CD cover design

 In this lesson I learnt how to use new brush tools. I was able to download the files and once they were extracted open them in photoshop so they were installed. To do this I used 'brusheezy.com' and unzipped the ABR files so they were installed on my computer then in photoshop I had to click on the arrow next to the brushes tool and load the downloaded brushes to make them available for use. Once they were installed I used the brushes new styles to paint onto my CD cover's. To create them I used different styles of brush, a nature and a splattered style brush on my different covers.
This was my first cover and is using the nature brushes I thought this brush would be fitting due to the band being named 'Natures Heroes' so used the nature idea on the cover.I added the titles on the cover using different fonts and then used the text outline effect to make the titles stand out on the yellow background as the black is eyecatching then you see the albums name and title.

On this second cover I used the splattered style brush and overlapped some different styles to crate the image. I also filled the background in with the blue after I had added the brushes.With the titles on this album I used the glow shadow effect on the 'old school' and used the text outline on both again for a red outline against the black font.

Retro effect

 This is the original image that I started with before I edited it.

This was the outcome of my lesson I learnt to use the level and curves tools to create a cross processing affect that would have been done in movies in the 1980's this adds a retro effect and gives the image a 80's feel. To do this i had to use the adjustments tab to open a new layer from the curves effect. With the curves I moved the blue and red colours line into an 'S' shape which added these colours more in the light sections and took away the colour in the dark areas of the image. With the green I took the colour out of the light areas and added it to the darker areas slightly to give the retro effect I then finished the image off by opening a new layer of a solid colour I choose a light blue then I lowered the opacity so it gave the image a tint and added to the effect.

 Shutter Speeds

 Within this lesson I learned a lot about how camera shutter speeds work. I learned that our speeds can range from 1/4000 of a second to 30 seconds and that quick/short shutter speeds are used to freeze frame an image and that long/slow shutter speeds are used in dark places to allow light to be taken in and if not enough light is taken in motion blur can be captured. In this first image I used a 1/40 speed and luckily enough light was taken in for the camera to capture the water in the image.

 In this second image I used a two second shutter speed to capture the light from the torch moving and I learned this technique would only work in virtually pitch black areas which was hard to find but this is one of the good images I managed to capture in a darkened room. I learned also two seconds is almost the minimal speed in which this type of image would work due to the darkness and the camera having to take in such little light.

 This is a dark image and shows me what I could improve on as I went for a freeze frame image but in a dark area the camera was not able to absorb enough light to produce a light image of my subject so I knew I had to find a new area for a freeze frame image.

 Once I had learnt I needed more light and moved to a lighter area I was able to take a freeze frame image of my subject with ease. These next two images were taken right after each other as I used the 1/250 seconds shutter speed to capture the images quickly as my subject walked across the frame I was able to show him seemingly stood still however they were walking across the frame and this is something I learned that a 1/250 speed could be used to capture somebody walking however if my subject was running I would of had to switch to a 1/500 speed.

Vingetting & Auto tone & Desaturating

 This is the image I started with and chose to edit in photoshop using the skills I learned in lesson. It had a good side lightining effect and showed the subjects face close up which was the type of image i needed.

On this image I used the photoshop tools of firstly auto tone, which edited the tone levels to what It thought looked best to create a vibrant and stong image. This was then edited with auto contrast and auto colour with photoshop doing the editing for me. I learned this is a quick and easy way to change the tone, contrast and colour of an image without having to find what works yourself.











On this image I used some editing skills I learned in photoshop. I used the vingetting effect on this photo. By using the eliptical marque tool and putting my feathering pixels to 90 I drew a circle right around the subjects face then selected the inverse of the cirlce and adjusted the brightness and contrast to create a focus drawing people more towards the centre of the image. This draws attention to the subject who I then made subtly more eye catching by using another method I learned, the unsharp mask effect wich sharpens up the eyes using a filter with a 2.2 radius and it then adds the effect to draw more attention to the subject.







In this final image I used the desaturating effect. This is another technique I learned to use within photoshop. By  firstly using the adjustments to desaturate the image I then edited the brightness and contrast using the respective tool and editing them to create a light image due to the effect this tool has.

Different Image shots & magazine cover

In this image I had the camera in a portrait position, this created the image on its side so when I would need to use it in Photoshop I would have to rotate it. From this I learned that the portrait and landscape modes are used for different types of image e.g magazine from covers and this means you can get a effect from the way you take the photo. In this photo I used the side lighting effect with the subject facing towards the light, I learned using these effects can create different aurora's for what is in the image e.g backlighting could create mystery and front lighting can define the face more. But here I had the subject face the side light to get an effect they were looking towards something that held a power within the image. This image shows I had a weakness in getting the subjects eye line within the top third. I did not apply the rule of thirds to this image and It gave the effect that the light to the side of the image was holding power over the subject as they seem beneath it. When I was taking this photo I was in the T-stance which Is a technique I learned where you stand with one foot facing the subject and the other pointing to the side this gives you a stance where you are able to move up and down aswell as lean into you shot. This can create different tilts and can give the subject less or more power within the image. Although In this photo I had the subject to the side where I wanted them I do believe there is still room for improvement on my usage of this technique as is shown in a later image.

