Brushes Festive Experiment

To learn and experiment with brushes and shapes on Photoshop, I created a festive Christmas card. Using various brushes found online to create the tinsel, stars and baubles. In addition to this you can see a simple use of gradients to create the dark green background to the card.

Heal Brush Tutorial

In this tutorial we learned how to use the heal brush tool to remove spots and wrinkles from a person's face. The heal brush tool was especially useful in removing any unwanted lines, spots or other marks that you did not want on your photograph. To experiment with this tool, I used a photograph of Gordon Ramsey and used this tool in order to remove his wrinkles and other smaller marks he had. You can see below the before and after of the heal brush tool.

Magazine Front Cover Photographs

Here are some photographs I took for my initial attempt in creating a magazine front cover, underneath the 3 example photographs is my attempt at a magazine front cover, with very little experience in creating front covers beyond what I had learned during my GCSE media course in which we learnt extreme basics.

All the text inserted is rather basic, although I took the opportunity to experiment with creating button sells and adding a couple of effects to text and shapes. Specifically in the 'WIN!' sell line and the button sell itself, in which I used a gradient. 

My First InDesign Document

This is my first attempt at creating an InDesign file, we were introduced to the different tools such as the black/white arrow tool (and when each should be used), how to insert pictures and text and have the text flow from the first column to the next.

Initially we had to setup our InDesign document, which included making sure we had the correct amount of pages, columns and margins were correct size. The pages included 1 front page and then a double page spread to follow, I chose 3 columns and left the margins at their default values. Once I move onto creating my final product I will use my research to determine what sized margins and amount of columns would be suitable.

Once my document was setup and created, I began by inserting rectangles to determine where my text would go, and then quickly inserted a section of a document as example text into the first column to work with. To make the text flow from one column to another, I clicked the small red rectangle at the bottom of the first column and then clicked the second column, and then did the same for the third column.

I then created a drop cap tool using this:

To create a drop cap spanning 5 lines and then altered the text size to 12pt:

I found images online and then created rectangle shapes on my page to determine where my images would be placed on the page. I then used File => Place and placed each image into it's pre-placed rectangle. After modifying the image's size and positioning they fit into the page as shown.

Shutter Speed Experiments

 

We used a slow shutter speed on our cameras and a torch to create light paintings, this is achieved through the extended exposure time allowing more than usual light to reach the lens, meaning the torch can be moved and the light trail will be captured. As we are using a slow shutter speed, a dark room is required to make sure the light painting comes out clear, as a bright room would capture too much light and produce an over exposed photograph. For this example, we used a 2.5" shutter speed as it was a simple shape we were trying to create.

For this example, we were trying to spell our name and because this is more complex we decided to have a slower shutter speed, this time 5" so that we could capture the entire name. You can tell that the room is slightly brighter than in the first example because of the longer exposure.

Composition Photography Experiments

In this photograph i made use of the side-lighting and the rule of thirds to keep his eye-line on the top third of the photograph

This photograph was taken to experiment with tilt, this one looks up to the subject with backlighting, this made him look menacing and powerful.

This photograph continued with the tilt experiments, this time looking down on the subject to make him look vulnerable and alone.

This photograph is to use extreme close-ups and show great detail in facial expressions.

This photograph is a simple medium shot, with side-lighting which shows detail on the subject without losing detail in the subject's surroundings.

This is an example of a framed shot, with the inside of the bin providing a frame within the frame of the actual photograph

Technical Skills Audit

AS Media Production: Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name:       Kurt Hammond          Tutor group:     1.32  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
Shutter Speed		X
Aperture control		X
A tripod		X
External flash		X
Self timer facility		X
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		I have used this very often in various different works, mostly in a media work in which I created 2 magazine pages with articles.
Filters	X		I have used filters such as sharpen and pixelate on different types of images to change them in various ways
Brushes		X
Layers	X		Altering the order of layers, mixing different layers, merging etc. are all tasks I have done frequently
Opacity control	X		Used during Graphics coursework to help enhance images to improve the overall look and suitability for use
Shape creation	X		During the creation of my Media magazine pages I used a range of shapes to create an authentic looking magazine layout
Brightness and contrast control	X		Changing the brightness and contrast to make certain images stand out from others or change the look of bad light photo.
Dodge/Burn		X
Clone stamp tool		X
Colour curves adjustment		X
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	X		Cutting out parts of images using the magnetic and polygon lasso tool
Cropping tool	X		Cropping images to remove any unwanted edges of photos/images
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