Final Evaluation

For this assignment I have created 3 final advertising posters. One to advertise the MAC make-up's Maleficent range, I thought that this seemed appropriate with halloween coming up soon; and that this would have been more challenging and fun to advertise over an individual lipstick for example. The second advertising poster I made was under the category of fashion. So I decided to create a poster for NewLook, as this is a shop where quite a few of my clothes come from, meaning that I would be able to use actual NewLook clothes on my poster for NewLook. The third and final poster that I made was for advertising jewellery. This poster was similar to my make-up one as in this I am not advertising one simple item, but more of a collection. This poster ended up advertising Dolce Gabbana jewellery, as I needed to put a name to my product, I had based my poster from my research witch was on more high end jewellery such as Dior and Channel, so that is why I chose D&G. 

My ideas did change and develop throughout this assignment, but I made the most changes when it came to editing my pictures; loads of ideas would come over me and I had to try them.  When I started editing my jewellery advertisement poster I was only supposed to be touching up my models skin, and making the background darker. I ended up changing my models skin to gold, making her hair darker and adding a textual leopard print background. My ideas also changed when I was editing my fashion poster. I was planning to leave the grey-ish coloured studio background in the image, but i ended up completely changing to the colour to a pale blue, just from experimenting with different coloured backgrounds. 

Each of my pictures on my posters where taken in the studio. For my fashion advertisement I set the studio up with, two soft boxes and a beauty dish. I wanted the lighting on this photo shoot to be quite soft. The beauty dish would also soften my models skin. When I used two models for my fashion pictures instead of one I found it hard to get the beauty dish to light up both of my models faces. For my make-up photo shoot I also used the same lighting as I did for my fashion, but as I was taking photographs I experimented with having different numbers of light boxes on, as I wanted this photo shoot to be darker than my fashion one. For my jewellery photo shoot I used, three soft boxe's, two at the back and one at the front left. I also used one beauty dish, and some reflectors. I also experimented with the lighting throughout the photo shoot to suit all different angles. 

One problem that I did have during this assignment was one of my models. I was originally going to do my Maleficent make-up shoot with a girl called Marissa. Unfortunately this model was consistently late, and just unreliable. Because of this I then had to find a new model, fortunately my friend Holly was available to model for me on the date I asked her, so that was my problem solved. Another problem I had with this assignment  was other class members not sticking to there studio time slots, and running over in to my time. When this happens I'm instantly put behind schedule before I have even started. I overcame this by signing out a location lighting kit, and went and made my own mini studio in an empty class room. This was not what I wanted to do as I had gone out of my own way to book the studio for my self in advance and then didn't get my slot due to other people. I feel like it should have been the people who where taking up my studio time that had to go and take out a location lighting kit. 

Overall I am really pleased with my final images, I feel that each of them look realistic, and are visibly improved from the originals. If I where to do this again I would have left my self with more time to take my maleficent pictures. I am pleased with the result of my poster, but I can't help but think how much better it could have been if I had stronger images. 

The Design Cycle

The design cycle. 
The sequence of phases trough witch a design evolves. For example: concept, design, analysis, simulation, and test.It's basically a system where you will have to fit your intended subject and it's other related topics into the design cycle. It can be used for any subject because ties pretty simple, and makes your project easier.

Step 1: investigate, you will have to look around for topics related to your intended subject. Resources will have to be sought.
This is research, for example when I went and researched different beauty, jewellery and fashion advertisements. Searching things that are relevant to the work you want to achieve, research may also give you inspiration for your design.  

Step 2: design, you will have to make decisions and solutions to make your project complete. (a project isn't a project if it doesn't have your decisions and solutions)
At this point I had all minds of ideas running trough my head inspired from research and just my own ideas. At this stage I decided on exactly what I wanted to advertise. I decided on, Make-up, Jewellery, and a scarf for fashion. 

Step 3: plan, in this step you need to know what to do, how it will take place, and precise calculations may be needed.
The next step is planing, for me this consisted of booking the studio in advance for certain dates when I'm free, and contacting and arranging to meet models. making sure that I have all three photo shoots done before the deadline, but also allowing time for a re-shoot if needed. 

Step 4: create, this is the stage where your plan will take place, you will have to be precise and accurate if you really want a good result. 
This is my favourite out of all the stages as this is the most practical. For this I had to go out and buy props, such as horns for my maleficent photo-shoot, and then costumes for your models to wear, such as having the scarf that I was advertising. Having my own jewellery to advertise. Also doing my models make-up to the way I want it. As well as setting up the studio and having all the lighting in the way you would like it, and also taking all the pictures.

