Before

After

So, as you can tell, I cropped my picture, then created a layer mask, and added the brick background as a layer in Photoshop. Then I had to use the brush and delete the green background so you could see the bricks. After, I adjusted some of the levels, and the curves, trying to get rid of the green tint.

Portrait Retouch

Before

After

Principles of Design

In this picture...

Balance: there's a balance in this picture because there is something both in the top and the bottom; the lake is what you see in the bottom-ish, and the mountains and trees are what you see in the top.

Proportion: the proportion of this picture is a little hard to judge, but I think you're supposed to use those things that look kinda like ducks (to me) in the middle of the photo, to see that the lake isn't like 2 feet across or something.

Rhythm: I think the water, trees, and mountains are what gives this photo rhythm. The water is all the same, the trees look the same, and you could imagine that this scene could go on all up and down this river, or lake, or whatever it is.

Emphasis: the blue thing in the background is the "break in the unity" for me. It looks like an old car, or building maybe, and is the only thing that seems out of place in the picture.

Unity: this picture is of a lake with a jungle, so the fact that everything is green and living and jungle-y is the unity in this picture.

Flower pic

This was the original picture we were given...

and this is what I did to the picture.

I washed out the picture, because I like how it made the colors brighter; I think that makes it more interesting to look at, and almost makes it seem like it's not real... which it isn't... :)

I cropped the picture in close on the flower because I wanted it to be the focal point. To me, this picture gives a more dramatic effect than the original, which just sort of seems like a nice, sweet picture of a cute pink flower on an envelope. My picture evokes a stronger feeling from the person who's looking at it because it contrasts more with the white background of the envelope.

What I learned from the tutorials...

(I watched them from the third video to the first... so that kinda messed me up)

From the first video, I really didn't learn THAT much, because it was so simple, but that was also the great thing about it, it explained everything I learned in much simpler terms. From the second video, I learned if you have the caps lock on, the smudge tool becomes a cross-hairs-like cursor. I learned if you hold down the control or command key then hit the plus sign or minus sign, it zooms in or out. The third thing I learned on this video is that the space bar is the shortcut to the hand tool. And from the third (and insanely long) video, I learned that the text tool, it's a vector tool. I never knew that. I also didn't know that almost all the buttons have shortcuts. That might be a handy thing to know. I also didn't know they had pre-made sort of symbols. Also something that I could have used, if I knew they were there.

Which one was most helpful? Probably the first video, it was simple, to the point, and showed how to do things that I actually would use.
Which one was most clear and easy-to-follow? First video, definitely.
Were they helpful in introducing you to Photoshop fundamentals? Yes, and no. I've already had a Photoshop class, so most of it was review, but it was a good sort of review.
Did you find any other tutorials on YouTube or elsewhere that were helpful? Nope. but I didn't look.

This is supposed to be about me...

So this post is supposed to be about me... and I'm really bad at writing about myself. So here it goes.

What makes me unique? Well... um. no one else IS me.. so I guess that's unique.

How do I creatively express myself? I really don't. I'm not a very creative person, normally. ):

What is something I really enjoy doing? I like listening to music, and watching movies. Normal teenaged things.

Do you think of yourself as "an artist"? Nope.