Conner Ertel: Moving Mountains

Moving mountains seems so hard on paper. Imagine having to move a massive rock from the ground to somewhere else. Well, I've done what some may consider impossible. Not only did I move a mountain, I took it up to the sky!

Given what I started with, I cut a mountain from the water and brought it to the sky. That doesn't mean that it didn't go without some hardships. Getting the outside perfect was near impossible, but I got it in such a way that it made it look natural and normal. It was so interesting learning about all the things I was able to do. From moving parts of an image to another image entirely, to changing images in ways that make a boring image into something amazing. I even used hue and saturation to make it look brighter, to show that the sun was shining bright on it!

In the background, you can even see a planet! On the top of the mountain, you can see a sword. I added that because I felt like it fit with the whole setting of the image. Originally, I tried putting in other things (such as myself) but this one looked the most natural compared to the others. I found the planet just by Googling planets. Here's a link to the original image of the sword.

If I were to do it again, I would try and put the mountain near the ground, but still floating. I feel as though having it like that and later giving it a shadow would make it look significantly more realistic.

  If you look to the left, you can see the original PSD before I brought it to the sky. The bottom of this image is still altered to make it look like a whole mountain, as opposed to just a big rock in the water. It also looks so dull without the hue and saturation changes. I feel like I made some pretty significant changes for the better!!!

Given what I learned from this, I'm gonna use the quick selection tool and layer masks to enhance whatever I do.

As for what 'The Sky isn't the limit' means, it means that your imagination shouldn't just stop with the sky. I want to break down those barriers, because the only limit that exists is one that you make for yourself. Why should some saying tell you your limit? You create your own limits, after all.