Photo Manipulation

September 8, 2026

For this assignment, I used Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Zinnia, ChatGPT and the background-removal tool on my Mac to create five modified images. I used a photo of myself for the transparent-background image and personal photos of my cats, Jasper and Juniper, for the other images.

I initially tried using Canva to remove a background, but I learned that downloading an image with a transparent background required a paid subscription or free trial with my card information. Since I didn't want to sign up, the image downloaded with a white background instead. I then used the background-removal tool built into my Mac, which was much easier and allowed me to save the image with a transparent background. For the composite image, I used Photoshop to combine two photos of my cats looking at the sunset. I also experimented with layers, opacity, and filters. I already had experience with Photoshop from high school and undergraduate classes, so I found it fairly intuitive. For the annotated image, I used Zinnia on my iPad to draw a wizard outfit on Jasper. Since I already use Zinnia for scrapbooking, I was comfortable with its drawing tools. Finally, I used ChatGPT to transform Jasper into the king of the jungle for my AI-generated image.

I spent approximately an hour and a half completing this assignment. Overall, I enjoyed experimenting with the different tools. I learned that there are several ways to complete the same editing task and that some programs are more accessible and intuitive than others.

ChatGPT was used for clarity and flow of my writing. All of the content is my own.