Photoshop Workshop

Photoshop Workshop(Lesson One)

You have to know what you want the output to be before you start creating the design on photoshop. As you can not change the size afterwards.

72pixels Screen

300pixels Print

RGB colour mode (Light)

CMYK colour mode (Ink)

They reproduce two totally different range of colour. Non-destructive if working in RGB.

All photos that are captured from a camera will be in RGB colour mode, as camera capture light.

You can see colour mode by going to image > mode > then a tick next to the one it is been created on.

If you want to print a RGB photo then you need to:

Destructive: Image > Mode > change mode to CMYK. (Dull, looks like what it will look like when printed). Discarded all the extra colours. Once saved can not turn back.

 Non Destructive: Proofing what it will look like when printed View > Proof colours. To go back to original View > Proof colour & untick.

View > Gamut warning: Showing all the colours that are out of the CMYK range.

Once you have click Gamut Warning: You can change the colours by:

 Levels is not going to work for this photo as it depends on the type of photo you are adapting.

This is the photo which is shown in Gamut Warning as we have changes the hue and saturation to allow it to be able to print correctly, like on the screen.

Editing photo with layer levels

We need to adjust the levels as we want to make it lighter but not been destructive to the original image.

Not we can see more detail within the bottom of the photo as it was rather dark before.

All white so therefore its masking everything but the selling is now too light so therefore we can change this by:

We need to make sure we have black to the foreground and also choosing a soft brush and then choose the brush tool while you have selected the levels layer.

This has now restored the ceiling and kept the detail at the bottom.

Self Trial

 This is the photo before i used the levels panel to enhance the detail in the ceiling and masked out some of the lighter parts .

This is the final photo editted as you can see a lot more detail and i have still kept the same lightest on the ceiling as it became too light to be able to see it.

Quick Selection Tool

Because there is such a definite contrast between the sky and the status we can use the quick selection tool. Then if you hold the closed bracket and click over the statue it should select the whole of that area.

I have now while the statue been selected by the dotted lines has clicked layers > levels. Then you move the arrows to suit the photo. Now you can see it has only adjusted the white part on the square on the layers panel.

If you needed to choose a photo that need the gaps not adjusting if it was an obvious distraction you could use the magic wand tool.

Photo Merge

Use all the automatic settings. There are many different settings you can choose for example cylindrical which i similar to fish eye etc... You should always ave blend images together and then you can choose to create a vignette effect.

This is the panorama I have created using photo merge in Photoshop. From three photos of San Francisco.

This is the image cropped down so you can't see any of the choppy edges and you receive a seamless photo of the scene of San Fransisco.

Photoshop Workshop (Lesson Two)




Stack Photos & Median

 We want all the bean photos to all be in one file when transported so this is how you load multiple images on one file.

This is what will come up is when you click the load files into stack you have to chose your folder with your photos in. 

Attempt to align sources images would be good if not used a tripod.

Smart object is when you want to have all them one layer. If you don't click this it would open them on all on different layers. 

 The icon in the bottom right hand corner means that its a smart object.

This is the next step this creates the median out of all the images so you just get what is the most common in the photos. There is 200+ photos that you take every 30 seconds set up infront with a tripod.

This is the final of the median. Although there is always people underneath the bean so if you look closer up on the bean it is very ghostly and blurred in effect of that. Now i want to change the sky as it is not a very nice effect.

 This is the new photo i chose of that nice sky that i wanted to paste over my median photo. I have then quick selected tool the sky and then select>Inverse it should have selected the bottom.

I have deleted the bottom now and it has cleared the bottom of the photo with the nice sky but the sky is still there layer over the median photo.

Contact Sheet

This is how you create a contact sheet to check photos against others.

You need to choose your folder where you want your photos are saved. You need to change the page size to A4 because its set to American letterhead. Also change the resolution to pixels per inch and 300 then the thumbnails how many you want per page etc...

This is the outcome of the contact sheet. This could be used in an interim crit or to send to a client of the photography you have done.

PDF- Portable Document Format.You need it to be in this to create a double sided document.

Print Based Format: Loss less- look as good as possible don't don't want to lose any information. (TIFF)
Screen Based Format: Lossy- compresses all the images so you lose quality and lose information so it opens immediately mainly for web. (JPEG) 

This is the tiff save as option as it shows no image compression. We are just going to leave it as default settings.

This saving as jpeg. Saved as maximum quality on jpeg.

The size of the jpeg is alot smaller and the tiff has not effected the file in size format.

