The header image conveys that my website is going to be introducing and explaining information about the varying sororities and all of Panhellenic greek life present here at Rutgers University. I knew it was important to maintain the image of the Rutgers hedge because this website is catering to an audience interested in joining an prestigious organization of women specifically located here at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, but I also wanted to be able to actually showcase these women as well. By including an iconic image of the Rutgers logo, as well as displaying a select few of the organizations I will be discussing, immediately from my header photo my audience is aware that I will be posting about the benefits of becoming a Panhellenic woman at Rutgers.

 

By utilizing the Creative Commons outlets, such as Flickr and WikiMedia Commons, I know that I am utilizing and displaying licensed, pre-approved photos, and also through  crediting them, I am able to properly reuse them.  The first image displayed of the Rutgers hedge is actually by Tom W Sulcer, licensed under CC0 Universal Public Domain Dedication (). The image was layered with other pre-approved photos.

The farthest right image, displaying Delta Gamma sorority girls showcasing their signature hand gesture, is by Roanoke College, uploaded by Albert Herring, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License (). I slightly cropped and blurred the edges of the image. The image in the center, of the Phi Mu sorority, is also by Roanoke College, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/26254305@N08/6731893681). I edited the image by cropping it and blurring the background slightly.  Lastly, the image on the far left, displaying the Alpha Gamma Delta chapter and their letters, is by Erik Drost, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrost88/8084400898/in/photolist-bMKMfH-8LxgAn-CiGpQ1-dqtmSq-78Kof-5AFdjH-djoEJo-bMKG6P-aqJQpp-nvVyKQ-231fNhG-22kBE67-JtrPwV-nxRGLn). The image was also cropped, and I blurred the background.

 

One of the first techniques I had to learn how to use, also discussed by Manovich, was how to layer my images. I utilized several different layers, since I had four photos to edit and work with, so having four different layers simultaneously open allowed me to “work on one element of an image without disturbing the others,” to quote Photoshop Help. As Manovich discusses, this layering option greatly helps the photo editor, in this case myself, since I was able to “work with a collection of separate elements. She can play with these elements, deleting, creating, importing and modifying them, until she is satisfied with the final composition,” according to Manovich. At first I was overwhelmed with attempting to crop and blur three separate images while also maintaining the Rutgers logo, but having four distinct layers greatly helped me to organize my work. Also, briefly discussed by Manovich, was my use of the blur effect, which he quotes as being essential to any “image editing program.” I knew that when working on my final header image, I wanted to include a few pictures of organizations while also maintaining the background of the Rutgers hedge, and so I think the blurred option, allowed all images to shine through. Manovich also discussed the use of the wave option, which unfortunately I did not get to utilize, although as he stated, it seems in the future I may be able to use this option if I ever need such an “abstract pattern,” according to Manovich.

 

Immediately, I think the biggest difference between Davison’s single-layer bitmap image and my multi-layered photoshopped image has to be that Davison’s software normally only produces “rough irregular curves that make it easy to see the jagged line quality of images produced with MS Paint,” according to Davison, while Photoshop allowed me to produce a much more pleasing, smoother display to see. As seen in my image, Photoshop allowed me to produce a rather smooth and clean overall image that easily flowed, while in Davison’s discussion of the “Rage Guy” meme, he dissects the reasons why the image appears so much rougher. Bitmaps allow you to depict “visible traces of technique and devices unique to digital computers,” according to Davison, while the overall purpose of Photoshop, if done at the expert level and not really displayed in my image, is to have photo that appears cohesive and hardly altered. Overall, the production process utilizing a bitmap seems more like an outdated, and basic version of creating your image, as Davison tells us the “recognizably rough visual character of images produced with MS Paint is not general or arbitrary, but rather a specific consequence of the way in which the program defines digital images and the tools it provides to interact with them,”  and so if that is the look you are aiming for, by all means, utilize MS paint and single-layer bitmaps, although in my production experience to create a clean and aesthetically pleasing image such as my header, I would stick with Photoshop.