The Nature Man

Photoshop Challenge

Original Ideas

Before

On day one of the challenge we were introduced to a video explaining rules, and what the main objective was. When going through it, we were required to use a picture of a man with a blank background, then integrate parts of nature into the image itself, but we were to keep the textures of the image when doing so. Int eh video, he showed us versions with trees protruding from his head, and roots and soil made up his suit. I wanted to make my version of the project look similar originally, but lost the idea after thinking back to a cooler theme, one with ice, frost, snow, and polar-based trees. But of course, as with most projects in the learning stage, the idea had major complications and reworks.

Starting Off

To begin the challenge, I loaded the image above into photoshop and began brainstorming more specific ideas for what I wanted. What time of day would it be? Do I want objects protruding from the main borders of the man himself? Do I want multiple images or themes? After a quick process of elimination, I brought my options down to a few images. A glacier, snowy mountain, frost, and snowy trees. From here, I went to unsplash.com to download a few photos for variety, and once again brought them to Adobe Photoshop. 

After

Creating and Editing

To keep the main textures of the image, I first had to make sure that the imported elemental images had a blending mode on it, that way it would look like a part of the suit or other parts of his body. After that I made a layer mask for every image and erased the parts of the image that I no longer needed, or the overfill. If I want over something that I needed for the essence of the photo, I used the paint brush tool with either a black or white fill o take away or bring back deleted sections, as long as they occurred in the layer mask. However, I changed my theme about halfway through the development process, and decided to go on a path that shares all elements in a way, between cold weather, and infernos. For the ice, I kept the original photo that I was going to use, as well as the frost frost the hair. For the mid-section of the photo, I decided to use a waterfall, and darkened the image to bring out the water more than the rocks beside it. But most interestingly, I kept the snow-cap mountain for the fire aspect I wanted. I made the adjustment layer darken and reverse the colors so much however that it began to look more like a volcano. 

Overall

At the end of the time limit, I was incredibly satisfied with my ability to edit the image that was given to me. Although it is not as advanced as the ones shown from the video, I am surprised at what I was able to do. In the future I look forward to be able to learn more about editing, and graphic design as a whole, as well as look back at what I have done to see how far I will go, and how I have advanced as a designer.