Okay, let's take a look at the second one where we had the plexi glass and Anna was hiding behind it. Pushing through on this is like our barrier. So if we take a look, we can see that we have reflection issues. Yes, that is a known problem which we tried to fix and did. Eventually, there we go, fixed it. And these were the first shot. So I was really testing to see what we have going on. Is this gonna work? Is the pot's gonna work? And I liked it quite a bit, but we hadn't added anything into it. So we hadn't put in any syrup, any water and clay like we added towards the end. Now, I remember this shot because this was where she breathed onto, uh, the glass. And I thought that was so gorgeous. I just love that, even just as a close up, um, to crop into So that's something I'm gonna think about as an accompanying image to the Siri's that I wouldn't necessarily print. But it might be available digitally to view as another version of this. So we tried one hand and in the water. This is wh...

ere we started to see a lot more abstraction happening that I thought was really gorgeous. Thes air, some of my favorite favorite images. I'm really enamored. So let's see where we ended up. That was with the backlight, and that was really that was really wonderful. So I'm gonna choose to images that I feel are really strong. I think this one is a favorite, so I'm going to mark that as a favorite. And perhaps we changed before we change the lighting. I think some of these were really very powerful, quite like that one. So I'm gonna go with that one, okay? And I'm just label labeling them a selected so that I could easily open them from bridge into camera raw. So as that opens, I'm starting to think about how this is going to fit into the Siri's. How does this fit in with lighting is so different? Well, it's still gonna be dark, and it's still gonna be high contrast. So let's see if we can keep that in mind as we go now. These images were very dark and I knew that, and I wanted them to have that sort of semi silhouette Look to them, so I don't want to brighten them up too much. But let's see, we can play with exposure just a little, just paying attention to the skin tone. We could take the shadows up just a little if we want to get rid of some of that contrast. Same goes for this image, but it was different lighting, so I wanna treat them separately. So if we take the exposure up, it's gonna really brighten up the background. And that is not what I'm going for in this image. So I'm gonna leave the exposure alone instead, Worked from the shadows here and the black point, which is gonna brighten up everything that is not the highlight there. Okay, so we'll select both images and open them up and decide which one to move forward with. Because I'm not sure it's always good. If you have an instinct for two different images, try them out. See which one really is going to work better for what you're trying to dio and for me, I want to create abstraction, but not so much that you can't tell what's happening. So it really requires that I zoom in and I take a close look at both of these images for their own purposes. And I actually think that this one works better, even though it's not quite as exciting from a photographic standpoint. With the light behind her, I think that it works better to be able to see a little bit more of the subject. I might change my mind. So I'm not even gonna close it, because who knows what? I'll think blood. Start here. Okay, So I'm gonna choose the crop tool, And this time I'm not going to expand. I'm going to crop. And I'm just gonna really crop in pretty tight on this so that we just have the subject there, gonna slightly adjust so that we have pretty good frame where she's still centered. That's really important to me. Okay, I think that's where I'll put it. And let's zoom in on that, Okay? I love so much that's happening here. I don't love that. I can see myself got to fix that. I don't love the poll. Got to fix that. But those air, some simple fixes that we could do right up front. So I'm just going to duplicate my layer and I'm going to go in with my brush tool just like we did before this time of making it a little smaller, taking the opacity all the way up and all to clicking to define a source point. I'm just gonna paint it away just like that over here. Same thing defining a source point and painting it away over here. Source point painting it away. And eventually, hopefully, this will just kind of blend into the background. And I'm going to do that with my lasso tool. So where do I want to see the subject? Really? Well, probably right through here. Okay. Good and right. Click and feather. Um, let's do 150 pixels this time just that it's a really big feather and then select inverse so everything. But our subject is selected. Going to use curves to make everything in the background darker

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Brooke Shaden

Brooke explores the darkness and light in people, and her work looks at that juxtaposition. As a self-portrait artist, she photographs herself and becomes the characters of dreams inspired by a childhood of intense imagination and fear.

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topics covered in this class

Fine Art Adobe Photoshop Post-Processing Photo Editing Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student

Brooke never fails to deliver. I found this course superb from start to finish. From exercising your creative 'muscle', demystifying taking self portraits, and showing that they don't have to be perfect before you begin editing, to walking you through her editing process and how to price your work. Brooke's enthusiastic personality and excitement about the work shines through it all. Definitely recommended!

Rebecca Potter

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Brooke for this amazing class. Inspired and so full of practical knowledge, this is the best class I've ever watched. You have given me the confidence to pursue what I've always been afraid to do. Watch this space!

Søren Nielsen

Thank for fantastic motivating an very inspiring. The story telling and selling module was very helpful - thanks from Denmark

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Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Cropping and Editing Backgrounds

Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Cropping and Editing Backgrounds

Lesson Info

39. Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Cropping and Editing Backgrounds

Lessons

Class Introduction

Overview of Brooke’s Journey

Your Timeline is Nonlinear

Using Curiosity and Intention to Build Your Career

What Factors Dictate Growth

Organic Growth vs. Forced Growth

Niche Branding

Brooke’s Artistic Evolution and Timeline

How Can You Get Ahead if You Feel Behind?

Ideation and Conceptualization to Identify Meaning in Your Art

Idea Fluency

How to Represent an Idea

How to Innovate an Idea

Creating a Dialogue With Your Art

Conceptualization For a Series vs. a Single Image

Transforming a Single Image Into a Series

How to Tell a Story in a Series

How to Create Costumes From Fabric

Brooke’s Most Useful Costumes

Using Paint and Clay as Texture in an Image

Create Physical Elements in an Image

Shooting for a Fine Art Series

Conceptualization: Flowery Fish Bowl in the Desert

Wardrobe and Texture

Posing for the Story

Choosing an Image

Conceptualization: Rainy Plexiglass

Posing for the Story

Creating Backlight

Photo Shoot #1 - Creating a Simple Composite

Photo Shoot #2 - Creating a Dynamic Composite

Photo Shoot #3 - Creating a Storytelling Composite

Shooting the Background Images

Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Working With Backgrounds

Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Retouching the Subject

Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Color Grading

Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Floor Replacement Texture

Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Final Adjustments