Can photography change the world?  Whoa now, that’s a very big question with huge room for interpretation, so let’s narrow it down a bit.

Can your photography bring about a positive change for humanity’s sake?  If so, would you care and how would you go about it?  And just how much impact would you need to make you feel the outcome is worth effort?

We’ve had some great posts on DPS recently, including Give to Receive – 5 ways to use your talents to help others and 5 Ways to Use Your Gifts and Reach Your Community, but the subject of ‘can these activities change the world’ has not been brought up.

These questions have been bouncing around in my head for the better part of five years without a clear answer or a way to prove them true or false.  Some people, when given a skill, come around to finding ways to use that skill for the good of others.  Some choose to use their skill only for personal gain.  But I believe the majority of us try to find a middle ground.  We try to find a way to ‘give back’, ‘pay it forward’ or any number of slogans pointing to a philanthropic idea that we can help by applying our gift and still live our ‘normal’ lives.

Some personal backstory on why I ask, “Can Your(My) Photography Change The World?” now (my personal project):  For me, I’ve found my way to a self created project that I believe can use my skill as a photographer to bring about cultural awareness and curiosity in those young and old in my local community.  Known as the People, Places and Patterns Project (http://pppproject.com), I endeavor to travel to various countries, including Nepal, Tanzania, Spain, Kenya and Morocco, gathering photographs, video and cultural tales to bring back & share with over 50 schools, 10 libraries and 20 local community groups in the USA. I’ll be starting in the Greater Puget Sound region of Washington State and slowly expanding out from here, including shows in Utah, Oregon and California.

I have no corporate backing and no directive from any group to go forth and change the world.  And I don’t honestly know if what I’ll be doing will actually change the world.  I have doubts that all this time invested will be for naught.  While at other times I can see clearly how using photography, especially on trips I am already undertaking for personal reasons, can transform travel into a vehicle for better global understanding.

There are a number of other great sites on the internet for those looking to volunteer their talent, such as Photo Philanthropy (http://photophilanthropy.org/) and Help Portrait (http://www.help-portrait.com/).  Will volunteering for any of these organizations change the world?

I’m inclined to believe yes, yes it can.  I firmly believe that photography can bring about a better understanding of the world inside and outside our borders.  And from what I’ve seen in the short time I’ve been on this planet, when people are exposed to a wider view of the world around them, their interaction with that world changes, typically for the better.  I also believe photography can leave a lasting impact on those who receive it, as in Help Portrait’s work.

Those are the conclusions I’ve come to when asking myself, “Can my photography change the world?”  I’ve crafted a project I am passionate about and I feel will make an impact on a large number of folks close to where I live.  It may not be the flashiest or absolute wisest use of my resources, but it is something I can do to use photography to help improve the lives of others.

Now I’m very interested to hear your take on the matter. In the comment section below let me know if you feel your photography can change the world.  I’m genuinely interested to hear dissenting views from mine as well. Feel free to share any special projects you may be undertaking leveraging the power of the photograph to make a positive impact.

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

Can Your Photography Change The World?

Who doesn’t love the iPod silhouette ads? If you don’t like them then you won’t like this tutorial either because I’m going to teach you how to make your own. And better yet, we’re going to do it in PSE for those of us who haven’t yet taken the dive into full blown PS.

1. Choose a photo with a background that’s easy to remove and make it easy on yourself – make sure their hand is visible or you could slip the iPod into their pocket when it comes time for that step.

2. Use the quick selection tool to isolate the subject from the background.

3. cmd+j to make that selection into a new layer

4. Select layer –> new fill layer –> solid color. When the color pallette opens after you click ok, you have to choose the background. The actual iPod colours are: Blue #1379F9, Purple #9369BF, Orange #F59110, Green #9FCC39, Pink #EB5297. Just copy/paste that into the colour selection palette when making the fill layer.

This is your image with the new fill layer:

5. In the layers palette, drag the new fill layer under the subject and make a new fill layer which is black. Put that one above the subject so you have a sandwich. With the black layer over the cut-out subject, type cmd+g and it will clip the fill layer into your subject and there you have your silhouette. At this point, you could select the black layer and the subject and then merge them into one layer.

6. Now go to Google images and find a photo of a white iPod. Right click –> copy it.

7. Go back to your photo and cmd+v to paste it on. It will be it’s own layer.

8. Use the magic eraser tool (right click the eraser to reveal it) and simply click away the white around the iPod

9. Use the rounded rectangle tool to draw a new screen. Radius 5 px. For the colour, use the dropper tool to use the colour from the iPod’s spin wheel. Now you can go to the layers palette and merge those two layers to make one iPod graphic and drag it up to the hand.

10. Rotate the iPod to fit the hand. Depending on their perspective, you might need to use the image –> transform tools to skew, rotate or distort it to match the angle of the subject.

11. Erase away parts of the iPod where you want it to appear that the hand is wrapped around it and then use the rounded rectangle shape tool radius 0.5 px to draw a little plug on the top.

12. This is where it gets tricky and I haven’t found any solutions. In full PS versions, there is a pen tool where you can draw nice smooth fluid lines which you can’t do in PSE because we’ve only got the pencil and paintbrush tools in PSE. I used a 5px white round paint line to draw the earphone cord. It’s really rough – you’ll just have to try your best to make it smooth. Personally, I find that the faster I do it, the smoother it is. The only way I’ve found to them smooth it out just a dab is to apply a slight gaussian blur to the drawing. Filters –> blur –> gaussian blur. Just a pixel or two.

13. Add some text. MyriadPro is the closest font to that which is on the iPod ads. Use the shape drawing tool to draw a little apple. You could maybe find the actual logo somewhere, but I don’t know if that’s legal so I’d suggest just make your own.

14. Use a little round eraser brush to take a bite out of your apple.

And that’s it. Sit back and enjoy your very own iPod ad!

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

How to make an iPod ad in PSE