Assignment: The assignment for this DS106 project, Common everyday object, is very simple; “Take a picture of a common ever day object and manipulate the colors”.

Process: I used a photo I took near my work, a lonely onigiri stranded on a pedestrian crossing button, and manipulated the colors on it. After opening it in GIMP and making it smaller, I started experimenting with different colors for the onigiri. To achieve this effect, I added a layer on top of the base image and made a selection around the onigiri. Then, within that selection, I applied one of the preset gradients at a ~40% opacity. I played with the different gradients a bit, tried different ones out, but ultimately chose the one seen in the picture. After that, I went to the base image layer and desaturated it so there was no color.

Story: Last Saturday I snapped this picture with my iPhone because it was such a weird sight. A homemade onigiri was just lying on the button to cross the street. Onigiri in Japan are pretty everyday objects, but I thought this shot would make a unique entry for this project because the everyday object was already in an unusual spot and I’d give it another unique element, an outlandish color.

The pastel gradient really gives it an easter look in my opinion. Probably would have been more appropriate in April.  :)

– Paul