Christmas CD cover

This is my Christmas CD cover. I used Christmas brushes to create this.

Spot Removal

I used Photoshop to get rid of Zoe's spots. These are the before and after pictures in which I used the healing tool to make Zoe's skin look smooth and spot free. I had to change the size of the heeling tool a lot because of the different sized spots. 

Composition Photos

To take these photos I used the manual focus on the lens, taking pictures through different frames. My favourite shot is the last photo with Tim leaning against a tree to the left of the picture as this adds some of the background too give it a better effect.

My first InDesign Page

Light Shots

For these images I used skipping ropes and a flash light. I really like the picture using the flash light and the skipping rope as I really like the effect it's given. I think my pictures could have been better if the room was darker as you can see the background in the pictures and I think they would look better without this.

Evaluation

Induction Evaluation

Photography
While using the cameras for my photography I used auto focus as I think this gives the best possible image. I used the zoom ring on the camera to get close up to an image without physically moving and to take pictures of things far away. I took the picture for my cover portrait. I did this because I didn’t want to use a landscape image as doing this could have made the image distort if I tried to change it to portrait. All my images I took and the one I used for my front cover were in focus. This was because I had the camera set to auto focus so it was something I didn’t have to worry about. Some images I took weren’t close up so they wouldn’t work well on my front cover. Using the rule of thirds, because in some images the eye line was not in the centre it meant that I had to crop some images, but while using the rule of thirds during my photography it meant that some pictures I took did work well and the eye line was in the correct placing and it meant I didn’t have to crop or change any of the images. I think I have good people skills, but I struggle telling people what to do and getting across what image I want which is something I need to work on more to have the best possible outcome within my work.

 

Photoshop

During using Photoshop I did many things, such as creating new layers, adding buttons and adding other things such as text and changing text fonts and colours. While using Photoshop I found it difficult to add buttons to my magazine but found it easy to add text and create new layers. I used drop shadow on the title of my magazine front cover as I though it made my title stand out more and would grab the reader’s attention. I downloaded several fonts, each of different tastes so I could use and play around with the different ones. Some of the texts were really soft and subtle, where as some were bold and really stood out and drew a lot of attention. I used the three colour rule for my text. I chose the colours black, red and white. I thought these three colours worked really well together and the red gave the magazine a splash of colour and worked well with the background. I thought the black worked well because the colour matched the jacket of the girl I photographed and I thought the white was bright and stood out against the background, where as the red gave the opportunity of some colour. If I was to improve my front cover I would add more text to make it look busier and make it more appealing. I really liked the title on my magazine and using the drop shadow to make it bolder and stand out more. I liked how well the fonts all worked together and how well the colours and sub headings worked and I thought they sounded good, using different techniques such as using alliteration to draw attention and advertising free items and exclusive interviews which you won’t find anywhere else.

Front Cover

Skills Audit

AS Media Production: Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Beth Lofthouse     Tutor group: 2.27     Date:18/09/13

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 Creative writing classes	x		Completed and used manual focus during my first year project in Textiles to take pictures for coursework. Also used for my second year project where I went and took pictures of birds.
Shutter Speed		x
Aperture control		x
A tripod	x		Used a tripod on a family holiday to take a picture of the whole family. Was used to make the picture stable and not blurry.
External flash		x
Self timer facility	x		Used on my own personal camera where the camera was set to take a photo from a distance.
Light meter		x
Composition grids		x

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
Text control		x
Filters		x
Brushes		x
Layers		x
Opacity control		x
Shape creation		x
Brightness and contrast control		x
Dodge/Burn		x
Clone stamp tool		x
Colour curves adjustment		x
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool		x
Cropping tool		x
Retouch tool		x

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
Margin and column guide creation		x
Inserting text in ID		x
Inserting images in ID		x
Resizing images in ID		x
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation		x
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		x
Text flow creation		x
Text effects – drop shadow		x
Drop cap insert		x
Using transparent imagery in ID		x
Shape creation In design		x
Text wrapping		x
Exporting to PDF from In-design		x