The nice thing here is that because of the soft nature of the edges of this image (and what I want to do through Snap Art), I don’t have to be incredibly precise. I prefer to go over areas several times and gradually, I will start to paint away the brown color. I am now going to paint away the brown color from the cat by painting on the mask (make sure it is highlighted in your layers palette on the right). I will reduce those even more as I get close the edges. I have my brush settings at 0% Hardness, Opacity at 45%, and Flow at 43%. I will then select my paint brush tool and black color (black = remove on a layer mask). First, I am going to add a layer mask, and second, I will reduce the opacity of my color layer enough that I can see where I want to paint away the color layer. Hard to do, though, when I can’t see the image! So I will now do two things. Don’t panic! We are now going to remove some of that paint to expose the cat. Going back to my image (on the blank layer) I click once, and the image becomes a solid brown color. Once I have my color chosen, I click OK and then go over to the toolbar and select the Paint Bucket tool. My goal is create a complimentary color, so I choose a dark brown portion of the cat’s face. If you hover your cursor over the image, however, you will see what looks like an eyedropper tool appear. I then clicked on the color selector on the left. I created a blank layer by clicking the icon that looks like a page (you can also use the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+CONTROL+N). Let’s see what kind of result this produces. I am going to highlight a simple one: create a fresh layer with the appropriate color, add a mask, and then paint away the portion of the image (the cat) that we want left untouched. There are several ways of going about this. What I want to accomplish in Photoshop is to exchange the busy background elements for a solid, complimentary color. I personally use the most recent version of Photoshop (CC), but for this project I am using tools that have been around for most all versions of Photoshop and Elements. But there are still a lot of distractions here. The crop removed distracting elements and allows the strengths of the photo to shine. Wide angle produces certain unflattering distortions, but a good crop can minimize or even remove distracting or unflattering elements and create a much more pleasing result. I find this is particularly important when using a wider angle lens (this was shot with a 35mm lens). One of the key things I want to highlight here is the power of a good crop. Here is a snapshot of all the changes I made in Lightroom: The final stage in Lightroom was to add some vignetting. I then decreased the vibrance and saturation, while increasing the temperature to create a warmer photo. I added some exposure to the cat’s face along with some localized sharpness. I changed the ratio to a square crop and tightened it in to both remove the white baseboard and get us closer to the fine detail on the cat’s face. My work in Lightroom was focused on improving the technical merits of the photo. The horizon is off, there are some busy background elements, and the bright white of the baseboard tends to draw the eye. The original shot, as you can see, has a quite a few flaws. I will start with Lightroom, but you can imitate many of these steps in either a full version of Photoshop or even Elements. Best of all, I am including a coupon code for a discount copy of the software at the end of the tutorial! We are going to start with this: I decided to choose the Dense Strokes setting and it seemed to work rather well.In today’s tutorial I want to demonstrate how that you can take an ordinary “snapshot” style photo and turn it into a handsome piece of art through the use of Alien Skin Snap Art 4. The facial areas of a subject and body are probably the ideal target for this type of effect, but it could still be used with just about anything, depending on the artists skill of illustration and conveyance.Ī total of 25 predefined filter settings (including the default filter) are available to you for immediate viewing and comparison. This particular filter is more inclined to be used with portraits and things with a lower amount of lines and edges. Pen and Ink is our sixth filter offered by Snap Art. MSRP: $149.95 ($99.95 when ordered direct and being the owner of another Alien Skin product) | Click For Best Price System Requirements For Windows: 2 GHz Pentium 4 processor, 512MB RAM, Windows XP or later System Requirements For Mac G4 or G5 processor, 512MB RAM, MAC OS X 10.3.9 or later Host Requirements: Adobe PS CS or later, Adobe PS Elements 4 or later, or Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI or later Archived Websites (Pre-DigitalDingus): D100 Lounge.
