One simple, everyday object. 7 design strategies. Many hours of Photoshop...

Combinations: "Petal to the Metal"

The spoon did not have the correct size and shape, so I had to combine multiple images to give the appearance of the head of the spoon as the petal of the tulip, and the handle of the spoon as the stem of the flower. I also copied the top petal and placed the spoon head behind the front petal to create depth. I had to alter the color and the brightness with contrast to change the hue to match the photo of the flower. I copied another layer of the bottom of the top petal and removed everything but the pink and yellow color at the base of the flower. I added this and alter the size and shape in order to match the base of the spoon head as well. I added some bevel and emboss adjustments and shadows in order to add depth to the overall composition.

Juxtaposition: "Hero in the Half Shell"

The refinements to the image of the turtle include cropping the original background and smoothing the edges. The spoon had the background removed as well and changes to the reflection of the image and changing the contrast of the highlights. I added a mask to the spoon in order cut the image in half and to match the spoon to the turtle. I added in a water background to the turtle side of the image and a sand background to the side with the spoon. An opacity with a blue background on the turtle layer as well as a bevel and emboss to the side with the spoon, and shadows to both the turtle and the spoon. 

Isolation: "Impasta"

I had to remove the tines of one of the forks in the background in order to hide the content behind the spoon. I had to erase the original handle of the spoon in order to match the handle of the forks. I added the spoon and had to change the color from silver into the gold that is in the rest of the image. The shadows and the highlights had to be enhance in the portion with the spoon. In order to show the message of “isolation” as an “imposter” I added pasta to the spoon to create the message of “Impasta.” The fork tines had to be removed from the image with the pasta, and the pasta had to be changed in order to fit the shape of the spoon. I also added a line of shadow at the base of the pasta in order to add depth to the image. 

Metaphor or Simile: "Spoon-Fall of Sugar"

The background image of the waterfall was edited to remove people that were standing at the bottom, and a water spot that appeared on the upper middle left of the image was also removed. The spoon was edited to remove the background and add a luminosity adjustment to try to better match the cool color of the background. I also found an image of a pile of sugar that I cropped and added a luminosity layer as well as additional adjustments using the Dodge tool and the eraser with a large smoothing finish to help blend the image into the background to appear as though it is at the base of the waterfall. I also added a small amount of sugar to the spoon to try to add additional clarification to what the message of the composition was supposed to mean. 

Change of Context or Environment: "Big Dipper"

There are two images that are combined to add the background for the sky. The main background needed to have an additional dark layer in the sky so that the spoon would have better contrast in the stars. The additional layer added to the background helps to showcase that the spoon is supposed to look like stars in the constellation of the Big Dipper. The spoon had the original background removed as well as added opacity to blend into the background. The spoon also uses a layer adjustment of “dissolve” to add to the “starry” feel of the background. The opacity and fill of the top background and the spoon were adjusted to find a level where the spoon could show up on top of the other images. 

Physical Shape Similarity: "Row Your Boat"

The original image needed to have the paddle of the kayak removed so that the spoon could be inserted in the correct position. There is another spoon as the other paddle outside of the frame. An additional layer of the person kayaking needed to be added so that the spoon could sit in the correct position in the hand. The spoon also needed to be altered to the correct color, size, shape, and contrast to the colors in the background image. I also added additional bevel and emboss to give the spoon a 3D shape. An additional layer was added on top of the spoon in order to overlay additional adjustments to refine the shape and color. The highlight on the spoon was added to replace a shadow that was in the original photo.

Material Change, Swap, or Focus: "Spoon with a View"

I removed a boat that was in the background of the image in order to remove the distraction. I altered the image of the spoon in order to fit the shape of the fence. I also changed the color, the shadows, and the brightness of the image to match the background. I added the bevel and emboss in order to add a 3D appearance to the spoons. I had to remove a portion of the pole at the bottom and added it on the top of the spoon-fence in order to create depth to the image.