Client evaulation
- 1. Client: Evaluation and Production Reflection Charlotte Oliver
- 2. Process Today I started my actual final major product. This consisted of making one of the two double page spreads. To start with I opened Adobe In Design as I felt this was most efficient for creating a double page spread I knew this because of my production experiments compared to other software's such as Microsoft or Photoshop. I did this buy opening In design on my computer. I went to 'File' on my search bar above and set it to A4 portrait, so that I had big enough pages on my double page spread, I then went to 'Pages' A-master to set it to my pages were set next to each other similar to a real DPS. I knew how to do this thankfully due to my production experiments so I repeated the process as I had done many time. I then started to set up my layout. I did this by creating grids and guides by '4x4' and then 'fit to boarder ' which was essential for my background on my. Once my grids had been put in I then went on to add layer 2. I drew a box with the 'rectangular tool' to precisely 184.6 mm w and 184.6 mm H in order to ensure both sides fitted perfectly for my leopard bac. After this I went on to finding back ground images on google and clicked 'images' after this I wanted to ensure they were royalty free, I did this by selecting 'tools'> then usage rights>labelled for reuse with modification. Then found the background image I needed.
- 3. Step One
- 4. Process Today I firstly went over the previous double page spread I did the day before just to double check I had not missed anything. Once I was happy with the initial DPS, I went on to starting my second double page spread. For this I followed the same process for setting up the DPS as the first one I did. This process went by, opening Adobe In Design I again used this software as I am familiar with In Design and I feel I can use this software to the best of my ability as possible. To set up a double page spread happens as follows as I researched on google search bar. "Choose Layout > Pages > Move Pages, or choose Move Pages from the Pages panel menu. Specify the page or pages you want to move. As you drag, the vertical bar indicates where the page will appear when you drop it. If the black rectangle or bar touches a spread when Allow Pages to Shuffle is turned off, the page you’re dragging will extend that spread; otherwise, document pages will be redistributed to match the Facing Pages setting in the File > Document Setup dialog box. Drag the page range numbers under a spread to the New Page button. The new spread appears at the end of the document.Select a page or spread, and then choose Duplicate Page or Duplicate Spread in the Pages panel menu. The new page or spread appears at the end of the document. To keep a single spread together, select a spread in the Pages panel, and then deselect Allow Selected Spread To Shuffle in the Pages panel menu. You can identify an island spread in the Pages panel by the brackets around its page numbers.To allow the creation of spreads of more than two pages in the entire document and to preserve those spreads when you add, remove, or arrange preceding pages, deselect Allow Document Pages To Shuffle on the Pages panel menu. InDesign will preserve spreads of more than two pages while letting two-page spreads re paginate normally." Once I had trying to produce an interesting background, The reasoning for this is that I wanted both of my double page spreads to have eye catching back drops similar to what I would see in an existing products. To do this I went on Adobe Photoshop to create my own paint brush to give a pink lipstick smudge, to convey to my codes and conventions for a beauty makeup genre and to add something different. To do this as researching on google search bar. "1.Using any selection tool, select the image area you want to use as a custom brush. The brush shape can be up to 2500 pixels by 2500 pixels in size.. Here is what they look like;
- 5. Step Two
- 6. Process Once I had finished setting up my second double page and working on creating an cool/innovative background drop for my flyer, I then prepared for taking my images. To do this I booked out the college studio for the time the next day the, as I felt there was not much more I could do to prepare for my four productions I went onto preparing my props, I also went over editing and improving any elements of my while I had the spare time, this gave me plenty of time to reflect on anything I felt I needed to do before using the college studio. If I could have improved my schedule I would have organized my time more effectively rather than leaving a whole day with not a lot to do, however this time gave me space to think of the angles, shot type and images I wanted to take the next day.
