First Photoshoot:
After I researched into other school magazines, I done my first photo shoot thinking about the model's appearance and the location. My aim was to capture a portrait image which was placed in the right location to avoid distraction from the model. It was important to take the picture at an appropriate time so that the lighting worked well with the models face.
I took more than 67 photos at different angles and compositions suiting the lighting. I tried to use her voluminousness red curly hair to penetrate the sunlight to contrast light and dark on her face to give her a complexion. However, one thing I need to improve is the mise en scene so that everything within the frame is relevant.
For example, in this image although she is placed so the sun is hitting her, the things behind her such as the railings and part of the flowers are irrelevant. They take focus away from the model and don't suit the theme however if this was cropped so there is only part of the wood showing the overall image would be more suitable.
In the same way, behind the protagonist there is unwanted items such as a clock, window and a painting. However, if this shot was taken exactly the same in a more isolated area in portrait it would be successful through the light and the angle that the medium close up is shown at.
Construction of Preliminary:
Once taking my photographs, I used Photoshop to improve the quality of the image whilst making the overall appearance of the model better. Here is some evidence of how I done this with the program. This first screen shot shows the photo I wanted to use before I edited it. I opened a new file and place the image into a new document. Which I titled "Abigail Front cover"
Here I used the clone stamp tool to remove and spots and blemishes. I done this by setting the mode to normal then selecting an area of her face which with a similar tone to the area I wanted to change. I pressed on the area holding alt then re pasted it over the spot or dark line continuously until it covered it up.
Another tool I used was the Blur tool used to fade an area. Once I cropped the background I found this tool useful for taking attention of anything that stands out behind the model. I used the tool by by selecting the "master diameter" for how much of the area I was selecting then I increased the "hardness" of the brush so that I could change the blurriness to suit me.
The tool I used the most is the wand tool which I used to select the areas I wanted to change. I preferred this to the lasso tool as it was faster and more effective. One way I used this was for the model's teeth. With the wand tool I carefully selected all the teeth by holding control and using a suitable tolerance. After I done this I was able to change the saturation which made her teeth brighter, ultimately improving her appearance.
Before Photoshop:
After Photoshop:
Contents Page photoshoot:
From this I chose my best photographs but found that these photos would be difficult to use for a contents page as the angle could be better and she is too close to the background making it difficult to edit out at a later stage.
So I decided to do a second photo shoot which was more similar to the photos taken for the Front cover page. I used the same kind of setting just took the picture from a different angle and made the model hold a book, so that it was more relevant to the school theme.
I took this picture because the angle showcases the model well whilst showing her smiling. The Vibrant costume highlights her face well especially with the natural light which reflects in her hair. Although this image isn't edited yet, I think it would work well on the contents page.