QUESTION 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

By Ed Elliott

Preliminary Final Production

Preliminary Final Production

ProgressionThe improvements I wanted to make in progression from my preliminary task were as follows:

As you can see with my final production, I used a variety of images with different styles and different sizes. My front cover image I learnt how to use lighting equipment and the amount of light in the image through the camera to create a more contrasted outcome. I further adapted the brightness and contrast to create a sharper line down the face and to create a darker side and brighter side then the original image. I feel I have also progressed in the use of fonts and sizes to create the best possible effect for the text. The fonts and styles I used in my final production are of professional quality and not so much a basic style.

Learning

Other factors I feel I have learnt from creating my preliminary task to the final product is the massive use of Photoshop. I’ve gained experience in nearly all areas of it. It became second nature selecting layers, rasterizing images and texts, playing with the brightness and contrast and altering text. One of the biggest effects I learnt was embossing which I used on my masthead for the front cover. This created an effect that cant be made normally and adds boldness to the text to allow it to ‘jump’ out of the page at the reader – it draws them in and entices them to read the magazine.

ProgressionThe improvements I wanted to make in progression from my preliminary task were as follows:

As you can see with my final production, I used a variety of images with different styles and different sizes. My front cover image I learnt how to use lighting equipment and the amount of light in the image through the camera to create a more contrasted outcome. I further adapted the brightness and contrast to create a sharper line down the face and to create a darker side and brighter side then the original image. I feel I have also progressed in the use of fonts and sizes to create the best possible effect for the text. The fonts and styles I used in my final production are of professional quality and not so much a basic style.

Furthermore, the complexity of my design was increased to create a much better product. I learnt how to work with multiple layers to have text over images and vice versa. I wasn’t sure how to use this during my preliminary task, resulting in basic image and text templates. So by doing it I created a much more flowing design.

Also but doing research after my preliminary task and comparing it to current magazines, I knew I had to stick to a structure/layout which all magazines have of one kind or another. So for my front cover I knew I couldn’t have too much text but then I couldn’t have too little and it had to be either side of the main image to put focus on the anchor text and feature image. Also for the contents page I very rarely found just one image on the whole with some text over the top, it’s usually in sections/boxes in a randomized grid to create a neat, closed page with the key information and images on.

All the things I learnt from producing my preliminary task and final front cover and contents page, I was then able to

take on board and include in my double page spread.

ImageConcerning the image, I was able to learn how to create a professional looking image. I did this by learning how to use the lighting equipment through trial and error to create shadows and highlights on the faces and bodies in order to show contrast. I also developed skills on Photoshop to be able to manipulate these aspects further as well as create a smooth face and skin using spot and skin correction tools.

BEFORE AFTER