Non-destructive editing focuses on leaving the source content of a project unmodified.  Creating non-permanent edits is what you need to try and accomplish.  Photoshop now supports layers which is a key element of non-destructive edits.  It is nice because by default the software handles all untouched images you open up as a background reference.

The stacking order of the layers is primarily dependent as a final result of a project.  This is done to build on top of the background reference.  With this, the source content remqains unmodified, while non-permanent editing changes can be introduced on each layer.  Every edit  you do in photoshop is monitored and recorded.  If you click on any recorded action event you have performed, Photoshop will render the state of the image on which the chosen event occurred.  You can then toggle back and forth between the changes that you have made.

Non-destructive editing is not only about preserving the source content, but it is also about creating a network of edits that you can activate and deactivate.   It is a work-flow that focuses on leaving the source content of a project unmodified.  The main focus is dynamic edits you can adjust.

People have been altering photographs for centuries.  With high-resolution digital cameras, personal computers, and photo-editing software the altering of photos happens more frequently.  They have developed a series of tools to detect traces of tampering in digital cameras which has helped.

People have been tampering with photographs as early as 1860.  One photo had the body of John Calhoun and the head of Abraham Lincoln.  It is amazing what people will do!  Another example of tampering with a photograph is a picture of General Ulysses S. Grant in front of his troops at City Point, Virginia during the American Civil War.  There is definitely a problem with this because later it was discovered that it was put together by three different pictures.

There has been so many pictures that have been modified throughout history.  A few other known photographs are:  A picture in 1937 that Adolf Hitler had Joseph Goebbels removed from the original photograph.  I found this interesting because in my own person opinion, I believe that Hitler should have been removed from every picture instead.

There has been many disasters in distorting photographs.  My advice is to make sure that it is legal before you do it.  Even if it is legal, you should probably make sure that you know what you are doing as well so that your photograph looks presentable.

I have listed a few websites that are influenced by artwork styles:

coopergraphicdesign.com

This website has an organic yet very mathematical feel to it.   The textures and colors are all very delicate.

sagemedia.ca

This website has sage leaves used in this design.  It has a realistic looking element and various icons used on the home page.

welove72.com

This is a really heavy illustrative email newsletter design.  It has a big heart graphic with text on the right.  This is very interesting.

solv-ux.com

The elements on this page are larger than most.  It has an oversized nav and headline.  It also has jagged angles to seperate the footer.  These distinct qualities makes if different.

trufcreative.com

This has simple typography use and large imagery.  It is bold!  The red and black layout works very well!

When it comes to art, I would have to say that I am more of a person that likes to draw.  I have several drawings that I have done including all four of my children.  I find it very relaxing and sometimes I even get lost in time.

Pablo Picasso was a different kind of artist.  The small Museo de Picasso in Barcelona is devoted to his early works which  is known for his strikingly realistic renderings of casts of ancient sculpture.  Picasso had a sketchy style to his artwork.

Georges Braque, another famous artist devoloped his painting skills while working for his father.  He moved to Paris in 1900 to study where he was drawn to the work of the Fauve artists, including Matisse, Derain, and Duffy, and landscapes of Cezanne.  When Braque met Picasso they evolved as leaders of Cubism.  Braque’s style developed in the direction he was to follow for the rest of his life.  In establishing the principle that a work of art should be autonomous and not merely imitate nature, Cubism redefined art in the twentieth century.  Braque wanted to convey a feeling of being able to move around within the painting.  I really like his work!  The still life subject remained his chief preoccupation from 1927 to 1955.

I think that both of these artists are wonderful.  I have a passion to paint, but I know that I am much better at drawing.

The Histogram is one of the most useful tools in Digital Photography yet it is one of the least understood and utilized.  The histogram is a useful tool for evaluating the tone range in your images. Photoshop Cs has a live histogram that updates in real time as we make edits to our images.  This is very nice because in previous versions of Photoshop you could open the histogram in a dialog box, but you couldn’t keep the histogram on-screen to see how the graph changed as you made edits, except in the levels dialog.

By default, the histogram is grouped with the Navigator and Info palettes in its compact state.  There is not much to it at this point so you need to drag the palette out of its group so it’s floating independently. Next, click the palette menu in the top right corner, enable expanded view, all channels view, show statistics, and show channels in color.

As you make image adjustments, you can change the source to Adjustment Composite and see a before and after view of the histogram.  From the channels menu you can choose to show a histogram for individual color channels, luminosity, or a combined view of all color channels in the same graph.

Guidelines for scanning an image is evaluating a photo before being scanned.   You need to decide whether your photo needs any adjusting at all and if so what adjustments.  Check to see how the contrast is.  You need to see if it is too dark or too light.  Also check to see if the highlights are too dark or too light.  You should also check if the shadows are too dark or too light.   Determine what adjustments are needed, as it may be necessary to adjust all or just  certain tones.

