Designing a CD Cover

My task was to design a CD cover using Photoshop-particularly using brushes and imaginative fonts. Therefore, I had to learn how to download brushes from Brusheezy.com and use skills I had previously learned to pick a suitable font and download it for use in Photoshop.

Firstly, I had to create a new document in Photoshop to use as my background. This meant inputting the correct dimensions of a CD cover size-this was 120mm x 120mm. I then set the resolution to 300 pixels per inch and 16 bit. These are the resolutions used in print media production to produce something of good quality. 
Having created my blank background I could now foucus on downloading custom brushes for use on my cover. Photoshop has a large amount of pre-installed brushes but to get images such as the one I have used on my final cover you must download a brush from a site such as Brusheezy.com or Deviant Art. To do this, you use a similar method as when downloading fonts. Firstly, I selected a brush set from Brusheezy.com and clicked download. To ensure I could access my fonts easily I created a new 'Brushes' folder in my Unit 2 media folder. This would save time when browsing for my brush set to open it in Photoshop. My chosen brush set was then downloaded to my new folder. I then had to extract its contents by right-clicking the zipped file and selecting 'Extract all'. This meant my brush set was usable and I would be able to open it in Photoshop. Next, I began the process of opening my brush set in Photoshop. Firstly, I selected the brush tool and opened the dropdown box which would let me edit my brush. In this dropdown box there is a small right-pointing arrow which opens another menu. In this menu, I selected 'Load brushes', this gave the option to open my chosen brush selection. I then selected the folder where I had saved my new brush and opened it for use in my cover design. I was then able to select my particular flower shape and 'paint' it onto my blank background. I found that my initial image I was left with was quite faint to I applied the brush several times in the same place to make the colours stronger and the contrast in the colours more effective. I chose to use one large image as I thought it looked bold and the flower image itself was relevant to the band name I was given of 'Natures Heroes'. 

The font I chose was called 'Over Atlantic City' and I selected this from dafont.com. I liked this font because it was simple and gave a look of long, spiny letters similar to flower stems-again linking to the bands title. To do this I chose my font from the website, clicked download and then had to right-click to extract my font to ensure it was accessible. To install it on my computer I went to Local Disk, Windows, Fonts and then copied it across. I had created a folder specifically for fonts within my media folder to make sure my font was easy to find. I chose a yellow colour to reflect the colour of the background sunflower image to show what colour it would be if it was not desaturated. The yellow also stood out well on the black, white and grey brush image. I also edited the shape of my text so that it followed the shape of the flower. To this I used a text editing tool to create an arc and adjusted the amount of curve it was given to ensure it fitted my background shape. 

Overall I am pleased with my finished result as it simple yet effective. My background image is bold on the white background an links to the bands title as it features a natural image of a sunflower. I also like the font I have chosen as it has a natural feel due to it not having perfectly straight lines.  I have also considered the colour of my font and linked it to the colour of the background image. My text is in yellow and shows the colour of the sunflower if it was not desaturated. The way my text is fitted to follow the shape of the background images adds fluidity and the circular shape also links to the shape of the CD which would be inside the finished case.


Cross Processing


             Original Image

Creating this vintage-style effect is very simple to do when using Photoshop. I chose this image as it featured a lot of different colours which meant the adjustments I made would have a different effect on each colour in the image. 

After opening up the image you want to edit the first step in creating this effect is to create a new adjustment layer. This is done by clicking the small 'New Layer' icon at the bottom of the layers window and selecting curves in the type of layer you require. This icon is 2 icons left of the 'New Layer' icon. A menu will open up and will have the option of creating a 'Curves' layer. A new editing window will open above the layers window which enables you to edit the amount of red, green and blue within your image. 



I first edited the amount of red in my image. I aimed to make an 'S' shape in the box where I could edit this. I experimented with where I placed my dots on my line in the box until I thought the amount of red in my image was suitably adjusted. I did not want to give my image a red hue. 

I then moved on to editing the levels of green within my image. This time, I wanted the line within the curves box to remain straight. Instead of making an 'S' shape I clicked at each end of the line and dragged top point down and the bottom point up. I think that this adjustment especially gave my finished image a vintage-look. 






When editing the levels of blue I again wanted my line to be an 'S' shape. However this time I found that I did not want too much blue in my image as it was a strong colour in my original image. My 'S' was much more sloped when compared to the red line and was more stretched.

Edited Image

Photoshop Editing Skills

Original Image

 Photoshop can be used to subtly enhance images to add impact and make them more interesting. A simple way of editing photos is to use auto colour, auto contrast and auto tone. This means that the Photoshop programme adjusts certain aspects of the image automatically. This can mean that the contrast is lightened or darkened and the same with the colour levels. Auto tone adjusts the tone of the image and enhances the tone quality. For this image I have used auto colour. Personally I think that the original image is better as the colours are not adjusted very well when the effect is applied. I think that the effect gives the photo too much of a pink hue whereas the original photo has more of a warmer feel due to red being the stronger colour against the green.

