For my two photoshop portraits I wanted to take to completely different approaches. For this first piece I created the image in the form of building blocks. The reason for this is to reflect/ show how people view me and/ or who I am as a person, many people describe me as a “quiet” or “laid back” person, however, the people who I am more closer to may describe me as the complete opposite. The use of building blocks was to help signify that once someone has has all the pieces of me then they will start to get the full image, so this piece signifies the progression of getting to know me as a person and also me getting to know them and how I could be piecing them together trying to figure them out as a person, or in simpler terms could signify the puzzle of figuring me out as a person and what I’m really like once I’m outside my shell or given out all my pieces and my full form can be shown. I created the blocks by cutting out pieces of a photo of myself into different pieces and then transforming them in photoshop changing the perspective of each piece to make them look as though they are on different angles and then used the shape tool to add the edges and make cuboid shapes and changed the colour of them and added a gradient to add a sense of shadow and light on each piece. I placed each block in the position of where they would generally be in the original photo and not just randomly so that I am still identifiable in the image and used a photo of my desk in the background blank so it looks as though I have actually placed them onto it.
For this piece I took a completely different approach and creating something unique or something you don’t see created often. For this piece I created an image of myself and my dog Storm and combined them together. To create this piece I took a simple picture of myself and one of the better photos of my dog, then using the selection tool selected the head of my dog and copy and pasted it onto the top of my own. I then used the clone stamp tool and changed my neck to make it look as though it is my dogs to look as though she is actually wearing the hoodie and shirt and as though it is her taking the photo and so that the head of my dog didn’t look as though it had just been planted on the top of mine. I then used the clone stamp tool to remove my head from the background and make it look as though my blinds and monitor are seen in the background (image added below to further show what I’m trying to explain). To keep the portrait relevant to me I added some of my own features, so added in my eyes and glasses, I used the colour replacement tool to change my skin around my eyes grey to match the colour of my dog and again used the clone stamp tool to blend the around around my eyes and make it look apart of my dog. The reasoning behind this piece was to highlight a big part of my life, which is my dog storm as she is something that has helped me through a lot and helped me be the person I am today, many people have said how my dog is like my shadow and are always together so I created this piece to represent that and the bond between me and my dog.
