My production reflection, week 1

1. Production Reflection:
Week 1
Erin Stephenson

2. Software/Apps I will be using
• Lightroom 2021 (Desktop + Mobile)
• Afterlight (Mobile) – can replicate effects such as the camera raw filter in
photoshop along with some other tools
• Photoshop 2021 (Desktop) – used for extreme editing, manipulating
photos
• InDesign 2021 (Desktop) – compiling pages/layouts. Mainly for double
pages of just photos, no big creative aspect (composition focused)

3. Week 1 – 17/11
• What I wanted to focus on this week is the general design and style for my
fanzine – this being the font family I am choosing (keeping in mind it wants
to be easily readable for the readers but also fits the ‘aesthetic’ of the
fanzine).

4. Camera Raw Filter
This effect is something I
used quite often when
editing my photos as it can
make an image stand out
more, but also change it
drastically if that is the
aim.

5. Here is a few of my first attempts of the camera
raw filter, mainly where I am experimenting
with the intensity of my photos and figuring out
ways to make them stand out more. Even
though my focus is black and white, I think it is
also important for me to be incorporating colour
and vibrancy to my products for a wider variety
and to show more skills.

6. Before After
In this example, I tried reversing the
colours of the sky however the final
result I wasn’t happy with. I am
planning to redo this image and
adjust the settings so it isn’t as
‘magenta’ and try and make it more
cool toned to blend better with the
greenery.

7. Before After
To improve on this edit, I went back
into photoshop and redid the
camera raw filter as I think the
purple is too intense and doesn’t
work well with the rest of the
image. To make the sky blend
better with the trees, I turned the
magentas down to give off a more
cool toned purple background over
this vibrant and warm toned purple.
Making
Improvements

8. The result from editing this photo,
is that the details in the castle are
more defined (bricks, arches etc.)
making it stand out more to the
viewer. Another thing I edited in
this photo was the sky and grass,
making the sky go from a deep
blue to more of a cyan which also
contrasts to the grass that now
looks more ‘dead’ fitting with the
idea of an abandoned building.
Out of all the photos I edited using this
filter/effect within Photo Shop, this has to be
one of my favourite results as I believe I’ve
managed to find the best parts to stand out,
but still keeping the actual raw image in its
form.
Before After

9. The Grass
In this photo, as I am editing an old
castle, I wanted the grass to not seem
‘alive’ in a sense. I changed the HSL
under the camera raw filter and took
away the vibrant greens and upped the
orange/yellows
Castle Bricks
In this photo, I wanted the details
to be more defined and standing
out, I did this by adjusting the
texture and clarity, making it
more intense, as well as bringing
out the darker tones of the photo.
Sky
When editing this photo, I made the
decision to have the sky be on the
more ‘green/mint’ side, I did this by
adjusting the greens, aquas and blues
in the colour mixer

10. Before After
For this photo, I went to the
cooler side when editing, and
made it more vibrant. Another
thing I did to this photo was turn
up the texture to make the
bricks more defined.

11. For this image, I wanted to make it more
on the ‘warm side’. This was done by
adjusting the colour mixer under camera
raw which allows you to edit under
specific colours and bring certain ones
out more.
Before After

12. Before After
This edit was more
of an experiment, I
don’t like it
because I feel that
the picture has
nothing really
going on that
draws the attention
of the reader, and
applying the rule of
thirds, only the
bottom third has
something
occurring which is
the waves

13. Bottom Third:
Strong waves, main focus of
image
Middle Third
Sea in the picture, slight bit of
wave but still nothing really
going on to draw attention
Top Third:
Just the sky, clouds aren’t
really distinctive

14. In this photo, the result was making the tones
more on the cool side. One thing I did was
make the grass all the same colour – giving it a
vibrant effect (the polar opposite of my
previous edit with the castle).
One thing however that I do not like with this
photo is that the sky blends too much with the
grass, in the before photo, they contrast with
each other but due to me changing their main
colour properties, they are looking more similar
colour wise. If I was to redo this photo, I would
probably keep the different colours in the
grass, as I think when I've taken it out, there is
some form of a 2d effect where the grass does
not look as appealing (even if it is bright green).
Before After

15. Before After

16. When adjusting the coloured
portion of the image, I wanted for
the petals to be vibrant and to
really bring out the pink so it
contrasts well with the black and
white background
Here is what my layers looked like after completing
this edit. After isolating the layers, you can see on
layer 1 where there is the double (the coloured part).
From the layers you can see the background at the
bottom being the black and white portion

17. Before After
For this edit, I isolated the
flowers from the image and
added colour to it, and made
the background black and
white

18. Colour Select
This tool can be very useful when carrying out this effect as it
allows me to focus on a single colour, and remove it from the
image, in the image shown above you can see some of the
green still left behind, so I select this tool and change the
fuzziness to try and cover as much as possible, then delete.

19. Here is the original
photo I started with, my
intention for this edit is
to invert the pink to
blue so that it contrasts
with the previous
flower images
The first step I did was
duplicate the layers
and make one of them
black and white. I then
placed this layer
beneath the original so
that it cant be seen
until the end result.
Then I carried out the
process of inverting the
colours using the
camera raw filter. I
adjusted the reds,
purple and magentas
to remove the pink and
then upped the blues
to get this result.
I then started the
selection process and
isolating layers so the
foreground would be
separated from the
flowers. I did this by
doing one flower at a
time for a more precise
approach using the
quick selection tool,
inverting and then
isolating.
To finish off this edit; I
then made the green
leaves not visible by
hiding the remaining
layer, and then pulling
all the flowers to the
top.
1 2 3 4 5

21. Before After
Here is an example of one of the
black and white photos I made,
using settings inspired by my
chosen photographer Damon
Baker. When looking at his
photos, something that pulls the
audiences attention is how
detailed and refined the images
are, by using texture and clarity in
photoshop I can replicate a similar
effect.

23. Week 1 Summary
Tuesday (17/11)
• Carried out some photo editing, mainly experimenting with camera raw filter and learning how to change the
different hues with specific colours
• Looked and decided on a font family.
• Compiled potential photos for the front cover
Thursday (19/11)
• Edit some more photos using ‘camera raw filter’
• Focus on the B&W aspect of some photos, pulling inspiration from Damon Baker
• Start putting together double pages of photos, picking photos that look well together, will flow along the fanzine
Friday (20/11)
• Mainly focusing on writing some text
• Some work on the ‘flower contrast’ pages, having multiple versions.
• Making noticeable improvements to certain pages/photos

24. Week 1 Improvements
• In this week, I mainly focused on editing the photos, however I didn’t do any crazy effects. So one of
my main improvements/something I could have done would have been to incorporate that. This will
be something I want to be doing in the next production week.
• One of the products that I am proud of this week is the castle edited photos, even though there are
no crazy effects, when looking at the before and after photos, there is a noticeable difference and
the final image stands out more and looks more interesting.
• Something I am going to improve on in the next production week is more of the crazy effects style, I
am planning on including some photos with double exposure so that is something I would like to
have done in the week.