Spring flowers:

Click here to download high-res JPEG (172K)

Your client, the City Parks & Recreation Department, has given you the photo above to use as the header for their Spring Events Calendar you are designing for them.

You start by adding a Levels adjustment layer and clicking Auto. Then you add a Curves adjustment. Next, you take a blurred snapshot and paint out the dust with your History Brush. Finally, you careful sharpen small areas with your Sharpen brush. The photo is far too grainy to sharpen overall.

Next you take the brush tool, in the color blending mode, and arbitrarily add color to make the flowers sparkle.

Next you take the type tool and type the word SPRING.

I used Impact. Resize the word by Command/Control-clicking on the handles and adjust the tracking until the word fits your concept.

Then make a duplicate of the flowers layers

move the word below the duplicate and delete the original background layer. Finally, Option/Alt-click the boundary between the word and the flowers to make it a clipping group.

Now you need to duplicate the layer with the word SPRING on it.

Move it to the top of the layers. You may have to Option/Alt click between layers to get the new word out of the clipping group. Then apply the Layer Style of your choice. I used Clear Emboss.

Make a duplicate of the flowers layer, remove it from the clipping group, and move it to the bottom of the layers and adjust the opacity.

Then set the words Events Calendar applying the same style you applied to the copy of the word SPRING. Adjust everything until you think it's gorgeous.

Save As a PDF and email it to your instructor for a grade.

Grading

You start with 80 points.

PENALTIES:

• 9 points per missing piece

• 7 points off for bad color

• 6 points off for jagged layer edges, bad fringes

• 2 points of for each dirt speck