Alyssa Masterhouse's Blog

Photoshop can be a really fun tool to mess around with. There are so many cool things to do such as simply editing your photos to look better, or you can do things like edit people into your photos. I decided to do the latter, and edit a celebrity into one of my photos! Original  The original photo is of my friend Hannah and I from our high school graduation. I decided it would be pretty cool to try to edit Kylie Jenner into my photo to look like I graduated with her instead.    The Process   In order to get Kylie in the original image I had to do several things.  First, I took this photo from google, copied it, then pasted it into my original graduation photo in photoshop. It was nearly impossible to find a photo with Kylie with her face at the same angle as my friend so I had to flip the image. I also turned this photo into a smart photo and then edited it in a new tab, which then allowed all the changes in the smart photo to be saved o...

Using InDesign to create color swatches is an easy and helpful tool. Choosing a palette that works well together and also creates contrast is important in creating an aesthetically pleasing array of colors. This can help when creating things such as brochures, when you want to have an interesting color scheme.  Colors on a Rainy Day  For my subject, I chose the sleeve of an umbrella that I had in my room. I thought this would be a good subject since it contains many bright and unique colors.    Swatches  Although there are quite a few different colors, I decided to focus on the pink, blue, and yellow tones in this umbrella sleeve. I used the eyedropper tool to select the colors directly from the photograph, and then I changed the tints to have 100%, 75%, and 50% of each hue.    Name Plates  For the name plates, I created three rectangles and filled them with three different hues. I made sure to use text that would create co...

Brochures  Brochures are a fantastic and easy way for companies to spread information to the public. The most common place to find brochures is typically in a hotel lobby, where the brochures provide information on nearby attractions. Brochures must be visually appealing so that people are interested in reading them, and they must also contain a brief, yet informative body.  Brochure Example The brochure I found for this assignment was in Smith Library, which provides information about the library here at High Point.  Front  Back    Tri-Fold   Fonts  When creating a brochure, there are a few things you need to keep in mind in order to produce a successful outcome. One thing to pay attention to is the fonts you are using. You want to use two fonts at most- one that is more "fancy" that you use as a header or subheader, and one that is "normal" for the body. A fancy font draws the reader's attention, there...

Photostory Layouts  When creating a photo story, not only do you want the images to be visually appealing, but it needs to make sense to the viewer as well. In order to do this, there are certain techniques to follow. These include:  -Use only five to six photos; too many are distracting.  -Avoid cliches; you want to create an original story.  -Arrange the photos by ideas rather than chronologically.   -Have one large, dominant photo to lead the story.  -Keep the white space between the images consistent.  If you follow these simple "rules", then you will be able to create an effective photostory that is easy to follow and is visually appealing to your audience!  Poor Layout:    I chose "Blood, sweat and gears" as my example for how not to do a layout. Overall, the photostory is very confusing. Although the number of images is okay and meets one of the "rules", they are all very large, which is...

"Tangled" Up in Distractions   We've all been there before. You go on a nice vacation, take tons of pictures expecting them to be fantastic, only to have them ruined by other tourists. Traveling somewhere and getting people in your shots is almost inevitable, but with some simple techniques you can enhance your photos and get rid of those pesky photobombers.  Original Photo  The photo I decided to edit was taken in front of the Tangled theme restrooms in Disney World...yes, I said restrooms. However, this is Disney, so of course they are over the top and turn ordinary bathrooms into a picturesque location. Disney World is a very crowded place with millions of guests attending every year, therefore there are almost always unwanted people in your photos. Clearly there are many people in my photo that I took, therefore it needs to be cropped. It also is not very vibrant, so I want to make the colors pop more.  Final Photo  Like I mentione...

The Koi Pond  Composition can make or break a photograph. Using different aesthetic techniques can make photographs much more intriguing and provide different perspectives to what the naked eye typically sees.  Ever since I visited High Point for the first time, I have always thought the koi pond behind Roberts Hall was beautiful. I decided this was the perfect object to shoot for my blog; the snow was just the icing on top of the cake.    Close Up  For this shot, I decided to take a close up of the water in the pond. Shooting this close allows the viewer to truly see the detail of the object. In this photo, you can really see the water cascading over the wall and the bubbles floating on the surface.    Depth  This photograph is a good example of depth. The water in the pond is very close to the lens, and you can see that the pond extends beyond this initial spot. It is also established that the buildings and trees are f...

Introduction Hi everyone! My name is Alyssa Masterhouse (I know, pretty cool last name right? I get compliments on it all the time). I am a freshman and I am from the small town of Fallston, Maryland. Most people have no idea where that is, even people from Maryland, so I usually just say I live about thirty minutes north of Baltimore. I have lived in Maryland my entire life, so coming to North Carolina has definitely been quite the change but I have loved every minute of it and I look forward to the rest of my time here at High Point! My Future  I am a communications major with a journalism sequence. I may change my sequence to electronic media production but I haven't quite decided yet. Ever since I was little, I always used to tell my parents I wanted to be an actress. Although I don't want to be an actress anymore, I know that I want to work in the television industry in some way. Right now I would like to be a news anchor or do advertising, specifi...