Step 5: evaluate, this is the final step. You will really have to be sure with your project. Go over things make sure they are all correct, write about what you think. 
Evaluation is the stage where you look at all the work you have done and you critique it. Writing about what you like, don't like, what you did, and what you wish you had done. An example could be someones final evaluation at the end of their assignment, writing about everything that they did. Sometimes you may also be asked by a peer to critique other peoples work as well as your own, so the class can give and receive feedback.  

Fashion PhotoShoot

Recently I did my fashion photo shoot with model Grace in the studio. Callum also came to model for a few photos as well as Grace, because often in advertisements there are more than just one model. The aim if this photo shoot was to advertise the black and white hound-tooth scarf I wrote about previously.  For these photos I used two soft boxes and a beauty dish. The use of the soft boxes varied as I was trying to achieve different shades of grey and white on the background.  Wanted to use a grey colored background as I feel that it looks more professional than a white background, and also with the scarf being black and white, the grey will suit it nicely. 

Here are my contact sheets... 

Overall I'm really pleased with the outcome of my fashion shoot. I experimented using loads of different angles, and even jumped between using 1 or 2 models. Out of all the pictures that I took these are my favourite... 

I think this is a clean strong image. This clearly shows off the scarf and has been taken at a more interesting angle than normal. The model has quite a natural face in this picture,  she isn't very posed. With good space around the edges to add text. 

I really like this image, I like the way I have a male and female model posing together in this one. Just from looking at the image I see fashion. Its cear whats being advertised, although I don't like how you can't see all of the males face; and there wouldn't be much room to add text around the edges. 

I really like my models pose in this image, she has really strong eye contact with the viewer, and with her being topless it's a bit more sexy. (You know what they say, sex sells) There is a nice border around the edge allowing room to add text, but this image could have been taken at a more interesting angle. I think it clearly advertises the scarf though.

Once again I think that my models pose in this image is really strong.  Especially with her being face on and making clear eye contact. From this image I cant help but get more of a military feel coming trough, with the crossed scarf, bandanna and khaki coloured jacket. Unfortunately my male models pose wasn't as strong in this image, and I cant help but feel that he looks out of place in this image. 

Out of these four favorite images I'm going to use number 1, I'm choosing this picture over the others because I think that this one advertises the scarf the most. You can see more of the scarf in this image compared to the other 2 scarf advertisements and I feel that it also looks like more of a NewLook advertisement too. This is because in the 1st one she isn't topless, but still stylish therefore making it more teen friendly. I think that the topless images are still good advertisement but just not for a shop like newlook, these would be more suited towards a brand like Gucci for example, but this isn't much of a Gucci scarf. 
Now I have decided on what picture I am going to use for my poster advertisement, the next step is to edit the image and add text and a logo, to make it look like an actual advertisement. 

Firstly I went online to the NewLook website and got my self a large image of the NewLook logo, I would later need this to add to my picture. 

Fortunately the logo is written up on a plain white background, therefore making it easier to select the background with the magic wand tool later when editing. Then I can simply delete the background to leave me with only the black lettering, that I can then drag over to my main image when ready.  

This is my final image before, in-between and after editing... 

Original final image before any editing.  

This is my final image part way trough editing. So far I have used the frequency separator to basically soften her skin without losing any texture. I then also used the spot healing brush to eliminate any spots. I have also enhanced her hait using the clone stamp and liquify. I used curves to contour her face, and to also to add some definition to her stomach. As well as that I aslo darkened her eyebrows and eyelashes, and brightened her hair; once again using curves. I used the sharpen tool over the scarf to try and add a bit more definition. And the most noticeable change I made to the image was changing the background colour to blue. It took me a while to decide what colour to change the background to, my 1st instinct was a soft pink, as this is what was used in the boohoo and MissGuided advertisements that I researched; but I didn't think that the pink suited the image. I tried all different colours, red, purple, green, orange. Non of them quite fitted though, I thought the orange looked good but right. I tried a pale blue, as my models eyes are this colour, so I know that the colour suits her, but also goes nicely with the 'blue eyes, blond hair' look. When I tried the blue I just thought it popped, I though that the colour really suited the image, made the scarf stand out, and also made the whole image look more professional than just the greyish colour background that most studio images have. 

