Adam Clarke November 21st

What. Task 1  The first task I did was to research the history of photography this involved researching important people, technology and key points in photography such as the Camera Obscura and Henry Fox Talbot.  After completing this task I learnt about different techniques such as the Daguerreotype and Negative to Positive (which allowed people to take multiple images).  The next task I completed was about an individual photographer. This was more difficult because I didn’t know much about photography or photographers and did not know who to choose. Eventually after searching online I chose David Doubilet an underwater landscape/sealife photographer. This required researching about him, what genre of photography he is in, examples of his work and why I liked his work. (I like underwater landscapes because they are different and like to see things that are new. I also like to see unusual sealife.) When researching about David Doubilet I discovered that he invented a way to take pictures above and below the sea at the same time.

Examples of David Doubilet’s work

What. Task 2  For this piece I created three CD inlay designs for a band of my choice. I found this the most difficult task because I do not listen to music and found it difficult to choose a band to create a CD inlay for. This made it challenging and stopped me from continuing my work. To overcome this I spent a lot of time thinking and trying to remember names of bands/songs I have heard and liked. After a lot of thinking I finally decided to choose Bourbon Crow because I needed to choose a band and I have heard their music before and thought it was good. What I like about their music the most is that it is humorous and not serious like other music. When I finally choose a band I thought the task went well and found it quite easy to do both thinking of ideas and creating them.  When I finished creating the initial ideas I annotated them to say why I choose what I did and how I did it. I also included my opinions about what I thought was good and what was bad with the ideas.

What. Task 3  For the final task I took one of my initial designs and made it into a final design. I had to use pictures that I had taken myself which made this task difficult because I needed a picture of a crow.  Trying to get a picture of a crow made this task considerably more difficult because I could not find a crow anywhere, I searched in any place that a crow would usually be found near a church, graveyard and in parks and was unable to find a crow. The only time I found a crow I did not have a camera so I could not take a picture of them. Eventually I found a model of a crow in a shop window and was then able to complete my work. After finding the crow the rest of the work was easy as I had the other picture I needed.

How  To create my CD inlays I used the internet mainly Google images to collect images related to the bands name I also experimented by creating an inlay that is linked to a song title instead of the bands name.  To create my initial ideas I used Photoshop. To do this I first took the images I wanted and combined them together to create a new image. The tools I used Copy/Paste, Eraser/Magic Eraser, Paint Brush, Magic Wand, Quick Selection, Scale, Pen and Ink, Text and the Blur tool.  For my first design I placed the background first and then had to edit the second picture by deleting the background, I then placed the image onto the background to make my first CD inlay.  For my second design I made a simple black background using the paint tool and then placed the other images onto it. (I deleted the backgrounds for the pictures by using the Quick Selection tool and the Magic Wand to make deleting the background easier) for the back of the CD inlay I flipped the image to make it look like the other side of the image.  For my final design I used a song title for inspiration as I started to run out of ideas. To create my final image I first created the background by simple importing the image I then had to place the pictures on top of it. (deleting their backgrounds with the magic wand/quick selection tools) When I created the back of the CD inlay I first deleted part of it (mountains) and then selected the top of the image (sky) and scaled it to make it seem as the background (desert) was continuing onto the back.

How  Creating my final design was more difficult then the initial design because it required pictures I had taken and it was difficult for me to get the images I need. (why)why  When I had the images I needed it was a lot easier. To create my design (I choose my second design) I created the background using the paintbrush and then imported my images ( firstly deleting the backgrounds with the quick selection and magic wand tools) I then placed them onto the background and moved them similar to my initial design.  A problem I had was I needed a picture of a shot glass but could not take one. To overcome this I used the top of the bottle (first flipping the image and the using the crop tool to get the parts I need and using the eraser to neaten the edges) I then copied one side of the image as it was not as sharp and pasted it, I then flipped that image and used the blur tool to make it blend together, I then duplicated the image so there was two shot glasses like my design.

Project review  I found the initial ideas challenging because I do not listen to music and took a very long time to think of a band. When I finally choose a band I found it a lot easier.  For the first design I took the bands name and tried to make a cover using their name. I think that my first idea works well because it fits into the theme of the band and has references to some songs.  The second design I think was the most successful because it is simple and eye-catching, I still used the bands name for ideas but didn’t try to add to much. The bottle of bourbon and the crow fit in with the name but I added shot glasses next to them which makes it seem like they will be drunk. I did this because it fits in with the atmosphere of the songs.  The third design I had more trouble with because I started to run out of ideas but then decided to use a song title. The cover was a bed in a desert (the songs name) with a crow landing on it and a bottle of bourbon on the bed. I choose this song title because it was more suitable then the others and had easier images to locate.  I think that my second design was the best because it was simple but stood out. I also liked the third design because it was eye-catching and strange.

Project review  When going from my initial idea to my final design I didn’t change much because I thought that my design would be strong enough to develop.  I do not think that my final design is as successful as my initial design because my pictures were not as good. I could not find a crow and had to use a plastic one, which does not look good. Another problem was I didn’t get a picture of shot glasses. I did improvise by using Photoshop but I do not think it looks as good as it could. (I used the top of the bottle by flipping it and modified it to look like a shot glass)  I think that my initial ideas are more professionally executed because the pictures are sharper and clearer. The colours in my final design are dull compared to my initial ideas and do not have as much contrast.

Future work  If I was going to do change anything I would change quit a lot.  Firstly I would use a better camera, so I could get pictures with better quality and zoom in further as the camera I used did not zoom in far enough and stopped me from getting better pictures.  Secondly I would try to get a real crow by making sure I have a camera with me at all times and search more places so I have more chance to get the picture I need.  Lastly I would try to get better lighting on the images to make them stand out more, as the pictures I did get were quite dark and difficult to see.  Overall I think that my work was good but could have been much better with different opportunities. I have quite enjoyed this project as it involved more practical work which was different then usual.