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Perhaps the most popular and one of the most durable methods of concrete construction, insulating concrete forms (ICFs) are made of extremely dense plastic foam and filled with concrete and steel reinforcement. Because they offer numerous insulation methods, removable forms are a conventional concrete option that is sure to stand strong. With removable forms, exterior and interior walls can be poured at the same time, which can certainly speed up construction time on a new home. After the concrete poured into the forms has cured, these wall forms are then removed. Removable forms place insulation and reinforcing steel in aluminum, wood or steel removable wall forms. Precast panels can have a higher cost than some of the other concrete building options, but they remain durable - specifically against wind conditions. Cranes take the panels and attach them to the foundation and the other panels which can make for quick building. Precast panels are produced at a concrete plant and are the exterior walls of a home that also feature installed foam insulation, embedded steel reinforcements and electric wiring. Manufacturers produce precast concrete blocks and transport them to application sites for assembly. Although some think concrete blocks are all the same size and shape, concrete blocks can vary and be used with facings or coverings to create eye-catching home designs. The four types of concrete house construction are concrete blocks, precast panels, removable forms and insulating concrete forms (ICFs).Īs one of the more affordable methods of building with concrete, precast concrete blocks are produced with speed and ease. Before purchasing a concrete house, you should familiarize yourself with the four main types of concrete homes and how they rank in terms of durability. One of the greatest benefits of concrete homes is their durability. As a homeowner, you want a house that is here to stay. Concrete structures can remain standing for centuries, and concrete homes will typically outlast ones built from wood or steel frames. The growing popularity of concrete homes shows concrete is at the top of the ranks over other construction materials, such as steel or wood. Before purchasing your next home, consider the pros and cons of concrete houses.
"I want you to let go of the guilt of it," Oprah tells Rachelle. Oprah commends Rachelle for admitting her feelings. "I really wish that I had said something when I was a kid because maybe Masha would have been spared this hell of a life that she had to go through." "I want to tell Masha I'm very sorry," says Rachelle. Meeting Masha for the first time was a gut-wrenching experience for Rachelle. It was something I was going to take with me to the grave." "I had never told my secret to anybody and I didn't plan on telling my secret to anybody ever. "I didn't know what to do," says a tearful Rachelle. Still, she says fear and shame prevented her from alerting authorities. She says her "heart dropped" when she found out Mancuso had a daughter. A chance encounter with a family friend informed Rachelle of the truth. For years, she thought her father had adopted a boy, who she thought would be safe from harm. "And I feel partly responsible for what happened to her, and I beat myself up about it all the time because I feel that it was my fault that I did not say anything."īecause she had lost contact with her father, Rachelle says she didn't know the details of the adoption. "It goes through my mind every day and I feel so much guilt," says Rachelle. She now feels that if she had told someone, Masha might have been spared. Rachelle never revealed the terrible secret about her father to anyone, until the FBI contacted her during their investigation. No longer interested in Rachelle, the two lost nearly all contact. After six years of torment, Rachelle claims Mancuso stopped when she reached puberty. But she says the sexual abuse intensified during weekend visitations with her father. She says she painfully remembers how her father began molesting her when she, too, was just 5 years old.Īfter years of abuse, Rachelle's parents divorced when she was 10 years old. She grew up in the same house with the same secret shame. Rachelle, Mancuso's biological daughter, says she shares a painful bond with Masha. The house where he and Masha lived has since been sold to a new family. He also pleaded guilty to the horrible sex crimes he committed against Masha and was sentenced to serve 35 to 70 years in prison. Two years ago, Matthew Mancuso was sentenced to 15 years on federal pornography charges. Sergeant Zaglifa says that to gain proper perspective on the severity of child pornography, it's important to call them "child sex abuse images." "When those images are being made," says Sergeant Zaglifa, "that's sex abuse in progress." He offers his expert advice for how parents can protect their children: "The number one thing is: No chat rooms." Her rescue, says Sergeant Zaglifa, was an unexpected reward for what he calls the "physically and emotionally draining" work of capturing child predators. Working with other agents, he traced Mancuso's Internet address to a location near Pittsburgh, where he was later arrested.