One of my many hobbies (I have a total of two) is photography. I enjoy it a lot, but I still have a lot to learn and practice. One of those things is editing photos properly.

Photoshop Fun

One program I use to edit photos is photoshop. Photoshop is really helpful for more extensive changes to a photo, like if you want to retouch a portrait or change the direction of shadow or even making someone appear to be in a cloud (nudge nudge wink wink). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The Start Of it All

Last year in photo club my friend Joey and his friend Josh were messing around and jumping onto a pole vaulting mat that was left out. I asked them to jump towards me that way I can use a fast shutter to capture them mid-air. I got this funny photo of Josh resting on the mat and I got an idea for a funny photo.

His position reminded me of that Katy Perry album cover (the one where she’s lying butt-naked in what I thought was a cloud but apparently it’s cotton candy) so I uploaded the photos to lightroom (another photo editing program by adobe) and then opened that photo and one of a cloud I took in photoshop. This was my first time using photoshop, so I asked Mrs. Olden for help and she gladly assisted me on my masterpiece. After a while I finally finished and had created “Joshy Perry”. It featured my friend josh in a cloud that I had changed to a hot pink color. The best part was that he wasn’t embarrassed at all when I showed it to every human being within a 10 mile radius. Here’s the finished masterpiece:

And So It’s Continues

This year, I’ve made a personal goal to put as many people in variously colored clouds as I can. I’ve put my friend Wendy, Kiana, Joey, Isaac, and Hillary Clinton. Hopefully by the end of the year I will have a cloud photo for almost everyone I know.

Let Me Show You How it’s Done

First step is always to find someone who is okay with me putting them in the cloud. Most people are okay with it, but it’s still important to make sure they’re comfortable with it. Next I have my model stand/lay/sit in various poses, that way I have different options when I get started photoshopping. Next I find a photo of a cloud I like, or I take a new one if there are any nice looking cloud formations outside. I usually take a bunch of photos when there are clouds, that way I can stock up on cloud photos for later projects. Then I edit both photos in lightroom, making small adjustments to each photo, that way I can get straight to the point in photoshop.

Once I open the photos in photoshop I select the move tool and move the photo of my subject (Wendy in this example) and I drag it to my cloud photo. Before I drop the photo to the other window I press and hold shift that way the photos stay at the same dimensions. Next I resize the photo of Wendy to the size I want her to be. Using the select tool I select all of Wendy. Once i’m happy with my selection I create what’s called a ‘layer mask’. I’m honestly not sure what a layer mask is, but it makes everything in the photo of Wendy that I didn’t select disappear. Now I resize Wendy again if it’s needed, then I use white and black brush on the layer mask to make some of Wendy disappear that way she looks immersed in the clouds. A key step for this is to make sure you’re drawing on the layer mask and not any of the other layers. Once i’m happy with the way it looks I click the hue/saturation button (still on the layer mask). A menu should pop up and give the option to change the saturation, color, and darkness. After the final color is set, I click the a button in the upper left hand corner in that menu, it looks like a rectangle with a circle in the center. On this menu, I feather the color to make the hue more believable. Here are my final layers.
Eventually I end up with this masterpiece:

Moral of my story is that if anyone has ever wanted to be in a cloud, I would be happy to assist.

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” -Albert Einstein

Intellectual wellness is being open minded, seeking out new challenges, thinking critically, and being creative. It’s important to do all of these things to better your life as a whole, and to bring a strong foundation into your learning and everyday growth.

In my opinion, being open minded is important because being close minded leaves no room for growth or expansion of a preexisting idea.

I honestly believe that growth cannot happen if I don’t allow other people contribute their opinions, creativity, and/or perspective.  In addition, thinking critically allows us to reach a deeper thinking, that way we can approach an issue or objective with the appropriate attitude. “Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” (Picasso 1895-1972). Creativity can make your approach to the issue/objective fun, interesting, and different. Seeking out challenges is arguably the most valuable part of achieving intellectual wellness, mainly due to the difference between seeking out the challenge and encountering the challenge. Seeking out the challenge keeps your mind sharp and builds upon an even stronger foundation for intellectual wellness.

In my own life, I accomplish intellectual wellness by trying to keep an open mind on things like school work and projects, that way everyone is included and the final outcome fits multiple peoples needs and wants. Away from school I try to see things from the other persons perspective and allow them to fully explain themselves. I also try to ask questions to clarify details before I respond, so my response is meaningful and useful. I try to stay creative anyway I can so what I create isn’t bland. I want to get better at seeking out challenges, because I have a tendency to avoid these challenges and they are so useful.

What is Social Wellness?

Social wellness is not about being outgoing and friendly. It’s about having healthy relationships with other people. It’s like the cheesy quote, “It’s not the quantity of friends you have in your life, It’s the quality of each individual which truly makes your friends special.” As cliche as that is, it’s still remains true.

Social wellness is about building healthy relationships. A healthy friendship requires you to give a little and take a little while also caring about the other, but making sure you have your boundaries. It’s important to remember that you’re not a bad person for telling your friend no, and the same thing goes for the other party. Another part of building healthy relationships is communication. If you feel used or like a friend is taking advantage of your willingness to give, it’s important to voice those feelings, rather than keep them all bottled up inside.

To achieve social wellness it’s important to learn how to appropriately deal with conflict. If there is an issue or something irritating you, you should not let it keep happening and you should say something about it to someone. But it’s still important to learn how to do so appropriately. You can’t approach someone with the intention of throwing punches and knocking out their teeth, instead approach calmly with the purpose of resolution. How you approach conflict is key if you want salvage that relationship or avoid negativity in your life.

Social Wellness in My LIfe

Personally, i’m currently working on being more social in my life, because I know it’s something I struggle with. I have a relatively small group of friends, and I have a tendency to stay within that group. I want meet new people and create new lasting friendships, so I have to work on getting out of my comfort zone. I think it is still important to remind myself that I don’t have to push myself too far, but every now and then doing something small outside my comfort zone is healthy. Another thing I do achieve social wellness is go places and spend time with my friends outside of school. This is important to me because it helps me maintain a social life, because if I didn’t the only reason I would ever leave my house would be for school. And that’s just depressing.

It may not seem like much, but maintaining social wellness is a very important part of life, and without it many people end up feeling constant stress, prone to panic attacks, and many more (typically) avoidable problems. Remember, “Quality, not quantity”.