FMP Problem Solving

Potential Solutions
Equipment
Potential problems:
• Camera getting damaged – This can be avoided by using the
already established safety features of the camera. These
include the neck strap which will prevent the camera from
being dropped when using it free hand. Another solution to the
camera being damaged is using it inside where possible to
reduce the chance of water damage however if it has to be
used outside in the rain, have someone holding an umbrella
over the camera in order to cover it from the rain and reduce
the chance of water damage. When the camera is on a tripod
make sure the tripod is on a flat surface to prevent it from
tipping over. To further reduce the risk of the tripod being
knocked over make sure it is out of the way of frequent foot
traffic however if this is not possible for certain shots make
sure there are cones or someone preventing people from
walking into the tripod area.
• Lens getting damaged – This can be easily avoided by using
the lens cap whenever the camera is not in use. By doing this
you are protecting the lens in the best possible way. When the
camera is in use or you need to touch the lens in anyway
make sure your hands are clean to reduce any chance of
getting dirt on the lens. When cleaning the lens make sure
you use a fine cleaning cloth.

Potential Solutions
Software
Potential problems:
• Software out of date – Programs such as photoshop and
illustrator may be out of date due to recent updates. This
problem can easily be solved by setting up automatic updates
and checking for the most recent update. If the software cant
be updated to the newest version, for example the Macs at
college use Photoshop CC 2015 however the most recent
release is CC 2019. In order to not run into any issues when
looking at tutorials I should look for tutorials that are using a
similar release to the software I am using.
• Using the incorrect software – The solution to this problem
would be to do research into possible software's and using the
research to determine the best software for the task. I could
also determine the software through tutorials which would
help me chose the correct software for a specific task.

Potential Solutions
Backing up data
Potential problems:
• Losing data – to prevent data loss from the camera I will copy the pictures from the
SD card as soon as possible in order to have them backed up on my laptop/PC
hard drive as this is more stable than the SD card. Although it isn't possible on the
DSLR cameras that are available, with my phone I can back pictures up to the
cloud straight away which means if anything happens to my phone like it gets lost
or broken I will be able to access the pictures on the cloud. To back up data on my
laptop/PC I will upload all my files to my one drive as well as having the original
copies on my hard drive. I could also upload any files to USB flash drives which
will be another copy of my files as well as allowing me to complete work at home
and at college.

Potential Solutions
Storage
Potential problems:
• Running out of storage space – If I am running low on storage space on the
college Mac's there are a few solutions to this issue. 1 of the solutions is
using OneDrive as storage because I get 1TB free to use with my college
email. This is more than enough space for this project however by storing
files on OneDrive it means I have to have an internet connection to access
my files. This isn't ideal for if I lose internet connection at home and therefor
wouldn’t be able to do any work. Another way I could increase storage space
for this project would be to purchase an extra hard drive or USB mass
storage device which would give me more storage space that can be used
with or without internet connection.

Potential Solutions
Here is chose to compare 2 different external storage devices.
1. Is the SanDisk Cruzer Edge 64GB USB Flash Drive
2. Is the Seagate 1 TB Expansion 2.5 Inch Portable Hard Drive
1.
2.
SanDisk Cruzer Edge Seagate Expansion
Storage Size 64 GB 1 TB (1000 GB)
Cost £14 £45
Size 4.6cm 2.5 Inch
For my FMP I feel the best external storage device would be the
SanDisk Cruzer Edge as I feel 1 TB of storage space is slightly over
kill. This is because the amount of work I will be producing will not
exceed the 64GB back up storage that is included in the Cruzer
Edge. I also feel the size of the Cruzer Edge is better for my project
as it will be easier to transport between college, home and
wherever I choose to take pictures.