My next step was to add text on to my image, this is the point where my picture turns into an advertisement.  The first thing that I did was add my saved image of the newlook logo to photoshop. I then selected the background with the magic want tool and deleted it leaving me only with the lettering. Then I simply dragged the logo over my photo and placed it where I thought it fitted. The next thing I then did was create a text box, and typed out the name of the scarf and the price, from what I found on the website. I then selected a font that I thought matched the newlook logo font, and then placed it where I thought it looked good.

This is my final newlook advertisement. There may not look like there is much difference between this image and the one above, but I wasn't fully satisfied with how the font on that one was looking. I thought it was too dark, and thick. It was too bold next to the newlook logo, and you could clearly see it wasn't the same font. So I just scrolled tough the font list trying several different ones until I came across this one, Oriya Sangam MN. I though that this font suited with the newlook logo nicely, and that the font wasn't too think or bold looking. Finally to make the font match even more nicely I changed the font colour, but used the colour select tool, and clicked on the newlook lettering to achieve exactly the same colour. 

Maleficent PhotoShoot

Straight after I finish my jewellery photo shoot with Holly I will have to start straight away on my maleficent one. Unfortunately this could leave my slightly short for time as I am trying to squeeze two photoshoots in to one studio slow. I'm planning on this photo shoot being quite dark and eary as if is for advertising Halloween make-up. In the studio I will use the beauty dish and then from one to three soft boxes. Here are my contact sheets... 

Overall I was quite disappointed with the end result of this photo shoot. I had higher expectations, but due to not paying enough attention to the time I unfortunately ran out of time in the studio, and had to end short. 

I do feel that I got a couple of good shots in here though, out of all the pictures that I took these are my favorite... 

I feel that these are my strongest images from the photo shoot. These have the strongest stances, the locked eye contact and the most villain-ish glare. My favourite image out of these three is the first one. I really like the lighting in this picture, how there are enough shadows to make her look 'dark' and 'evil' but not leaving you unable to see her. I also like the third image, as this has a similar pose and stance just at a different angle. This image is quite a lot lighter than the first one though. As for the second image, I'm really pleased with the models facial expressions. I think that she has mastered looking evil in this image, but unfortunately a large amount of shadow is to the right of her in the image, in the shape of a box, and I'm not really keen on that. 

Out of the three images I decided to use the first one as my final. I felt that out of the three images this one had the most potential to work with. 

Before I started editing I had a last minute look into what kind of layout I was going to use for my poster. Heres what I found... 

2014 Maleficent Poster

Maleficent in the 1959 Sleeping Beauty

 I noticed that in a few of the new posters and even in the original 1959 sleeping beauty green flames where used when Maleficent was present. So I thought for my final poster I could use a green flamed background. This would then add texture and colour compared to a standard studio background. I then went online and eventually found this picture that I thought would work well as a background...

I got this picture to use as my background offline,
http://www.iwallhd.com/wallpaper/1600x900/lime-green-fire-abstract-desktop.html 

This was not the only import picture that I was going to need as I am advertising the Maleficent Mac make-up range, I also needed pictures of the products to use on the poster. These where what I found online... 

When I used this image I cropped it in half, as I was only using this for the lipstick. 

In the end I decided not to add the fake lashes n to the picture, as my model wasn't wearing any false lashes.  I thought it would seem wrong to advertise something that couldn't be seen on the image. 

I then also needed a picture of the MAC logo to add on to the poster so that it clearly advertises  MAC make-up. 

Now that I had chosen witch of my favourite images I was going to use and I had my background, logo and products ready all that is left to do is edit them all together. 

Original 

 To start with I just edited her skin and complexion, removing spots, making her skin smoother excreta. I then started to edit her make-up, by making her lipstick brighter, eyebrows darker and more pointed, eyes darker and also added more shadows on her face, as well as neatening out the triangle on her forehead. I also edited out the scarf down her back that we where using to over up her hair. Now that I was pleased with the way my model looked, I next needed to turn this image in to a poster. 

To create this poster I then added in my background and blurred around the edge of my model so that she merged into the background. I then also added in each of the make-up products, and placed them in an order that I thought looked neat and presentable. I then also added in the MAC logo at the bottom of the page to clearly show that they are MAC products, and then finally decided to add a maleficent title to the poster too. 