Once a photo has been evaluated and if your scanner is able it is best to adjust for tonal range when scanning.  If additional fine tuning is needed, it can be done with image manipulation software such as Photo Shop.  If your scanner is unable to do adjustments on the fly, then make adjustments using a image manipulation software.

The main question one should answer before making a scan of an image is, “How will the image be output?”  Main uses of an image are either viewing it on screen or viewing it on paper.  In some cases, both screen and printing outputs are required.  Images that will be displayed on monitors need to be scanned with pixels not units of measurement like inches. Inches do not exist for screen images as they do for print images.

One reason logo design is important is because people process an image in their mind more readily than words alone.   A  logo serves as the visual stimulation to kickstart the audience’s memory, leaving a greater and lengthier impact than words alone can do.  A logo is the simplest and most direct way in promoting a business presence.  Logos give brand name recognition and visual appeal to any document or web page.   Logos give brand name recognition and add visual appeal to any document or web page. Because your logo is a unique graphic image, your visitors’ eyes will naturally be drawn to it both on the web and on your printed materials.

Your  logo should be simple so that people process an image in their mind more readily than words alone.  The other reason that your logo should be simple is that the simpler your logo is, the easier it will be for you to  resize and recolor it for various design purposes. You should have various logo sizes (small, medium, and large).  A web version and a print version of your logo, and a black-and-white and color version. Always plan beyond your initial design purposes for your logo since the ultimate goal of your business is to expand.

Some of the different ways that you can change a line in Illustrator are:

A line pattern brush stroke

This technique works with letters that have a prefect equal weight. Because the lines are applied on a stroke you’ll have to draw the shapes of the letters first so the lines can be applied as a stroke which represents the weight of the letters. Here are the steps to follow

• Draw the brush using 4 squares each with a different color
• Group the 4 squares (command/control + g)
• Drag grouped object into Brushes palette
• Choose Art Brush and click OK
• Change the orientation of the brush to vertical (upwards arrow)

• Draw the letters using the Ellipse, Line and Pen tool

• pply a Stroke to the letters
• Select the Brush from the Brushes palette to apply it on the Stroke
• Adjust the Stroke weight if needed

Text A Mask

This is a totally different outcome, but also a way to apply a line pattern on text.

• Select the text using the black arrow
• Create outlines/paths of the text: hit command/control + shift + o
• Ungroup the letters: command/control + shift + g

• Draw the 4 lines
• Select the 4 lines and group the lines: command/control + g
• Cut the lines: command/control + x
• Paste behind the 1st letter: command/control + b

• Select both lines and letter
• Apply the letter as a mask: command/control + 7
• Paste the lines again behind: command/control + b
• Select both lines and letter
• Apply the letter as a mask: command/control + 7
• Repeat the steps to apply the mask for the other letters

Some useful design tips are:

1.  Learn what a logo is and what it represents

Before you design a logo, you must understand what a logo is, what it represents and what it is supposed to do.  A logo is not just a mark, it reflects a business’s commercial brand through the use of shape, fonts, color, and images.

2.  Know the principles and rules of a logo

A logo must be describable, memorable, effective without color, and it must be scalable, (effective when just an inch in size)

3.  Learn off others successes and mistakes

A logo design process usually consists of :  The design brief, research and brainstorming, sketching, prototyping, send to client for review, revise and add finishing touches, supply files to client and provide customer service.

5.  Learn the software and complete the logo

Putting this aside, once you have arrived at your initial ideas and sketches from brainstorming, you can then move onto the computer to start digitizing your logo. After you have digitized the great concept(s), your client is ready to review your work, ask for possible revisions, and complete the design project. Thus, you have successfully created a professional logo.

I went to the website http://www.colourlovers.com and signed in with a new account.  At first I wasn’t for sure what to do, but I finally realized that I could make my own palettes.  The first one that I made was all pastels and the second one was made with more deep colors.  This was actually kind of neat and I do think that it will be interesting to mix colors in the future.  The other thing that I liked about this site was that I got to see several different palettes that other people had made as well.  There is definitely some interesting combinations that I would love to use.

The color wheel is a circular diagram in which primary and usually intermediate colors are arranged sequentially so that related colors are next to each other and complementary colors are opposite.

Color contrast is an important part of Web design because it often means the difference between a page that looks great and a page that is illegible or painful to look at.   Sometimes it can be hard to decide what colors work well in contrast to others.  One thing you should note is that contrast is more than just how bright a color is compared to the background.  Some colors are very bright and show up vibrantly on the background color – such as blue on black, but  it has a poor contrast because while it it bright, the colors make the text difficult to read. If you were to create a page in all blue text on a black background, your readers would have eyestrain very quickly.

Color is a primary way to affect the mood of your viewers.  As Web Designers, you want to convey the proper mood, one suitable to the subject of your web site.  You need to ask yourself  how can your choice of colors set the mood, and to a large extent determine viewers will respond to your website?  Choose your colors wisely! Too often, in web design, colors are chosen poorly. The result is often a neon “Times Square” effect with all sorts of bright colors competing for your attention.