Potential Solutions
Power
Potential problems:

Experiment 1 – VHS Effect
Here I followed a YouTube tutorial by Justin Odisho who is a quite
well established YouTuber with 642k subscribers.
To create this VHS effect I started off with a basic image with one
main subject in focus and a blurred background. I feel this type of
photo is best for showcasing the effect as there isn’t a lot going on
with the photo meaning you can focus on the effect.
To start the effect I simply added some text into the bottom left corner
of the image. The font I used for this effect was found of DaFont and
is called VCR OSD Mono. The font is 100% free meaning I can use
this font for my actual fanzine and wont run into any issues with
copyright infringement. The text I chose to add to this image uses the
same style as a classic VCR with the time and date it was filmed at.

Here I used the single row marquee tool and selected a single row
close to the top of the image. I then used the transform tool in order
to stretch the single row of pixels. This creates a somewhat distorted,
stretch effect to my image that will later be edited to have a wave
effect on it. This is a common glitch effect that is seen with old VHS
tapes which is why I incorporated it into my image.
I also added some noise to the image using the noise filter that gives
the effect of lower quality to an image. I did not follow the exact
values that were used in the tutorial as the image in the tutorial was
of a different quality. When it comes to creating my own VHS effects
over images in my fanzine I will most likely have to experiment with
different values in order to achieve my desired effect.

Here I added the wave effect to the stretched out pixels. I did this by
using the Filter > Distort > Shear on the area of stretched pixels and
again experimented with different waves to add to the pixels. The
Shear effect used on my image is quite subtle as I still wanted the
picture to be recognizable and not distorted too much.
I again used the single row marque tool in order to create another
area of stretched pixels. This time I created a bigger stretch toward
the bottom of the image. These placements for the pixel stretch will
change position in my fanzine as they wouldn’t be in the same place
for each image.

Here I used the single row marquee tool on another section of my
image and again used the Shear effect in order to achieve a wave on
the stretched pixels. To further emphasize the wave effect I repeated
the Shear filter on the stretched pixels an extra couple of times in
order to apply more of a wave.
As you can see with the 2 screenshots on the right, the top
screenshot shows the stretched pixels with one application of the
Shear effect whereas the bottom screenshot shows the stretched
pixels with multiple shear waves applied. I feel the bottom
screenshot shows the distorted section better as it fits in well with the
overall image and doesn’t stand out too much. This shows a good
balance between too distorted and no effect.
I also added the Shear effect to the sections where the distortion
ends to make the transition from the glitch effect to the normal image
more subtle. This shows the edge of the glitch clear enough that you
can see it a strip however the glitch isn’t totally disconnected from
the main image and it flows better.

Here I edited the colour settings for my image. I did this by adding an
adjustment layer to my project and then I experimented with the hue
and saturation levels in order to achieve my desired colour. I only
edited the values slightly in order to achieve a slight difference in the
colour. By changing the colours slightly it gives a genuine VHS
effect. This is because back when VHS was the main media format
the colours weren’t exact due to the aged technology.
When changing the colour settings for images in my actual fanzine I
will have to experiment with different settings as these settings may
not transfer well onto my own photographs.

Here I created a new layer on my project and applied everything to
that layer allowing any new changes to affect the whole image. I then
chose the red colour channel and added a slight Shear to it. This
then tilts all the red areas slightly to further emphasise the VHS
effect. Although it cant really be seen well in the top screenshot, the
line that is used to create the shear lines has been moved across by
1 stage in order to create a subtle shift.

Here you can see the top screenshot that has the red colours slightly
shifted gives a subtle glitch effect to the overall image.
I then added several lines to my image using the single row marquee
tool. To allow myself to add multiple rows I have to select the ‘Add to
selection’ option which allows me to have multiple areas selected.
These lines will become the slight dashes that are common on VHS
tapes.

Here I used the rectangle marquee tool on the ‘Remove from
selection’ setting in order to remove areas of the lines I added earlier.
I randomly selected areas to remove and this will be the same for
any VHS effects I use in my fanzine. By having the placement of
these random it means each piece I create will be slightly different
from the last which is how it would be on a real VHS tape as all of
them will be slightly different.
In order to achieve the distorted lines throughout my piece I will go to
Filter > Stylize > Wind and using the settings at the bottom of this
side I will get several lines running across the image that give the
effect of a distorted VHS tape.

