expertise in Photoshop lays a strong foundation for anyone looking to grow in the design industry. It equips you with the tools to go beyond visuals and create everything from web layouts to marketing materials, helping you design with greater confidence and creativity.
- Restoration of Old Images
With tools like the Healing Brush, Clone Stamp, and Patch Tool, Photoshop not only helps you restore old photos and relive treasured memories, but also gives you the power to create new ones through meaningful and creative designs.
- Integrate Graphics with Text Artistically
Photoshop makes it possible to blend images with meaningful messages, turning a simple design into something that conveys emotion and purpose. By combining text with visual elements, designers can enhance contrast, texture, and mood — all within a single image. This powerful blend allows the message to stand out and connect with viewers on a deeper level.
Figure 1.0 Example of Graphic and Text Combination
- Brush Strokes That Speak
Photoshop offers tons of different brush tools, each designed for a specific purpose. Every brush has its own unique use, making the design process more efficient and creative. For example, the grass brush allows you to paint realistic grass in just a few minutes—saving time compared to drawing each blade by hand.
- Change Photo Color
Photoshop lets you add effects to your pictures to give them a distinct and personalised appearance. Whether you're converting a photo to black and white or applying creative filters, these tools help change the mood and style of the image.
- Rectify Mistakes in Photographs
Photoshop provides powerful tools to correct issues like darkness, red-eye, and uneven lighting. It helps conceal weak points in a photo while boosting its overall aesthetic appeal, resulting in a more polished and visually striking image.
- Photograph Manipulation with Negatives
Photo manipulation using negatives has been around since the 1850s, giving photographers a way to blend multiple images into one to tell a stronger, more emotional story.
A great example is Australian photographer Frank Hurley, who worked during World War I. He combined several negatives to create dramatic battlefield scenes that captured the chaos and intensity in ways a single photo couldn’t. His work shows how manipulation wasn’t about faking reality, but about communicating the full experience of war.
Figure 1.1 Image Manipulation
Another example is the Goebbels family portrait, where Harald, who was away on military duty, was later added and retouched into the image. This shows how photo manipulation was also used for more personal or even political reasons — to present an ideal version of reality.
Figure 1.2 The Goebbels family portrait
4. What is Digital Imaging?
Digital imaging involves converting printed text, artwork, and photographs into digital format using a scanner or other imaging devices.
5. Tips for Graphic Designers
- Follow Tutorials
- Experiment
- Memorize Keyboard Shortcuts
- Replicate Others' Work
- Participate in Design Competitions
- Subscribe Online Galleries
- Scaling Artworks and Proportions
- Organize Files Properly
6. Final Project Briefing
Students are required to reflect their ideas into an experimental video by using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects/Animate. The design process will start from developing ideas into sketches then translate it into a digital photography artwork.
2.0 Tutorial
For the first tutorial sessions, Mr Fauzi make sure that everyone had join Google Classroom for both lecture and tutorial section, which is because he will upload all the announcements and our assignments guide. Other than that, Mr Fauzi also briefed us what we will do on our next practical class, which is traditional collage, we had been told that we need to bring magazine, catalogue, cutting map and etc... .
Mr Fauzi also showed us past students' work and examples of the collage we will be doing in the coming weeks for Project 1.
Past Students’ Artwork Collection: https://fauziyusoff.com/dpicollage/
3.0 Practical
1. Create your E-Portfolio blog.
https://youtu.be/Q9H-8-MQKpc?t=41
E-Portfolio Link: https://jiaxuanj1axuan.blogspot.com/
2. Register Pinterest
Pinterest Board (DPI): https://pin.it/d5ABxpVN4
3. List down your 3 favourite graphic design work from Pinterest.
Explain why you like the designs?
4.0 Reflection
As this was our first class for the subject, we began with a simple introductory exercise. It turned out to be a valuable experience, as it helped me better understand the types of art styles I’m naturally drawn to. Gaining this insight early on is especially helpful as I begin searching for inspiration and direction for the upcoming projects.
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