Graphical Editing Using PhotoShop

Computer Science opens many doors. One of the most important things computers can do, is manipulate media. Whether the computer is modifying audio files, video files, graphics or simple text, there is an application that can convert pure thought into an algorithm to make our life better.

 Photoshop is an extremely popular application that can perform near miracles with graphics. Photoshop and other programs, such as GIMP, which is open source, and competitive with its very expensive and full featured cousin, use filters and layers to make changes to the pixels that comprise digital images.

These lessons focuses on a couple of examples of graphical trickery: The first assignment in this graphical unit was a superimposition of two people over a background. This lesson focused on techniques such as background cutting using the magic wand and lasso tools.

The second project was a bit more involved. We needed to use masking techniques to create the illusion of a composite celebrity. We blended in the main characteristics of the author into the target celebrity or superhero. Similar techniques are used in video media and other digital media. We will be exploring programming techniques to modify graphics later in the semester when we explore game programming. bit that's for another post.