I had a few spare units this semester, and I wanted to fill them with a class I would enjoy but learn a lot from at the same time.
In high school I was really involved in our yearbook junior and senior year and our yearbook advisor always made sure that we edited any photo through Photoshop before putting it into the yearbook. Even if it looks totally fine to your eye, chances are good that you’ll need to tweak with the brightness/contrast, levels, RGB curves, and more, in order to have it fully yearbook-ready.
I really fell in love with Photoshop ever since my first exposure to it way back then (more than 4 years ago – I feel so old!). It had been a while since I used it, and I new there were most likely new tools installed in newer versions that I wasn’t too familiar with. I really wanted to get more skilled in it, so I decided to enroll in ITP 090x – Introduction to Photoshop!
ITP 090x is part of the Information Technology Program at USC, in which you can have minors or concentrations. You can enhance your java or HTML skills, learn fun programs like Photoshop, how to do 3D animation, learn more about entrepreneurship, get an SAP specialization, and much much more! Really awesome program with tons of opportunities.
Anyways, ITP 090x meets once a week and is a 1.5 hour long lecture, followed by 1.5 hours lab time if you want to get started on your homework assignment for the week. If you have someplace to be at the end of the first 1.5 hours though (I have my SWE General Meetings right at that time, so I can’t stay for the lab) you can totally work on them in USC computer labs elsewhere.
I love USC’s computer labs (or “Learning Environments” as they are officially called) because they have HUGE Mac desktops (which also have Windows installed on them – I’m a PC girl!!) and bright lighting so it’s so conducive to getting work done. And I can spend hours there on my Photoshop projects!
And luckily since I’m a poor college student and can’t afford to install Photoshop on my own laptop, I come here to work on all my projects!
KOH Computing center (I even edited this one for you haha). Not super noticeable, especially since it’s this tiny.
So far we’ve worked on some pretty fun projects! See them below:
First Assignment: Using 3 distinct brushes to create a piece of artwork (I’m not such an artistic person so I just worked off of a sunrise during the SWE members retreat
My first assignment – sunrise on Lake Arrowhead
Second Assignment: Basic Photo Correction. Use techniques such as replace color, auto levels, and the dodge/sponge tools.
I changed my friend’s belt color, got rid of the post behind my head, the garbage can behind me, and my friend’s hair tie on her hand.
Third Assignment: Find a photograph to re-touch and use the spot healing and healing brush tools.
Spot-healed the faces, got rid of the two people on the platform, changed the brightness/shadows/midtones.
I have so much fun with Photoshop!
