Thriving Using Photoshop
My journey of visual storytelling using Photoshop began with pickles… on the screen and in a big jar of classic kosher spears to snack on. This silly image helped break the ice, loosen the creative flow, and learn new image editing skills. I drew upon the help from Matt Greenwood to brainstorm and get the pickle inspiration using the Elements of Design lesson! Honestly, I was intimidated by all of the icons and tabs in the Photoshop platform. A rough sketch of my design made it much easier to source video tutorials targeted to the visual elements I wanted to incorporate. Specifically, I used the clipping mask, erase tool, adjustment layers, and cutouts. I took an original image I captured last summer, increased the warmth, vibrancy, and contrast, and added flying pickles using images from Upsplash images. Here are some tutorials to help you learn these tools, too!
After having fun with the pickles, I wanted to create something with my newly learned skills to use in my community presentations to share wildfire mitigation resources. It is essential to showcase the issue of fire without instilling fear and challenging to use photos of fire in community presentations. My official Photoshop project is my version of an approachable fire that can be interpreted as a tool in our logging region that is more than a risk to homes and lives. The restrained use of fire in the text removes the most obvious danger signal and helps the background blend into a cohesive story of how people can work together with fire. In addition to the tools mentioned above, the Clipping Mask for Text assisted in adding background images to the text on the image for a fun look. Feedback from my peers suggested that the text was hard to read, which would be problematic in a presentation with some people viewing from the back of the room.
I created a second rendition of the initial fire image with solid text to increase readability and information at the top, pointing viewers toward the Prescribed Fire Council resource. I incorporated the fire as a transition between the unhealthy forest photo and the thriving lodgepole forest photo. This transition illustrates the message that using fire on dense, insect, and disease-infested trees can help remediate the forest for a productive logging opportunity. I added their contact information in the QR code so that community members could access more information during and after the presentation. This image could also be easily included in the resource handbook I built to highlight forested land management assistance opportunities.
What do you think? Would this engage your thoughts about using fire as a tool during a community presentation?
