Print Skills Audit 2

Equipment Table Evaluation 

What equipment have you used over the past year?	Advantages	Disadvantages
Adobe Photoshop	Photoshop is industry standard, it has many different filters built in, which allow you to manipulate the images in numerous different ways, but it also allows you to create documents using layers, so that you can control the content on the magazine or front cover easily. It also has an opacity control, meaning you can make certain layers transparent. It handles high resolution images very well as it allows you to import your images straight into it. It also deals with small parts of images very well, and allows you cut them out or edit them.	­Photoshop isn’t very good at dealing with large amounts of text in its documents, which means that you cannot work on your double page spread in it. Photoshop can be quite difficult to use if you don’t have tuition on how to use it. Also the files it produces large files especially if they are high quality.
Adobe InDesign	InDesign is also industry standard software. It allows you to bring all aspects of a document together; text, images, and effects, meaning it is easier and better to work on text-heavy documents than Photoshop is. It can produce high quality documents, but in smaller file sizes than similar products, as it allows you to link files as opposed to embedding them so that it makes sure that the file size is reduced. It also includes functions such as drop caps, text wrap and columns which are used in professional products. It also allows you to import various other adobe file extensions, and export as many different files including PDF and JPEG.	InDesign is very complicated to use if you haven’t had any tuition in the area. Some of the more professional features will require training in able to make them work correctly for your product. It can take some skill in order to get the files exported successfully, as you need the correct settings and correct formats.
Canon EOS 350 Digital	Offers both automatic and manual modes, meaning that photographers can take more control over the various settings on the camera allowing a more defined and well exposed image. This camera provides you with Automatic, Semi-automatic and full manual settings, meaning that no matter what level of photographer you are you can use the camera to a reasonable level. It also has a continuous setting meaning you can take lots of pictures at high speed meaning that the model can be moving with a fan on the hair and allows you to take continuous shots so that you get the hair the right place. The 8MP camera allows me to get high quality images that can be placed across a A4 page at 300DPI easily. It has an automatic white balance setting, meaning that the colours should come out alright every time you take a picture. The 1GB Flashcard also allows you to hold around 260 images.	The camera is quite bulky and is quite expensive, meaning that it is a bit risky to take it on location shoots, as if it was to get damabed, it would be expensive to replace. The lens only has an f stop of f/4.5 meaning that is cant handle the dark conditions as well as if it had an f/1.8 lens of some of the more expensive cameras. The camera only has 8MP meaning that it is ok for what we want, but is a bit low spec compared to the current cameras
Nikon D70s	Offers both automatic and manual modes, meaning that photographers can take more control over the various settings on the camera allowing a more defined and well exposed image. This camera provides you with Automatic, Semi-automatic and full manual settings, meaning that no matter what level of photographer you are you can use the camera to a reasonable level. It also has a continuous setting meaning you can take lots of pictures at high speed meaning that the model can be moving with a fan on the hair and allows you to take continuous shots so that you get the hair the right place. The 6MP camera allows me to get high quality images that can be placed across a A4 page at 300DPI easily. It has an automatic white balance setting, meaning that the colours should come out alright every time you take a picture. The 1GB Flashcard also allows you to hold around 300 images.	The camera is quite bulky and is quite expensive, meaning that it is a bit risky to take it on location shoots, as if it was to get damaged, it would be expensive to replace. The lens only has an f stop of f/3.5 meaning that is as it can handle darker conditions better than the canon, it can’t handle the dark conditions as well as if it had an f/1.8 lens of some of the more expensive cameras. The camera only has 6MP meaning that it is ok for what we want, but is a bit low spec compared to the current cameras
Access to Mobile Phone Camera	My phone camera has a 5MP lens, meaning that it can take reasonable images that will fill a sheet of A4. It is a point and shoot camera meaning you can just point it at the subject and take a picture, it alters the settings itself. It also allows you to use some basic effects, and allows you to upload images straight to your blog or website using the phones internet.	The camera can produce some unexpected results as you cant adjust the settings on the camera, meaning that it chooses how to take the picture for you, and it may not have the effect you want.
Bowens softbox and lighting	This lighting system allowed me to take my image for my front cover effectively, and made sure that it was well exposed, and well lit. It allowed me to make sure there was no harsh shadows in the picture, as the soft box eliminates all the harsh effects from the image. The unit doesn’t produce much heat, wich means it makes sure that the environment is a nice one to work in for both the photographer and the model. The light allows you to use different filters and effects such as gels, honeycomb, and barn doors, to produce more/less light and focus the light a bit more.	The lights mean you have tu use an exposure meter so you know how to set up the lights and what power etc, as you don’t know until you take the picture how the lights will look. They are also rather large, meaning you cant take them around easily, and con only be used in photo studio environments.
Lastolite paper backdrops	Paper backdrops are crease free and disposable, which means that you can get fantastic backgrounds, for the photographs that you take. They also reflect the light well, meaning the subject is well lit. it also means that if it gets dirty, you can just rip a bit off, throw it away and pull down a clean but.	The backdrops can be expensive, because you keep having to get rid of bits of warn, old, dirty paper. The paper is also easy to tear and becomes dirty quickly, it also comes in huge rolls that can be very heavy and hard to carry.
Silk Tripod	Tripods are very usefull. They are great for producing angled shots, producing tilts, and reducing camera shake. They are very potable and very stable.	If the tripod isn’t set up correctly, you can end up with a wonky and wrong aligned image. They can also be very expensive and easy to break.
Sigma 10-20mm Canon fit lens	This lens is a very high quality lens, and allows you to get wide angle pictures, without being miles away from the subject.	This lens is not a good one for using long distance as it has no zoom facility, it is made for close up images.

