This week in class, we learned about the ‘clone’ tool in photoshop and ways to apply it. It is a hugely useful thing to know about.
We initially worked with an old scratched photo and removed all the scratches. Then I had a go at removing wrinkles and adding make up to a photograph of a model. This struck me as timely, as we have been examining the binaries of beauty and ugliness this week in our Critical Studies lessons.
Until I started at college I was working as a mature model for artists and photographers and the photographers had varying degrees of enthusiasm and skill with Photoshop. Some ‘over-processed’ my images (in my opinion) others spent more time adjusting lighting and focus to get the images they wanted. It seemed to me that a little editing was a good thing but a lot is too much. I guess opinions differ on what is ‘ideal’ which brings in the Utopia/Dystopia binary.
After class I had a go with an old family photo. I wanted to remove one of the people in the photo and keep three of the characters the same. You can see here the simple stages from start to finish.
I really like this weird result. I think it’s got a 60s/70s retro feel to it and the manipulations have given it a new twist.
Future Possibilities
I realized there are endless possibilities with this tool and that we are now starting to build up a really good digital toolkit. We can add, multiply, remove and improve images now. We really have a lot of control with Photoshop and this will be useful to me in the future, with my artwork and family photos too.
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