I have used the 'Curves' tool, to edit the colours in  the following images.

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Front Cover Evaluation

When taking my photographs I used auto focus to produce clear professional images.  The T-stance was the best stance to take my photographs, as it enabled me to hold the camera steadily to prevent blurred images.  I took my photographs in portrait mode, this enabled me to get a produce a professional head & shoulders shot. I used very balanced composition through the rule of thirds. I left enough room in the top third for my Masthead, the middle third included the main feature ‘the face of my model, and the bottom third included the ‘neck and shoulders of my model’.  As I wanted an indie/urban look for my magazine cover, I used backgrounds such as back streets.  I understood how to correctly focus my camera to produce clear in focus images, leaving me with may images to select from to produce my front cover.  I also learned that the positioning of the sun affects the brightness of the image, positioning the sun behind the camera produced clearer, brighter images.   Communicating with my subject was simple, I was able to control and position my subject exactly how I needed. Some images were not taken correctly, for example in the 3rd photograph my subject is slightly too small and too the left. The image is also badly out of focus. 

Furthermore, I used many tools in Photoshop to create my magazine front cover. I used ‘Brightness/Contrast’ as well as ‘Levels’ to heighten the colours and make them more vibrant/ eye catching.  I also used the ‘Magnetic Lasso Tool’, to select the background then turn it to ‘black and white’. Tools such as the ‘Horizontal Type Tool’, ‘Rectangle Tool’, ‘Ellipse Tool’, ‘Crop Tool’ and ‘Stroke’ were also used to create my magazine front cover. I didn’t find using any of the tools difficult, and comfortable produce my product with no problems.  

The text used on my cover was controlled, most my texts where very similar in style and compliment my theme.  On the main quote at the bottom of the cover, I used a ‘drop shadow’ to make it distinctive, it creates an eye catching 3D effect. As you can see by my original images I used the cropped my main image down to the correct size, I then used ‘free transform’ to expand my image and fit it to the page.  I did not download any fonts; I used the fonts made available by Photoshop itself. I used colours from my subjects shirt, the main colours used were; black, white, gold and green.

To improve my front cover, I would change some of the font types, and use a wider variation of fonts making each cover line stand out individually. I would also make my masthead bigger to reduce white space at the top of my cover, making my cover busier.  I believe that my main strength of my cover is the layout; the composition of my main image works well with the arrangement of my cover lines and front-page splashes.  All text used on my cover, is eye-catching and stands out well, the bold stroke used around my texts forms a good contrast against the background colours.

Magazine Cover

AS Media Production: Technical Skills Audit Print Production

AS Media Production: Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Jason Ross Mclean                            Tutor group:1.02                  Date:16/09/2013

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		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.
Shutter Speed		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.
Aperture control		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.
A tripod		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.
External flash		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.
Self timer facility		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.
Light meter		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.
Composition grids		NO	I have never used this photographic feature/equipment before.

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
Text control	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Filters	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Brushes	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Layers	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Opacity control	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Shape creation	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Brightness and contrast control	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Dodge/Burn	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Clone stamp tool		NO	I have never used this Photoshop feature before.
Colour curves adjustment	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Cropping tool	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS
Retouch tool	YES		GCSE GRAPHICS

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
Margin and column guide creation		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Inserting text in ID		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Inserting images in ID		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Resizing images in ID		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Text flow creation		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Text effects – drop shadow		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Drop cap insert		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Using transparent imagery in ID		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Shape creation In design		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Text wrapping		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.
Exporting to PDF from In-design		NO	I have never used this InDesign feature before.