ANM 328 Project 3 Critique

The objectives of the Photo Synthesis Project were to demonstrate blending skills, exercise your ability to select compatible images (resolution and size) and compose them effectively. The final landscape should be striking and unexpected while still exhibiting consistent lighting effects.

Grading Criteria:

95-100 Combination of images is creative, blends are flawless, shadows and highlights are consistent. Demonstrates outstanding skill with Photoshop

90-94 Combination of images is creative, blending techniques are good with slight flaws in lighting consistency. Composition is strong with clear hierarchy.

85-89 Composition is creative but blending has faults or lighting or composition not well refined.

80-85 Composition has less creativity in focus or scale, lighting not adequately considered, blending techniques need improvement or composition lacks visual hierarchy

70-79 Lacks Creativity, blending has major flaws or omissions, lighting not considered

Below 70 Low quality work in all aspects of the project

Late work: -10 pts
No Group Critique: -5

Mutter Group

Shayesteh-You definitely incorporated a wide variety of images in your composition. I especially like the depth created with the moons in the foreground and illuminated clouds and skyline in the back. I don’t see the image with the lights but that definitely adds visual energy to the scene. The girl swinging makes us wonder about the relationship of her and the surrealistic backdrop. The lines of the swing end at the dare area of the background..I wonder if they went up to the top of the frame if it would enhance the visual line of continuation for the eye to flow into the scene. Overall you’ve done an excellent job of blending this very colorful composition.

Nichole-You’ve done a good job of adding a background and foreground to the house that’s under construction. The composition doesn’t really fit the theme of being surrealistic….it’s believable that a cow could be in this situation. Perhaps if the cow were grazing inside the building, with grass growing on the roof,…now that would be surrealistic. I would also suggest you add stronger shadows cast by the cow onto the grass. This is based on what appears to be fairly bright light from overhead like you would have with a midday sun.

Godfrey-You’ve used scale very effectively to establish the unexpected contrast between the child, plane and background. The foreground, background and middle-ground are also well established to add visual dept to the scene. I think to add the final touch or realism you might modify the tone of the child to reflect the warm glow from both the sunset and light on the bridge. You can do this by selecting just the child layer and working with the hue/saturation adjustment. I also see that the child picture still has the watermarks from an online photo source. These are meant to be difficult to remove but some clone tool repairs will do the trick. Look like you had fun with this and I like the fact that it has a simple storyline.

Monroy Group

Robert- You’ve incorporated a lot of great techniques to blend all thee images. The result is very dramatic and interesting. I especially like the layering of the architectural drawings, which add continuity to the composition. The drawings also add a component of engineering technology to the castle. It gives me the illusion of extraterrestrial planning to build this dream-like setting. You’ve done an excellent job on this project!

Kacie-Great job with your image selection and blending! Besides giving us the illusion of deep space, the presence of the figure adds mystery to the scene. Why is she there? Is she communicating with the object in the central eye? Seems like I should recognize that box or kiosk….maybe it’s a confession booth…that would be interesting. I appreciate the intellectual challenge your composition creates…challenging your viewers to “try” to understand. The lighting effect from the glow of the starts “fits” the highlights on the subject..maybe the shadow on the rock should be stronger. You’ve demonstrated excellent composition skills.

La-You had quite a vision with the skier traversing the mountain slope and being stalked by a wolf in a very unusual forest. The visual story is very engaging…I want to know more about the objects in the scene. The blending looks very good and I especially appreciate the addition of shadows. The shadows off the poles and wolf imply light form top right, which is the brightest area in the scene. The shadow on the skier is not quite consistent with the other objects.

Abigail- A dinosaur crossing is definitely a dangerous place to drive late at night! And there’s dino waiting to make quick work of these unsuspecting travelers. You definitely had a vision with this combination of images. The darkened background makes it more sinister and scary. I would suggest giving the scene more depth by moving the sign back out of the same plane of the dino. This would help establish back, middle and foreground in he composition. There is also a bit a contradiction between the prevailing light in the forest and the light on the dino and sign. If those objects are illuminated then maybe the trees closest to them should have some slight highlight on their trunks too?

Taylor Group

Crystal-What an interesting combination of images…the central image looks like a sculpture of a woman that I should know…it’s blended with the bridge to a consistent color and texture. The color of the sky, mars, mushrooms all create a very surrealistic scene. I especially like the consistency of color. Finally, you’ve added your very insignificant backpacker who’s exploring the extraterrestrial landscape. You have great imagination and excellent blending skills.

Nicholas- The combination of the red sky and hills is amazing. This really sets the stage for the addition of objects to make the composition super surrealistic. The “once in a blue moon definitely adds some contrast but I don’t think the halo around it helps integrate it into the scene. Your main subject is the bike…it’s definitely surrealistic to have this machine in the composition. My concern is that it looks like it just rolled up…wouldn’t’ it be more believable if it was reflecting the powerful red tone in the scene? One way to do this would be to select the bike and use the hue/saturation adjustment to slightly colorize.

Evan- I like the complex story you’ve created…lion, balloons, desert, Greek sculpture and Thai temple. What in the world is going on? The strength in the composition is the curved crest of the dunes that leads the viewer’s eye into the scene. I actually think the scene would be stronger without the temple..the focus would then move to the sculpture and lion which are very interesting parts of the composition. Your shadows off those two elements are excellent. You have quite an imagination.