This second image is the one I choose for my front cover. I believe this image showed my head and shoulders shot best as it filled the frame how I wanted it to and also placed the subject at the side which is the shot I was looking for and Is a skill I was beginning to get use to with most of my shots.. This is the kind of image I wanted for my front cover. Also I had the side lighting effect used on my subject to give them an shining aurora. Although the image was landscape, once placed onto my front cover It fit well as the subjects shot filled the frame. So although I will learn to take portrait photos when they are needed this time the landscape shot posed no complications for my work. The rule of thirds was used when I took this photo as I places the subject to the left as It is where I wanted them on the cover and It looked more comfortable and fitting for the image although I could improve on using the rule of thirds by making sure I get the eye line of my subject on the top third on the image.

 Other shot I took was this one although for me I believe It is one I can show that highlights my weaknesses and can teach me what I need to improve on. An immediate problem Is I did not take into consideration the background of the photo, this lead to there being another person in the frame and it draws the attention away from the main subject. This got me to look more carefully at the other backgrounds in my images and I believed that the greens in them complimented the lighting well giving a lively look to the first two images shown. Another problem with the image is that It shows the whole of the subjects top half. This means I had a weakness in my T-stance position as if I had leaned into my shot more I could have gotten the head and shoulders shot I was aiming for. Also it highlights a weakness with my rule of thirds use as the subject Is directly in the centre of the frame and they do not look like they have any purpose there so It would not make for a good front cover image.

 Another image I took showed an area I could improve on in the future. The images I had taken were all done through manual focus. I think the previous images I have shown showed I could get the images into focus on a good level of accuracy as they had the subject shown as the main focus with the background complimenting them. This showed I developed a skill of using the focus ring on the camera. I also learned how to use the zoom ring on the camera as when I needed to I could zoom in and out respectively to get the subject in the right position within the shot. Although In this shot it showed a slight weakness in these techniques as the subject is slightly out of focus and in my T-stance I think I was positioned incorrectly and zoomed wrongly to have a out of focus shot with too much of the subject showing. Also this would have needed to be rotated in Photoshop had it of been used for a front cover which is not what I wanted to do as I learned leaving things to do on Photoshop can create unnecessary problems when I could just perfect my camera skills more so I would not be as dependant on Photoshop.

