Learning Photoshop in Art Class

I absolutely love my art class this semester. And what's not to love?

I get to paint for six hours a week on my own projects, and I have a really nice, helpful (kinda cute in a tormented hipster artist kind of way) T.A. around to answer my questions and give good suggestions about things to work on.

It's like heaven, only a bit too early in the morning.

Last week the class trekked down to the computer lab in the basement to learn how to use Photoshop. The assignment was to bring pictures to class and then use Photoshop to collage them together.

I loooooved this assignment. Not only did it force me to get out and take pictures with my camera (will post those pictures soon), but it helped me relearn Photoshop, which I was obsessed with in high school. Also strangely reminds me a lot of my nerdy gamer first boyfriend. I credit him for my Photoshop interest and the fact that I took up snowboarding. If I remember correctly, he was also my first kiss and the kid who dumped me because I wouldn't put out (though I'm pretty sure I didn't even know what that meant at the time). I had to work really hard to eek out a couple tears on the drive home.

Anyway, back to that Photoshop collage. It's below.

Can you tell what I added?

I tried to make it look as realistic as possible (instead of an obvious collage like most of the others). I'm not sure what this says about my imagination, but whatevs.

I started with this as the base...

And then added the below items.

Getting the perspective correct on that tire rack took so long. It wasn't until my (cute hipster) T.A. mentioned the words "vanishing point" that I understood what I needed to change. My mother would be proud.

The sky took for-freakin-ever to put in. Mostly because I got all OCD on the thing and had to erase ever single pixel of the old gray sky before adding in the clouds -- and I insisted on keeping the electrical wires in tact.

Let me just tell you how relaxing methodical labor like that is. You don't have to think, you just work. 

It's the best.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my brief dip into the world of photo editing. 

I need to buy me some Photoshop for my computer. Preferably before I lose my student discount. 

I'll have to add that to my list, along with Final Cut Express. So much to buy, so little time!