- 7. Process To start my 7 week, I decided to move on from my first double page spread and start my front cover. I was excited to do this as this was an element on my production that I enjoy the most. Before I began opening adobe Photoshop, I looked through my previous images from my previous college studio shoot, I realized that I didn't have any images that I felt were suitable or was an landscape image, therefore they didn't fit my A4 front cover. To overcome this, I had done a previous Photoshop at home in a different in environment which I was happy about as it added something different to my production, I also liked how the camera picked up on the makeup in naturalistic lighting, so I felt my audience could look at the makeup in a lighting more applicable to them. However I couldn't place my main image on my front cover yet as I needed to send them from home. However I decided to create the layout of my DPS on Adobe Photoshop. To do this I went on: File > New document Intent: Print Page size: A4 = size of this document is 595x842 px. Once I had done this a blank A4 spread appeared, to make sure all my things in my page I applied rulers to ensure this, to do this I went to View > Rulers. This gave me blue lines to line up my work. After that I added a pink color to my background I used the paint bucket tool to add the colour, I then moved on to adding Polaroid like images, I did this by as researched on goggle " Create a new file (File > New). Set the canvas size to 500px by 500px. Fill the background with a simple color. Create a new layer (ctrl + shift + n) and select the Rectangular Marquee tool. Select a rectangle a similar size to the one on the picture below and using the Paint Bucket tool, fill it white. I did this because I felt it added something different to my work. Once I had done this I duplicated my image 3 times and fitted previous edited images into my Polaroid shapes, and added a royalty free bar code from google images. I then added my fonts from Dafont.com and selected 'Funsized' and 'The Italian' and applied them on to my Photoshop and added different taglines and my title.
- 8. Process
- 9. Planning In my third experiment I wanted to explore more technical element of my. client To do this I wanted to expand my knowledge and skills on using a camera and photography and developing my Photoshop skills. I did this by researching on how to use a Canon 700D camera I developed a step by step way in which on how to use it; Step 1: Pick up your Camera and Start the Timer Step 2: Turn the Mode dial to point to M which means Manual Mode Step 3: Point the Camera where you find good light Step 4: Check the Important Camera Settings Step 5: Check the Camera Metering indicator Step 6: Press the Shutter button Step 7: Achieving the Proper Exposure Press the dips button again to get back to the settings on the LCD screen. I found this to be very helpful on making my images more professional looking and similar to existing products such as vogue or cosmopolitan. After taking my images I uploaded them to Adobe Photoshop. I asked my tutor on ways in which I could airbrush my images in a subtle way as this is something often done in beauty magazines. I observed and copied down the following steps and tools to edit my images; 1. Duplicate the background layer 2. Pressed filter, blur, then surface blur. 3.Options for ‘radius’ and ‘threshold’. 4. eraser tool, delete everything that is not skin related (eyes, hair, mouth etc.) 5. Duplicate the background layer again (then hide surface blur layer). 6. Background layer copy 2, I used the brush tool (soft as possible) Opacity at 40% flow at 40%. 7. Hold Alt to bring the eyedropper tool, to pick out a better colour/skin tone. 8. Brushing in areas needed (under eyes, uneven skin tone). 9. Drop opacity for surface blur layer to 20%. 10. Drop opacity for surface blur later to 20%. 11. Make new layer, take a white paint brush and paint inside the eyes to create a more editorial look to suit the codes and conventions of a beauty magazine. I found that all these things done in my experiment 3 helped me develop my skills for my FMP, that I didn’t necessarily have beforehand
- 10. Planning Research Experiments: What elements of your experiments will you include in your final product? Within my final production I hope to include many aspects from my experiment. I found that making numerous experiments helped me develop my ideas further for my. There is also things I will not include in my production, due to the fact that I feel it didn't’t help or improve my experiments. Fonts/colours- In my first experiment I liked using Dafont.com because I find they have a wide range of font and different styles applicable to different genres of magazine or print product. I also enjoy the fact I can add my own spin to the fonts, similar to what I did on my ‘Foodie’ front cover. I used the ’Eyedrop’ tool to select the colours from my main image and applied it to the font to add a pop of colour and contingency from my front cover and double page spread, I also find that having a colour scheme that is perfect for whatever genre I do, is very important for making a piece go from average to professional, I find it is important to attract the target audience by researching colour schemes in similar existing products to attract the right audience, this is something I'm very keen to apply to my own production. Images-For my client I hope to include my own images that I have taken in different environments, this could be in the college studio or in another place. The reason for this is that I can take them how I wish with