Evaluation of magazine cover.

         When taking the images that were going to be included within the design of my front cover i used a range of methods and skills.I used manual focus when taking the images this was just re-itterating skills that i had previously learnt.I learnt that the T-stance is used to provide the user of the camera with an increased amount of stability when operating the camera therefore to reduce the amount of blurred images created. The landscape and portrait stances identify the subject matters in different manners. The landscape mode is designed to look at a landscape or a scene as a whole whilst capturing the attitude and culture of scene. Whereas the portrait mode is used to look at a solitary object or person. I took all my images within a portrait mode as i was take an image of a singular person in a standing stance in close-up view.
         The images are all within focus as i manually focused all the images individually. I experimented with a range of lighting options and methods when to the front of the subject i found that the images came out to light, and then when shining to the rear of the image the photographs came out to dark as there was not enough light to the front of the image. I came to the conclusion that best photographs where when the light source was to the side of the subject, as this showed a wide amount of contrast within the tones of the image.When composing the images i altered the angle at which i took the image i did this to create a certain attitude.The background choice was inappropriate as i was unable to remove it from the image which would have improved the overall outcome of my front cover. I approach my subject in a manner that was both friendly however allowed me achieve the photos that i needed and have inevitably used.
         Throughout the altering of my initial cover i have used a wide range of tools within photoshop some that i have used before and others that are new to me. one of the tools that i have learnt is the cloning tool i have used this to get the effect upon a page that i require.Other tools that i have used throughout and i am more familiar with include the gradient and magic wand tools.I found the amount of layers upon the page hard to control and navigate around.However throughout the inclusion and altering of text was easily achieved.The amount of text included has be controlled to ensure that the front cover is not overly complicated and therefore appealable to the target audience. I cut out a number of images upon the front page i did this by ensuring that they had a white background and then i used the magic erase tool to delete this solid white background.
          Within my work i used a number of effects and drop shadows upon both my images and my text this is because it both enhances the overall finish of the image and the tone within them. Included within the effects i used where outer glow and embossing certain images. The fonts that i used within the creation of my front cover can all be found within photoshop i used Lucida Handwriting. I have used a small range of colours to give the front cover a very consistent overall look so the colours that i chose to use are dark red and white.

Finished front cover.

Rejected Photographs.

 This image has been rejected as the detail upon 

her face has been lessened by the exaggerated light.

This image is too dark to be used as the detail 

of the image will be lost if the image is to be edited and

 reduced in saturation as I intend it too be.

Successful images.

Successful photo-shoot for front cover.

Media Skills Audit

AS Media Production: Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Sean Furphy                    Tutor group: 1.05               Date: 17/09/13

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 Creative writing classes	x		AS-level
Shutter Speed	x		AS-level
Aperture control	x		AS-level
A tripod	x		AS-level
External flash	x		AS-level
Self timer facility	x		AS-level
Light meter		x
Composition grids		x

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	x		AS-level
Filters	x		AS-level
Brushes		x
Layers	x		AS-level
Opacity control	x		AS-level
Shape creation		x
Brightness and contrast control	x		AS-level
Dodge/Burn		x
Clone stamp tool		x
Colour curves adjustment		x
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool		x
Cropping tool	x		AS-level
Retouch tool		x

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		x
Inserting text in ID		x
Inserting images in ID		x
Resizing images in ID		x
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation		x
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		x
Text flow creation		x
Text effects – drop shadow		x
Drop cap insert		x
Using transparent imagery in ID		x
Shape creation In design		X
Text wrapping		x
Exporting to PDF from In-design		x