Magazine Mock Ups

below are examples of magazine mock ups, practice prior to creating our final products for our end of year project.


the front cover has been designed in photoshop whilst the double page spread has been created using the in Design software in the package both included in adobe CS4.

This is my mock up front cover. We were asked to create a magazine aimed at young people I decided to make a magazine aimed towards the male market as there seems to be a lack or gap in the market for targeting this section for fashion based subjects, I began with a blank A4 sheet on photoshop, I decided to use this piece of software as it is a professional standard editing platform and allows user to produce several ranging effects with images and text. I then added my image onto the sheet and began editing it adding gradient to the backdrop, I created the title using a text already within the software and began to add other heading to entice a reader. 

Above is my magazine double page spread mock up. It has been designed in InDesign, using columns, dropcaps, images, frames and text link. 

you can see my InDesign Skills are very basic and so i need development them before producing my final product 

Production Monitoring

Front Cover Inspiration 










Progress 


14th March 2011

this is an initial draft of my double page spread, we had been asked to look at existing double page spreads in magazines that attract a similar target audience to our own and investigate how they use the layout to maintain interest from reader, the above photo graph demonstrates a rough idea of how my design for my double page could look like. 






21st March 2011

Progress:

Since last week’s photo shoot on Friday I have begun to edit my images via the post production stage, I am editing my photos using Photoshop CS4 at home and at college to allow me to achieve professional standard images, to ensure I am achieving a professional standard I am ensuring that I am following tutorials and guidance from online sources and I have multiple copies of my work to ensure I have the chance to make changes at any stage of my editing process.

At the actual photoshoot on Friday 18^th March I spend around 45 minutes trying to get the shot I wanted for my front cover, after several different poses and rearrangements of lighting setups along with over 50 photographs I felt I had the one image I needed, once I had shot the front cover image I then decided to photograph the prop individually to use at some point further within my magazine on the double page spread, after this I then transferred the images from the SD card onto my memory stick and student account on the college network to ensure I had two safe legitimate copies of my work.

Overall I had no real problems or issues at the photoshoot with neither the model or any props involved, everything seemed to run seamlessly with exception to the time restrictions, the only real issue we had was the time and this was against us from the start as we had only a 45 minute slot to successfully shot my front cover, this meant that we were unable to change the outfit that the model was wearing as frequently as we would have liked, I feel with more time on location (in studio) i could have achieved a more successful image as I would have more variation in the images i have because if more time was available to me I feel I would have introduced other props and clothing so in the editing stage I was more confident that I have multiple images that i could select from rather than 1 or 2 that I thought would be to the standard I required.

1^st April 2011

Progress:


As of today my project is starting to take shape, since my initial editing on the 21^st March 2011 I have almost completed my front cover design and only have simple additions to make for example to add some strap lines, the front cover is coming along nicely and by the end of today will be completed therefore allowing me time to develop my article/double page spread.

I have edited my props and model for my front cover in separate documents and once completed I will copy the layers I have effectively created into one file to lay on top of the background I have made following an online tutorial.

Although I am pleased with the current product I have had some issues along the way to development, the biggest problem I have had and possibly could have had was to lose all my data, my memory stick contained all my media project work and as of Wednesday I have lost all content due to the files becoming corrupted as the pen drive snapped within the computer, I have decided to send my broken pen drive away to be fixed however this occurrence has hindered my project development as all initial ideas, layout designs, and images from the day of shooting have been lost,  the lack of organisation or the issue for no contingency for this has meant that I will have to wait a week before my actual front cover shoot will be processed onto the Photoshop file I am currently working on, in the mean time I am booking myself in for another shoot as I understand that the data may not be retrieved.

Below is  a screenshot of the front cover as it currently stands at 11:30 this morning, I am planning on further developing the design as I understand that the lack of headings  and no focal image make the product incomplete.

For this screenshot I have included the layers panel so that you are able to see the use of independent layers used to generate this front cover, in addition I have also rasterized the layers so that it is clearer for you to see what layers have particular fonts or fill boxes on and be able to associate these with what is included on the cover.