The final effect I added to my image was adding a shear to the whole
image. To do this I simply went Filter > Distort > Shear. I only wanted
to add a slight shear to my whole image as I didn’t want the face of
my subject to be too distorted.
When I do this effect on my fanzine I may miss the step out if it of
another face like this image as I feel the shear adds to much
distortion to the face and makes it somewhat disfigured.

Experiment 2 – Lightroom Tutorial
Another experiment I did was in Lightroom, which is a piece of
software I've never used before. I took the image on the right from
google and followed a tutorial by a YouTuber called Noealz Photo
who is a relatively small YouTuber however he has done a number of
tutorials that show how to achieve edits that I want to achieve for my
fanzine. The style that Noealz is taking inspiration from is from a
photographer by the name Liam Wong who takes photos and
changes the settings in order to achieve a vaporwave style effect
over his photos.
The image I have chosen to edit for this experiment was found on
google and is just a quiet, alley in Tokyo taken at night time. For my
fanzine I will be taking my own photos of similar areas and then
editing them myself.

The first thing that is done to this image is the temperature and tint
are edited. Due to this style of images being very purple you want to
have a positive tint as that highlights the purples and mutes the
greens. By reducing the temperature of the image it gives it more of
a blue hue to the overall image. The settings that worked best for this
image are -17 temp and +36 tint. These values will change when
editing my own images as they wont have the same original colour
settings as this image.
You can already see a significant change between this screenshot
and the previous screenshot as this has a lot more of a blue tone too
it.

Here I began editing the tone of the image. I bumped up the
exposure to +100 in order to over expose the image and then
reduced the highlights and whites to -100. I then bumped up the
shadows and blacks to +100 and that allowed me to achieve a very
blue and over saturated image. These values will be transferred onto
the images for my fanzine that I take myself as these don’t need fine
tuning as such, like the other values.

Under the HSL section of Lightroom, I can edit the values of each
colour within the image. Here I edited the blue values in order to
achieve a more purple-ish hue. To do this I set the hue value to +22
and the saturation to -27. This makes all the blues in the iimage look
more purple such as the sky and the overall image. Also by reducing
the saturation it reduces the amount of noise that can be seen in the
image and makes everything seem slightly lighter. These values will
change slightly when editing the images that are used in my fanzine
as they will have different amounts of blue that need changing to
purple however it is easy to experiment with these values in my final
piece.

Here I edited more of the colour values. Because I want my image to
have a full purple hue over the whole image I removed the orange
and yellows in the image. By setting both colours saturation settings
down to -100 I have mainly edited the sign in the foreground to be
more white than yellow, which blends in well with the purple and
achieves my desired effect. The values will most likely be transferred
to any images I produce for my fanzine as I will never want any
yellow and orange in my image.

Here I edited the last of the colours that can be seen in the image. I
again reduced the saturation of both the aqua and then green down
to -100. This mainly effects the leaves that can be seen in the image
as they are quite a vibrant green before the saturation is lowered. By
lowering the saturation of the green, the purple hue can be seen
easier on the leaves, further adding more purple to the image.
These values will most likely be carried over to the images I produce
for my fanzine as I want to achieve the same effect.

Here I edited the shadows in the split toning section of Lightroom
which is what gives the image the most purple. The settings I chose
for this image is the hue set to 281 and the saturation set to 42.
These values were not the exact same as the tutorial as these
values are more unique to the image. When editing my own images
for my fanzine I will follow this same step however experiment with
different values in order to achieve my desired effect.

The final edits I made to this image is in the presence section of
Lightroom. These values were copied from the tutorial due to the
images being of a similar style however when editing my own images
these values may change. I set the vibrance to +15 and reduced the
saturation to -30. I finally reduced the clarity to -40. These settings
together make the image feel slightly more darker and as if there is a
slight overcast to the image.

