Amateur photo editing

Made a graphic that I would like to use for the planned Mrs. Hawking website. I am by no means an expert with photography, Adobe Photoshop elements, or anything even vaguely related to the process (I pose for pictures, I'm no rock star at dealing with them otherwise.)

Take a look at it before I tell you anything about it.



I used a picture taken in the Mrs. Hawking photoshoot I did a while ago. I combined it with a stock, free-for-use background I found on DeviantArt. I faced a myriad of different challenges, especially since I'm only passingly familiar with Adobe Photoshop Elements. The picture of the ladies was not nearly so sharp and crisp an image as that of the background (which may be entirely digital, I'm not sure. The environment, designed to look like nighttime, had a darker light quality than the ladies. Also, the ladies were shot against a blue wall, and I needed a transparent image. And finally, weirdest of all, the best shot of the two was framed such that the very top of Charlotte's head was cut off. So she had a very strange-looking flat spot.

A selector tool, the Magic Wand I think, was very effective at getting rid of most of the blue wall. But I had to be very delicate in some places so the girls themselves were not selected. And it left a little ring of color around them. which I had a very hard time getting rid of. I succeeded it at least darkening it to fit the environment's lighting and palette, if not removing it completely. To fix poor Charlotte's head, I used the burn tool, of all things, to use its darkening effect to just color in the last little bit that was needed. And finally, I wanted their faces to be illuminated even while preserving the appearance of nighttime, preferably seeming to be by the lamps. So I flipped the background image to put the gaslamps on the proper side of their faces, and spent like an hour messing with the ambient lighting effect.

I put a bit more light on Charlotte's face. I also, somewhat clumsily, used the dodge tool to brighten up the knife in Frances's hands. But it's not bad, especially given how inexperienced I am.

I need to get better with this program, among others. I'll need it for making this website. 

Definition of "high fashion"

A working definition of high fashion I have thought of, noted here for my own reference:

High fashion is maintaining a balance between the heightened nature of the art of design and a certain aspirational wearability.

I find this a useful idea and don't want to forget it. 

Accomplishment chart, 4/12 - 4/18

For the week of 8/2 – 8/8:

Writing
- wrote “Like a Loss“ short play for day two of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- wrote “For Her“ short play for day three of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- wrote “Worth a Crack or Two” scene for day four of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- wrote “Chasseur” short play for day five of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- wrote “Good Night, Night Vale” short Night Vale fan fiction for day six of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- wrote “I Killed Sycorax” short play for day seven of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- wrote “Rich Men’s Sins” short play for day eight of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- worked on script for film version of Mrs. Hawking
- 8 blog entries
- 6 daily Hipster Feminist tweets

Theater
- had one rehearsal for GHOSTSHOW
- had one rehearsal for Boeing-Boeing
- got a staged reading for “Mrs. Hawking” as runner up in McKinney Repertory Theater New Play Competition

Sewing/Costuming
- made top and bottom pieces for a Victorian apron from a curtain

Physical
- 1 hour-long circuit workout
- 2 30-minute runs on the treadmill
- 20 minutes lifting
- 2 20-minute ballet practices
- 2 1.5-hour walks around town
- 15 minute upper body workout

Media
- listened to episodes 1-11 of Welcome to Night Vale
- watched episodes 1-3 of Project Runway season 12
- watched BBC documentary “Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs”
- read script of Boeing-Boeing by Marc Camoletti

Photography
- made an image for Mrs. Hawking website

Cooking
- made turkey avocado sandwiches
- made zucchini bread from garden zucchini
- made sausage in peppers and onions and sautéed zucchini, onion, and tomato
- made slow-cooked cannellini with turkey bacon

31 Plays in 31 Days - Day #9 "A Fair Trade"

This is based on The Stand, and a scene from a possible play I could write about PC Carson Hill, about the first time he ever met PC Emma Holloway, the young black woman he employs in his saloon. This scene is somewhat spoilery for the game, but to minimize that, I will say that Carson feels a huge sense of guilt that fires up upon meeting her, and drives his behavior in the scene.
( Day #9 - "A Fair Trade" )