This Is my final front cover that was created using the second image I reviewed and Photoshop. This was the first time I had used Photoshop and I learned many new skills. Firstly I learnt how to set up a file for the front cover using a resolution of 300 which I learnt was the minimum standard for a print products DPI and I made it a 16 bit colour scheme file. The first skill I had to use however was inserting the guidelines before placing my image on the cover. I learned that when selecting the image and holding shift you can enlarge the image without causing it to stretch which is a good skill to have. Then I learnt how to download fonts from the 'dafont' website, once downloaded you have to extract the zip file and move the font into your fonts in your computer drives. Once I had this done I began on entering the texts onto my front cover. The fonts I had downloaded were chosen because I believed they had an edge to them that I wanted my magazine to show. I used different fonts for my magazine name and all of the sub headlines, or the sell lines. The use of sell lines is another skill I learned and I tried to include most of them into my front cover. I think this is one strength shown In my cover as It has ellipsis the '...' which makes the audience want to read on. I also used the 'exclusive' technique which makes your magazine stand out as it offers something the audience will not know and what they cannot see or read anywhere else. The 'exclamatives' technique finishes the three E's as It includes '!' on the sell lines making them seem more important and a must have adding energy to my cover. I also had the use of alliteration on my cover with 'hollys hardcore hit' it creates a rhythm and can attract audiences as it is catchy and they will remember this sell line. I had the use of a reward headline on my cover in the form of 'learn to drum in just 3 weeks' this offers the reader a reward for reading the magazine and could lure more people into buying it for this reward. I also used a quote headline with 'It's something I'm considering -Alex Turner' this is an enigma  and can show an interview out of context but makes the audience want to know the rest of the story causing them to buy the magazine. I used 'see inside!' as a command headline that would hopefully encourage the audience to read more inside and buy the magazine. On this section of the magazine I could have included more sell lines to improve my magazines selling points. Once my sell lines were written I used different tools and effects to edit them, I used drop shadows, stroke, inner/outer glow, bevel and emboss and pattern overlay on my cover. These all created effects on the text to make them stand out more and be more attractive to my audience. I did this by selecting the 'fx' section of the layers panel on Photoshop and adding them from there using different amounts depending on how much I wanted the fonts to stand out or look that way. I then chose the colours for my texts which lead me to learn another skill of specifying my colour shades with RGB. This technique allowed me to stick to the three shades I chose, a red, blue and green and ensure they were all the same shade as I could edit them by adding the number of how much of that shade I wanted to make them accurate. I found this an easy tool to use. They colours I chose were bright and are primary colours so I believed they would look cool and attractive to my audience. Another tool I learned to use was the elliptical marquee tool which is what I used to create my cell button which I placed text in. At first I was new to the tool and it was difficult making sure It was the right size for my text but once I learned how to use it I believe I could now use it without problems, showing development in my skills. Entering my guidelines was also a tool I learned to use which just takes time to insert them in the right place otherwise is an easy tool. I found the layering tools to be easy as you could move them accordingly and decide what you wanted on top and move them to where you wanted them with ease. Along with this I learned how to cut out images to insert the barcode onto my magazine, opening the image in photoshop and pulling it from its window into my magazine covers window was the easiest way i found to do this as I could then just size it accordingly with control T then shift before placing it where I wanted it to be. If I were to work on this front cover again I would improve the placing and amount of text and image. This is because I believe that my cover still seems rather empty as I would not want to cover the subjects face with text I believe I could include more along the bottom and the right hand side. Along with this I could use other images to accompany my sell lines and add more visual attraction to my cover. I have also learnt that to improve my front cover I will in future need to add a price for the magazine and an issue number to make it seem more legit and official. Although I believe my cover still had strengths with the previously mentioned sell lines that used different techniques that were appealing, along with the main image which I liked for my cover as it possessed the look I wanted it to. I think another strength is the barcode as it makes it look more official and that the colours compliment each other as they keep my cover simple but appealing as they stand out and are strong eye catchers. I also like the way my magazines name is highlighted against the standout background as it could attract a wider audience.

Camera Tilts

This Image is showing I have learned how to tilt the camera to create a frame looking up at the subject of the image. The lighting is also behind the subject so the face is dark creating some mystery about the shot, this reinforces my use of the behind lighting affect. The eye line is near the top third so the rule of thirds has been applied as the eye line and position of the subject make them look more dominate in the image.

 This Image places the subject in the centre and holds a line within the wall. Although the subject's head will nearly be in the top third they seem powerless and lost by being placed in the centre of the image, even though they are the focal point of the image. It also uses a side lighting affect to lighten up the whole area which is a skill I reinforced.

This shot places the subject in the left third with the line of the fence leading our eyesight towards him to show he is the focus of the image. This image is showing I know how to use the line to create a focus in the image that it can draw attention to. It also shows my development of the skill to use the rule of thirds as I placed the subject in the left third as it gave them some power as they look to belong in the image as they are off centre.


This image shows a skill I learned to use a framed composition. This places the subject in a frame within the frame of the image. Also as they are placed in the centre third and looking up they look powerless and almost trapped within the second frame.

Initial skills assessment

AS Media Production: Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Craig Burke             Tutor group:   1:04              Date:20^th September 2012

Photographic Skills

Which of the following photographic features/equipment have you used on a camera before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Manual Focus features		N
Shutter Speed		N
Aperture control		N
A tripod	Y		Done at basic level, only used to put a camera on and take some simple photos with no real skill was involved.
External flash		N
Self timer facility		N
Light meter		N
Composition grids		N

Photoshop Skills

Which of the following features of Photoshop have you used before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Have you ever used Photoshop ever before?	Y		Very basic level only during 2 or 3 lessons within school.
Text control		N
Filters		N
Brushes		N
Layers	Y		Basic use with only 3 layers used this to move them around on top of each other.
Opacity control		N
Shape creation		N
Brightness and contrast control		N
Dodge/Burn		N
Clone stamp tool		N
Colour curves adjustment		N
Resolution setting control		N
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool		N
Cropping tool	Y		Basic use to crop&cut some images.
Retouch tool		N

In Design Skills

Which of the following features of In Design have you used before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Have you ever used In design ever before?		N
Margin and column guide creation		N
Inserting text in ID		N
Inserting images in ID		N
Resizing images in ID		N
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation		N
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		N
Text flow creation		N
Text effects – drop shadow		N
Drop cap insert		N
Using transparent imagery in ID		N
Shape creation In design		N
Text wrapping		N
Exporting to PDF from In-design		N