different lighting or different cosmetics/props. However using a stock image similar to the one I did in experiment 2 did make my process easier and left more time for editing and photo manipulation on Adobe Photoshop, so I will hope to use my own individual images and occasional use stock images. And of course it is important to get the right kind of imagery to attract the target audience I had set out in the first place. So when I take my images for my final product I want to ensure that they are perfect for what I want. I also liked in my experiments I took photos of different types of model/prop. In my final experiment I wanted to ensure that I had not only used a camera and photographed models, I wanted to make sure I had taken photos of cosmetic products, which would be essential for my FMP as my actual production is based on makeup and cosmetics. Before I took these images I made sure I researched some tips on how to photograph cosmetics and came up with the following steps which I stated in my in one the previous slides. Photoshop and InDesign- For my client I want utilise both software's, as I feel they were crucial for making my work more polished and professional. And it is strongly advised by my tutors and is a software I am personally used to. I also find that the many of the tools within both software's I have not used and I'm excited to use in my FMP to I can extend my knowledge even further for future products past my FMP. However the tools I did use on my experiments I became very comfortable with for example the use of airbrushing tools which I used on experiments 3,4,5 . Airbrushing was something I had never done before those experiments so using these skills were essential for making my FMP as technically difficult as possible. Overall the tools I used throughout my numerous experiments I found that many of the tools I used helped me develop my skills in photography, Photoshop, InDesign, fonts and of course colour schemes. All of these things will help me make my final major project as technically difficult as possible and something I might enjoy doing and hopefully achieve a good grade
- 11. Technical Qualities I wanted to set my front cover to A4 to create my front cover File > New document Intent: Print Page size: A4 I wanted to set my background colour to a peach/pink 1. Open Adobe Photoshop. It's a blue app icon that contains the letters "Ps.“ 2. Open the image you want to edit. Do so by pressing CTRL+O (Windows) or (Mac), selecting the image file you wish to open, and then clicking Open in the lower-right corner of the dialog box. 3. Click on Layers. The "Layers" menu window will appear in the lower-right corner of the Photoshop window. 4. Then select the bucket tool to fill background. 5. Click on a colour. Select the colour you want the background to be. I then cut around my image and placed it in my front cover. Select "Duplicate Layer..." under the "Layer" heading. When a box pops up, click "OK." This creates an editable duplicate photo. Click on the "Quick Selection Tool" in the Photoshop Toolbox. This tool will help you select the area you want to cut from your picture. Hold down your mouse and trace the area that you want to cut out of your photo with the Quick Selection Tool. The Quick Selection Tool will automatically select the section that you want to cut. Deselect any extra areas that you do not want cut by clicking on the "Subtract from selection" icon that appears in the horizontal area above the Toolbox and clicking the unwanted areas. Right click your selected area and select "Layer via Cut." This cuts the selected area from the picture and places it in a new layer. You can now do many things with the cut image, including copying it onto other pictures or deleting the other layers in your current Photoshop document and saving the cut image layer as its own picture.
- 12. Technical Qualities I knew how to do this thankfully due to my production experiments so I repeated the process as I had done many time. I then started to set up my layout of my nude DPS. I did this by creating grids and guides by '4x4' and then 'fit to boarder ' which was essential for my background on my DPS. Once my grids had been put in I then went on to add layer 2. I drew a box with the 'rectangular tool' to precisely 184.6 mm w and 184.6 mm H in order to ensure both sides fitted perfectly for my leopard print background on one half of my page. After this I went on to finding back ground images on google and clicked 'images' after this I wanted to ensure they were royalty free, I did this by selecting 'tools'> then usage rights>labelled for reuse with modification. Then found the background image I needed To start with I went on Adobe InDesign to create a double page spread to do this I followed these following steps: Choose Layout > Pages > Move Pages, or choose Move Pages from the Pages panel menu. Specify the page or pages you want to move. For Destination, choose where you want to move the pages, and specify a page if necessary. Click OK. Once I had created the sizes of my DPS, I then went on to colouring my background to my desired colour. I firstly I opened Adobe In Design as I felt this was most efficient for creating a double page spread I knew this because of my production experiments compared to other software's such as Microsoft or Photoshop. I did this buy opening In design on my computer. I went to 'File' on my search bar above and set it to A4 portrait, so that I had big enough pages on my double page spread, I then went to 'Pages' A-master to set it to my pages were set next to each other similar to a real DPS.