20th April 2011 


since the last progress entry i have further developed my front cover and double page spread, below are the two finished examples of work.

what  has been done on my front cover here for my model  is that i have effectively used the raw file editor within Photoshop and have made the “blacks” in the photo almost to fill the image, the original image I started working on was well lit and so the black adjustments were necessary to create this image to this and the allow me to produce this image I firstly opened a separate Photoshop document, after this I then changed the levels of blacks so that the background turned a dark grey whilst the model turned fully black, after confirming these changes I then put the image into the invert mode so that I could determine the dark colours from the slightly lighter greys, after this I added a new blank layer with checkerboard affect and unlocked the background layer, then I began to erase the model form the scene using the erase tool and once the image was of the model only I dragged the layer onto the backdrop of the original file and positioned her around the sub titles and headings, the final adjustment I made to this layer was to rotate the image horizontally so that the model was facing the opposite direction 

see more information in unit 3 evaluation !

Shutter Speeds

The Shutter Speed controls the amount of light being let into or through the lens to get to the senor or film, the shutter speed can be altered via two settings on a camera, fully manual mode and via the shutter priority mode.

In basic terms a picture is constructed using 3 key components, the shutter speed, the aperture and the ISO. These 3 combine to make the image what it is and can have dramatic effects on a image when a user understands it functions, the shutter speed as we now know controls how much light comes onto the senor during a specific duration however the aperture or F stop can also control the contrast of an image as by using F3.5 or lower the camera allows as much light as possible into the camera body within the time period that the shutter speed is set to, having a low F stop means that the maximum amount of light can be let in, if a image is taken in dark conditions and the user of the camera wants to manually select a high or fast shutter speed for example 1/125 (125^th of a second) the F stop will be lowered to around 3.5 or lower, the problem with this is that F3.5 allows a limited amount of depth of field meaning that only a section of a subject may be well in focus whilst the rest appears out of focus, a way to adapt this would be to alter the ISO settings, in dark conditions the ISO can be altered to allow more light onto the sensor and therefore allows the subject to be lit better, this MAY allow the user to have a higher F stop depending on conditions for example if it is lit well enough to shoot F8 and get a well exposed image it would benefit the photographer as they would be able to get a better depth of field, there are however drawbacks to shooting with high ISO’s and we shall look at this in the ISO explanation below.

The shutter speed when manually set can be used in two key and visually obvious way, using a slow shutter speed blur’s any action, whilst using a fast shutter speed enables the picture to freeze the subject and its action, using the technique of a slow shutter speed is used when photographing landscapes or mainly still subjects, using a slow shutter speed for example 20 or 30 seconds means that the F stop can be pushed to its max for example f22 or f29 enabling the camera to produce a photo with everything in focus, this technique can also be used for another effect for example to blur a subject, if a photograph was to be taken of a sports can where there is frequent movement a long shutter speed may be out of favour by many however if the speed is correct the image produced can have a great effect.

Below are 3 examples of long shutter speeds to demonstrate different uses of the technique the first shows a perfectly in focus landscape where a long shutter speed combined with a high aperture has allowed for a great depth of field, the second image shows a usage of a long shutter speed in a sports event and this image showcases a difficult but effective usage of a longer shutter speed, and the third image shows the effect of a slow shutter speed on a moving subject to create a mysterious effect that isn’t seen by the human eye.

Below are 2 further examples of shutter speeds however this time these examples show the use of catching a moment by freezing a subject using a fast shutter speed for example 1/400 (400^th of one second) fast shutter speeds are used mainly in sports events where the action needs to be captured as a striker in football celebrates or is about to shoot which could possibly result in a goal.

examples of my slow / fast shutter speeds

fast

fast

Slow

Slow

ISO Settings

The ISO speed affects the shutter speed / aperture combinations that you use to obtain correct exposure.
a digital camera's light meter warns you there is not enough light to correctly expose a scene, the options are to  use the on camera flash, slow the shutter down or have a higher ISO. if the ISO is increased sensitivity allows you to obtain a correctly exposed picture, However all this increase in sensitivity does not come without drawbacks, your image will appear more digitally noisy and so is less likely to be able to be printed to a large size format.


below are 3 examples of different ISO settings to show how low, medium and high settings can affect a image dramatically.


on the first image the ISO value is 200 and you can see limited amounts of content within the scene, below on the second image the ISO value is 800 and you can begin to see more background content, and finally on the 3rd image you can see as the value of ISO is 1,600 we can see a wall in the distance however it appears very noisy and if enlarged would make for a poor quality print.

Side / Front Lighting

Side and front lighting is where the light falls on a particular part of the subject. 

Side Lighting is where light falls onto a subject from the side in relation to the camera's positioning.

Front Lighting is where light shines onto the side of the subject facing directly towards the camera.

Side lighting can connotate darkness in the photo as light is only falling on one side of the subject, Side lighting is good for photographing males as it accents the jawline.

Front lighting - Depending on where the light comes from produces different effects, if the light comes from above it produces what is known as "butterfly lighting" this is because it makes a shape that is very similar to a butterfly under the nose Front Lighting can also be called Glamor lighting as it is often used when photographing female models etc, Front lighting is usually used to photograph females as it highlights the more feminine features it also softens the jawline and the check bones.