Jewellery PhotoShoot

On Tuesday I have the studio booked from 1:15 - 4:30. I will be  using this time to take my jewellery advertisement photos with my model Holly. For this photo shoot I will use quite a basic studio lighting setup consisting of three soft boxes. Two at the back, one on each side and then also one at the front, as well as a beauty dish at the front, and also reflectors. For this photo shoot I am aiming to create a greyish coloured background for my images, I wanted to do this because the make up my model will be wearing, and the jewellery I'm going to be advertising is quite dark, therefore if I used a black backdrop it might look too dark, and if I had used a white one then it will be too light, so I've decided on grey as it is in the middle. 

Here are my contact sheets from the shoot… 

Overall looking trough my images I am really happy with how my jewellery photo-shoot turned out. I think that I experimented well with the use of quite a few different angles and lighting. I know that some of the images have come out slightly dark, but now seeing the black background I do think that it looks as good as the grey. Out of all the images I took these are my favourite... 

I will now have to decide on one of these images to be used as my final. 

I think that each of these images are really strong. The top right one has a nice natural pose, clearly showing off each element of jewellery, although this image does need slightly cropping so that you wouldn’t be able to see the top of her top. This would then make her appear topless like in the bottom image. I like my models pose in the top left picture, she has a really strong stance, and once again is clearly showing off the jewellery, I also like the lighting and shadows on this image, and the use of a slightly darker background. The bottom image is quite similar to the top right one, this picture is more posed, but also stronger as the model is making eye contact with the viewer. This image is also strong as my model is central to the image also clearly showing off all the jewellery. 

Although the image is landscape, making it a bit unusual to create a poster with I have decided to use the bottom picture as I think that this is the strongest image. 

Here are a few examples of other landscape Jewellery advertisments to give me ideas and insperation... 

Looking trough these images posters I've found that there isn't much writing involved on the poster; no prices or item names, it seems just to be the companies name and maybe the word jewellery. but these posters are more about the images and letting the viewer look at the jewellery themselves than really trying to sell a specific ring or necklace. 

By this time I had a few ideas running around in my head of what I could do for my jewellery poster. 

Heres what I did whilst editing... 

This made my model skin look a bit reddish. To me this doesn't look normal.

When I changed the selective colour in the reds, I came across accidentally making my models skin slightly gold tinted. I thought that this looked a bit unusual, but nice and that it could definitely be worked on. This was when I decided that I wanted my models skin to be gold to match the jewellery. I also decided to make her hair darker, to kind of match the black and gold jewellery theme. 

This is just experimentation of trying to get my model skin to a nice shade of gold.

And again,  still experimenting with the colour, and trying to make my models hait darker. 

Here I changed something that made my models highlighted areas of skin go from reflecting white, to a pinkish colour. I don't think that this looks nice on my image, as its unusual to look at and also the pink doesn't go with my idea of trying to make my models skin gold. 

I think that this pinky-red looks is a nice colour, although not necessarily for this picture. This colour doesn't suit my models skin tone, and just makes her blend in to the background a bit. It also doesn't show off the jewellery to its full capacity.  

I really like the skin tone that this colour has given to my model, although I dont like the background colour that has been made. I can help but think that it makes the image too green/yellow and also its a sickly coloured green, so not them most appealing colour to look at. 

I think that this corral pink background is a bit too much for this image. It makes it look more like a piece of pop art rather than a jewellery advertisement.  

I decided to take the image back to the sickly green colour, as I really like the gold skin look that it gives t my model. But I do not want to keep the green in the background, so I've decided that I'm going to import an image off the internet to use as my background. This could now be as creative as I like, but I'm thinking to keep it quite simple with an animal print, either tiger or leopard. I've decided to do this as I think that the colours of these prints will blend nicely with the gold skin tone, but still not distract you from the jewellery.  

I quite like this leopard print background, I like the colours in the picture, and also the textures, but this image doesn't quite cut it. I think that I woud be able to find a better background to use for this image than this one. 

Whilst editing this picture I did quite a lot of experimentation. When I started editing this picture and changing the colors I decided that I wanted my model skin tone to be gold. This would then be quite unusual and eye catching, and then she would also blend nicely with the jewelry. I made the dark colors darker, so then there would be a theme of black and gold to match the jewelry being advertised. I then also though that a textured leopard print background would match the colors, as well as the kind of tribal theme that was being portrayed. 

This is now my finished Jewellery advertising poster.