We want to use acrobat to double side print so we are going to combine files into PD.

 This is what pops up so we choose our files we want to double side print.

 You need a small file size for screen based files and large file size for print based files.

Then we save the acrobat version as a PDF and save it in same file.

Then when we have saved we will open it in preview as thats the easiest way to print the double sided document.

 Need to make sure that the two sided is click.

 Make sure it is not scale to fit as we want it at A5 not A4. So make sure its scale & 100%.

 Layout>Border
Portrait- Long Edge Binding
Lanscape- Short Edge Binding

Legibility & Readability

Distance does have an impact on legibility although the readability is not effected as it becomes easier to read when on one line.

Have to think of the scale of the font due to the distance that you are wanting to use if from...

NOT BLOCK:
Make headlines/distance therefore big point size (large scale)
Problematic at small scale
Not suppose to be used for sentences, are for a couple of words only.
Legible from distance & not readable.


NOT SCRIPT:
Too small due to the nature of script as they form together in a small point size.
Have an optimum size
Are not designed to work at all point sizes
If the writing is too large it begins to break apart. And the counters break down.
Sentences - small scale to a certain amount of body copy.
Single lines more readable due to descenders etc..


Gothic: The bigger they get the less readable they become it is a very neutral typeface.

Roman: Using italics can let you flow accross the page.

The most readable is lowercase & the most unreadable is uppercase as it reads as a block.

Editorial Design: Gothic Fonts - Dealing with columns & therefore more lines.

The only way to turn to roman & gothic fonts as headlines is to increase the weight.    

End of Module Self Evaluation

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN		LEVEL	04
Module Code	OUGD403
Module Title	DESIGN SKILLS

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME	Melissa Gater

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
The main thing I have learnt within this module is the form of the typeface and how some of the alphabet shapes can be developed to make another letter. Here I have used this within the typeface, which I created for Jordan, which I used largely with the pattern in the stems of the form of the typeface. In this module I have learnt how to use illustrator with more of an in depth knowledge and new things you can do with illustrator. Which I have passed on these skills within the illustrator brief.  I have also learnt how o manage my time effectively as at first I felt like I had a lot of work to process but towards the end I had a plan of when to blog when to have my work done, which has given me a better approach to the module.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
My approach to the design skills module has been informative to my final result due to my research is a big part od my development as all my ideas come when researching more into the briefing set. My time management skills have developed through the start of this brief due to the allowance I have to double check all my work and not rushing around on interim critique day. The visual thinking brief made me think of different medias as I had the word glow and nothing I did was relative to glow until I experimented with chalk etc…. The use of doing a large scale of ideas before starting your brief final has been very informative as you can develop while on paper which saves time than doing it while on screen in most cases,
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
My strengths that I have realised whilst doing this brief is that I am quite organised as I do tasks on time and I intend to keep this up throughout my time here as I will use my diary to its full use, as I think it has been a great time management tool for myself. Therefore due to my organisation and time management I have met deadlines and had all my work at every critique.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I believe that I am just settling for a final design rather than spending time to finalise it as we have such a short period of time, so I need to allow my self for time to develop after critique over the weekend rather than setting myself other tasks to do. Also, although I have good time management skills I need to allow myself to blog my days events on the night and also within the blog taking better pictures by scanning and get in to the routine of putting where the images are from at the bottom of the picture.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
Next time I would do lots of ideas but if I find a good idea that I want to stick on mid way through, I shouldn’t go on and do further ideas and waste time when I wont like them. Therefore I will have more time to develop my final idea when created digitally. The second thing I would do differently is keeping all my things together and not throwing rubbish versions away, as not it has come to hand in and I have misplaced all my work although most of it is blogged. Thirdly I need to keep my blogging up to date therefore can put research picture straight onto my blog and link them below, also blog a critique or a session is more fresh in your mind if you do it the same day rather than 1 or 2 days later. The Fourth thing is that I will not be mad or upset at silly mistakes as you will learn from them next time and remember more prominent by doing things wrong. For example not throw away my rubbish versions of printing or the bad ideas and little sheets that I have just scribbled on but could have had some relation to my work. Finally I need to up my standard of work I don’t feel like I am producing the best I can be when I look at others I either need to be more confident about my work or develop my idea until I am happy with the level of the quality of my final piece.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					✓
Punctuality					✓
Motivation					✓
Commitment					✓
Quantity of work produced				✓
Quality of work produced			✓
Contribution to the group			✓
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.