ĭuring their investigation, police officials had no way of knowing that the little girl in the photographs was Mancuso's adopted daughter. Sergeant Zaglifa says his instinct told him this man was an absolute danger to children. Posing as a pedophile, Chicago area police officer Mike Zaglifa discovered Mancuso in an online chat room. Back in the states, Masha expected a nice American home with a bedroom all her own. No phone calls were made to his ex-wife or to his biological daughter. What she didn't know was the adoption agency failed to properly check her new father's background. But nothing could have been farther from the truth. Mancuso seemed like her knight in shining armor. He visited Masha several times at the orphanage, took her to nice dinners, and bought her candy. After months of waiting, Mancuso traveled to Russia to meet his new daughter. He contacted a New Jersey adoption agency requesting information on 5-year-old Caucasian girls, and chose Masha from a videotape. Meanwhile, 41-year-old Matthew Mancuso, a divorced father in Pennsylvania, was looking for a little girl to adopt. Soon after recovering from her traumatic ordeal, Masha was sent to an orphanage where she prayed that a good family would come to rescue her. Her own mother tried to kill her when she was only 4 years old by stabbing her in the back of the neck with a kitchen knife. She was born in southern Russia to an alcoholic mother and a father she never knew. At 13 years old, Masha has already survived the unthinkable. Formal hearing evaluation is recommended for language delayed children. A complete medical history and physical exam begin the process of diagnosis. A child with delayed or regressed language and/or social interaction prior to age 3 should be considered for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (Dryden-Edwards, 2014). DiagnosisĮarly diagnosis is critical to the efforts to lessen the impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Children who do develop normally for the first two or three years tend to begin losing interest in other people, in communicating, and may withdraw. These signs may be seen even in the first year (NIMH, n.d.). Some of the signs parents can look for include focusing on objects to the exclusion of most other things, littleĮye contact, not engaging in play and babbling with parents. When there is normal development, it doesn’t extend beyond age 3 (Dryden-Edwards, 2014).Įarly onset of the disorder is primary in diagnosing it. Many times, parents will see normal development in the first year of life, then begin seeing less normal development as the child ages. Parents often see the symptoms in their children but believe the child will catch up developmentally to peers. OnsetĪutism Spectrum Disorder is a complex disorder that may not be accurately diagnosed until the child has exhibited some of the symptoms of the disorder for quite These symptoms may not fully show themselves until demands on the person from social interactions are greater than the person’s limited abilities. Level 3, “requiring very substantial support”, indicates the person’s communication and behavioral difficulties make functioning very limited across all spheres of life.įurther requirements in the DSM-5 include the symptoms to be present in early developmental periods. Behavioral difficulties at this level are apparent to everyone and interfere with functioning in many life areas. Level 2, “requiring substantial support”, indicates the person’s deficits in communication leads to very apparent impairments even with support in place. In addition, functioning across at least one life area is brought on by the person’s difficulty switching from one behavior to another or difficulty in planning and organization. Communication problems create obvious limitations in this The lowest level, Level 1, is“requiring support”. Three levels of severity of these symptoms are also given. Over or under reactions to input from various senses. Strong preoccupation with objects may be seen. Rigidity in routines is also seen, along with displays of frustration, anger, and possibly aggression if routines are changed. Or understanding of meaning of the words. Relationship difficulties including changing behavior to meet social context, problems engaging in imaginative play, or an absence of interest in peers.īehavioral deficits may be shown as repetitive patterns of behavior, such as stereotyped motor movements or echoing the speech of others with no indication of meaning There may also be significant differences from the norm in eye contact and body language, use or understanding of gestures, and a complete lack of facial expression and nonverbal communication. For example, inability to follow the course of normal back-and-forth conversation, limited sharing of interests, and failure to start or continue interactions with others. Social communication and interaction must occur across The DSM-5 has specific symptoms listed in both of these areas (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These are social impairment, especially communication, and behavior. There are two general areas in which symptoms are found. There is disagreement among professionals as to whether this indicates more children actually having the diagnosis, whether the change in diagnostic guidelines has made a difference in reporting, or whether parents and professionals are more aware of the disorder. Four to five times more boys than girls qualify for theĭiagnosis. Some researchers suggest as many as 1 in 68 children in the United States may qualify for this diagnosis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Autism Spectrum Disorder is currently being diagnosed more frequently than ever. (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). People suffering from this class of disorders may show a wide range of symptoms, deficits in skills, and levels of impairment DSM-5 Category: Autism Spectrum Disorder IntroductionĪutism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder in which the person affected exhibits impaired development in communication, interaction with others, and inīehavior (Dryden-Edwards, 2014). |
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