Auto-colour applied

Desaturation

 Desaturating an image simply means to draw all of the colour of an image. This effect is very simple and adds a lot of impact. To create an effective desaturated image you should adjust the brightness and contrast to ensure the image features bright white and dark black. This strong contrast of colour highlights the most important areas and is often thought to make images seem elegant and is very popular in wedding photography. When shooting portraits a desaturated effect is often used as these images are seen as more attractive. To create this effect in Photoshop you must select image, desaturate and apply the effect to your image. In this image I have adjusted the brightness and contrast to add depth of colour to my image.



Desaturated Image

Vignetting

Adding a vignette to an image darkens the outer corners and therefore focuses the viewers attention on the centre and your subject. It also makes a subject appear to stand out more due to the darker colours surrounding it. To create this effect you should use the elliptical marquee tool to drag out a large oval around your subject-you must ensure the feather is set to around 60 as this smooths the line surrounding the subject. If you did not do this the line would be very sharp and visible, making the vignette very obvious. Then, to select the area outside of the oval you have drawn, click select and inverse. You will see that the shape outside of the oval is now selected. To create the darker area you must then adjust the brightness. It should not be adjusted too much as the vignette effect should be subtle. Then to de-select the new vignette press CTRL+D, the 'crawling ants' will disappear. If you want to increase the intensity of the vignette you should use the Burn tool, this will darken parts of the image you brush over with the mouse. To lighten areas the Dodge tool should be used-this is helpful when there is too much shadow in some places, sometimes on someones face. The Burn tool has the opposite effect-it will darken areas which are too exposed. Using the Unsharp Mask tool increases the sharpness of an image, therefore improving its quality. To do this click Filter, Sharpen then Unshark Mask. Select a radius of 2-2.2 pixels and the strength to anywhere between 50%-150%. If you have made the mask too strong the image will appear too sharp and create effects such as wiry hair. You can easily edit this by adjusting the strength percentage. 



Shutter Speed

Varying the shutter speed on your camera can create very interesting images. To do this, you must set your camera onto shutter priority. A slower shutter speed will capture more movement and sometimes motion blur which also adds movement to an image. Panning can also be done to create movement when your subject is stationary, for this you should use a shower shutter speed. A fast shutter speed will freeze movement and is often used in sports photography to capture a specific moment. The slowest shutter speed you are able to use while hand-holding the camera is 1/60^th of a second. After this a tripod must be used. This is because slow shutter speeds pick up on any movement and the human body is always moving so you are never able to keep the camera completely stable.

SloW SHuTTER sPEED

These photos were taken using a slow shutter speed. I experimented with time ranges of between 1/10thsecond and 4 seconds. However I did not used a tripod as it was not important for my images to be completely in focus and free from camera shake. The longer the shutter speed, the more movement can be captured. To create the ‘LOVE’ image I wrote out each letter then merged the images using Photoshop. It was very difficult to write complete words as the light overlapped over each letter and was difficult to capture on camera. This technique was difficult to perfect so I had to experiment with the speed of the light movement and the shutter speed. It was also important to ensure the light was in the camera frame, this was sometimes difficult due to the dark surroundings. When using slow shutter speeds, images often end up overexposed. Due to the shutter being open for a prolonged amount of time, a large amount of light is let into the camera meaning photos are too bright. Therefore, to create my light shape images I had to ensure the room was completely dark to ensure only light from the torch was featured in the image.To create the spinning photo I used a shutter speed of 2 seconds and asked my model to spin on a chair. It was very simple but created a good effect as it shows a lot of motion blur and therefore movement due to the longer shutter speed.

FAST SHUTTER SPEED

I like these photos as the jumping movement is captured in mid-air. For this I used a fast shutter speed of 1/200^th second. This fast speed freezes the movement while still showing the movement within the image. The only problem faced when using fast shutter speeds is the lighting levels. As the shutter speed is so fast, the amount of light let into the image is dramatically reduced as there is not enough time for the light to enter the camera. Therefore, when using fast shutter speeds you must have good lighting conditions. Also you must press the shutter at the correct time to capture the movement as the fast shutter speed means the photo is taken almost instantly. 

Initial Skills Assessment

AS Media Production: Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Emma Nesham                           Tutor group:1.16                 Date:17.09.12012

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	Y		Basic level on own camera.
Shutter Speed		N
Aperture control		N
A tripod		N
External flash		N
Self timer facility	Y		Basic level on own camera.
Light meter		N
Composition grids	Y		Taking all photos-use grid to create better photos. Rule of thirds etc.

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
Have you ever used Photoshop ever before?	Y		On own laptop, experimented a lot on my own photos.
Text control		N
Filters	Y		Use photoshop filters to create different effects on photos-basic level.
Brushes		N
Layers		N
Opacity control		N
Shape creation		N
Brightness and contrast control	Y		Photography lessons and on own photos at home. Good level.
Dodge/Burn		N
Clone stamp tool		N
Colour curves adjustment	Y
Resolution setting control		N
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	Y		Used to cut out certain pieces of an image and add into another to create different effect.
Cropping tool	Y
Retouch tool	Y

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