Experiment 3 – Retro Text Tutorial
Here I followed a tutorial I found on YouTube by user Made by Mighty, which
shows how to create an 80’s retro text effect. I started with a plain purple
background and then overlaid a dust/grain effect using the Vivid Light overlay
option. By doing this it gives a slight grain effect to the background yet still
keeps the colour purple.

To further give the effect of grain on the image I added another layer
in which I added a 50% gray fill layer and then added noise filter to
this layer. In order to achieve an effect that didn’t have too much
noise I used 12% of noise in a uniform distribution. I also selected
monochromatic in order to achieve only black and white noise. This
gives the effect of an old camera grain due to only effecting black
and white layers. I set the overlay option to Divide with an opacity of
50%. This creates a more subtle grain on the image.

Here I added the text ‘Outrun’ using the free font Road Rage. I also
grouped together the dust and grain effects and placed it at the top of
my layers. Doing this means the dust and grain layer will affect all of
the layers below it. I chose a pink colour for the outrun text as this is
very fitting within the vaporwave genre. The pink colour also gives off
a neon feel to it.

Here I added an outer glow to the text in order to emphasise the
neon effect within the image. I used the normal blend mode with an
opacity of 40% and set the colour to be slightly darker tone of pink in
order to give the text a clear outline. I set the spread to 0% with the
size at 40%.

Here I added the second word of my text effect. I used the free font
plateia and wrote the word Retro. In order to create a chrome effect
on this text I started by setting the fill level of the text to 0 and then
adding a stroke to the text. I set the size to 30 px and the position to
centre and then in order to complete the chrome effect I used the
gradient fill type. In order to achieve the white to black to white
pattern I set the style to reflected and the angle to 90 degrees. The
scale was also adjusted to 115%.

In order to achieve an outer glow with a purple hue I selected the
outer glow blend mode to vivid light with the opacity to 30% and
noise to 18%. To make the outer glow more subtle I used the softer
technique with a spread of 0% and size of 125 px. This makes the
outer glow very subtle but still present.

Here I began creating the inner chrome effect for my retro text. In
order to achieve this I started by copying the word retro, removing
the effects and then filling the whole text in with black. I then added a
white rectangle to the bottom half of the text. This will be used for the
gradient chrome effect in the image.

Here I added a layer mask to the rectangle and then added
the gradient effect. I selected the foreground colour as white
and the background colour as black and then added the
gradient from top to bottom. I order to apply this gradient to
the text only I created a clipping mask which applies to the
black text layer.

Here I added another white box to the text layer in order to add a top
gradient to the text. To add more variation to the chrome effect I
chose to add a wave to the box. I followed the values on the tutorial
which is 5 generators, wavelength 59 to 60, amplitude 5 to 25 and
scale 100% horizontal and 30% vertical. These values are likely to
change if I use this same style on my own work.

Here using the gradient tool I created a white to black gradient going
top to bottom, which mirrors the gradient used on the bottom of the
text. I then used the clipping mask in order to have the gradient only
effect inside the text. This completes the chrome effect for inside the
text.

Here I added an inner glow to my chrome text to really emphasise
the shine that the chrome would be giving off. I set the blend mode to
normal with an opacity of 60%. I also set the technique to softer and
the size to 4 px. I then added a solid colour adjustment layer and set
the colour to the hex value 241655. I then created a clipping mask for
the colour so it only effected the word retro. This adjustment layer
gives the text a much more purple hue which is what I want due to
purple being a very prominent colour within the vaporwave genre. I
set the blend type to exclusion and opacity to 50%.

The final effect I added was a subtle blur to the background of the
image. I used the soft edge brush in order to create a blur that wasn’t
too noticeable. The hex value for this colour is 38324d.

The final effect I added was a subtle blur to the background of the
image. I used the soft edge brush in order to create a blur that wasn’t
too noticeable. The hex value for this colour is 38324d. To complete
this image I used the transform tool to make the brush blur less
circular and to have more of a vertical blur.

FMP Problem Solving

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