For this assignment, I took a picture of myself on my webcam, just looking at the camera and attempting a somewhat fake smile. The picture, boring, represents more accurately what I look like than its altered version. I used Picnik, which has many simple but fun photo-editing applications that mimic work in an actual dark room.
First, I lowered the exposure, taking away some of the light in the photo. More shadows appear, especially on the right side of my face. Also, the background gets more shadows, making the it appear more spacious and viscerally appealing. I then increased the contrast, which made me appear tanner, and the lighting more flattering. The light in the background no longer looks pale white but more of a sunshine yellow. Next, I increased the temperature of the photo, adding to the sunshine effect, and making me appear even more tan. I then decreased the saturation to remove some of the orange pigment from my face and skin; this step also makes the photo look slightly less altered. I then sharpened the image, making it appear higher quality. My last step was cross processing, which provided the most change for the image. It provided it with more interesting colors and contrast, emphasizing the artificial sunshine aspect I created.
Looking at the photo, I notice it is very shadowed and dark, and I look slightly orange. I think this is because of the media’s emphasis on being tan and its ridicule for plainness. All of my editing revolved around making myself appear less mundane and ordinary, yet I’m simply hiding in shadow with an orange mask on my face.
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