The document describes experiments conducted in Photoshop to create a movie poster for Saw 2. Photographs were taken of the actor Jigsaw and a creepy doll using professional lighting and cameras in the college photography room. Various Photoshop tools like the exposure panel, blur tool, and levels were used to manipulate the images and add text elements. Test shots were taken of the author dressed as a nun to potentially include in posters, but the lighting was deemed too bright and dark, respectively. The experiments helped learn which Photoshop tools were most effective and how to properly use the lighting equipment.

1. Experiments

2. The first thing I did was open up a Photoshop file and select an A4
size , with a regular white background. I then place embedded my
dark background as the setting area. Having done this I
researched for a photograph of Jigsaw and moved his face
towards the right side so that it was off set. I used the magic wand
tool to go around the image of Jigsaw.Then I started to
experiment on the image of the doll myself, by changing the
levels and the brightness, opacity and blurring to give it more of a
sinister of a look. Using the exposure panel, I selected a specific
part and brightened the eyes more to make the doll look more
active.
The next thing I selected was the fingers to form the number two
representing the sequel of the film. I selected a PNG of one image
of Saw 2 with the fingers and cropped them so that they were just
on their own. I put the fingers where I need them to go and played
around with the brightness so that they look changed and aren’t
similar to the original ones, yet would still be recognisable.
Playing around the brightness / contrast tool and the shadow tool
going over them I felt they look natural as to where they are, and
I used the shadow tool on the photo. I then found a PNG of the
title of Jigsaw and placed that next to the fingers, only changing
the brightness of it. I then placed the cast billing right beneath it.
The next thing I did after that was my slogan, selecting the type
tool and typing in “his legacy lives on…”, I chose to leave it at its
original font, thinking that it looked creepy in its original font due
to it being simplistic.Then I hid certain layers that I didn’t want to
be covered and looked online for grungy wallpaper to make the
poster look more stylish. I then looked for a more “broken glass”
wallpaper to choose from and with them both on there I settled
with different opacity's, brightness's and different levels.Then
finally once I was happy with it I exported it as a PNG.

4. Tools used Strengths Weaknesses
Exposure PanelTool – First you go on the side bar
and select the icon that look similar to the magnifying glass.
This is exposure tool, it lightens areas that you want
changing when selected and you format the size and where
in the picture you would want the area brighter.
A strength of using the Exposure Panel Tool is that is really
effective and specific on the area you’ve selected to change
colour.
This tool is a difficult tool to use because you can’t see what
it is you are selecting when formatting the size of what you
want a different colour. Also the exposure panel tool is not
the original Adobe Photoshop 2015 software and I therefore
had to rely on the college computers to use it.
BlurTool: Gaussian - When selecting this tool I
selected the seventh section that’s on the top left side which
is filter. When selecting this I went down to Blur and
selected one of the few that popped up. I selected gaussian
blur for this, which was really simple to use. Selecting the
radius of pixels you want it and then hitting the ok button.
Blur is a good strength because the image is not crisp to the
audience. It makes their subconscious try to define what the
image is. With it not being a clear image, the audience will
observe the poster more. If the poster is a horror it adds to
the intrigue and effect.
Like the exposure panel this control is also very hard to
operate if you’re new to photoshop. With it being a difficult
decision to decide which way of blurring the image would be
best.
OpacityTool - With the opacity tool you need to first
select a layer and the opacity tool will be at the top right off
the box. Its at a percentage point so you can turn in down or
up by simply lifting the curser.
The opacity tool is a great way of editing your poster as in a
similar way to the blur tool, it distances itself away from the
audience with there not being a clear image. This make the
audience member look more closely to spot every detail,
they'll miss at first glance.
However there is a weakness of the opacity tool as you
might be selecting something that is very faint and for some
people this might be positive move as people will admire
how mysterious it looks but for other people it might be
difficult to see.
Magic WandTool - When selecting the Magic Wand
Tool, you click on the image that you want cutting and it
automatic selects around the object. You then hit the enter
button and it get rids of any background on the image that
you didn’t want.
Magic Wand Tool is a great tool to use as brings people or
objects to real life and saves time, having to go around with
a eraser then hitting areas with the eraser that you didn’t
want to.
This tool can sometimes cut off areas of the object that
you’re taking out and it would end up looking very messy.
Eraser Tool – The eraser tool is pretty self explanatory,
you just click on the icon. Then select the size and the
hardness of the tool, and delete what you want to get rid of
The eraser tool is an effective tool to me especially when
going round the sides of the photo. You can zoom into the
image and its attention to detail.
A weaknesses to the eraser tool is that sometimes you may
accidentally slip and rub something out that you don’t want
to.
Crop tool – Crop tool is also another self explanatory tool
where you select the fifth icon on the side bar, and then can
resize the picture to focus in on the image you want.
This is the quickest way to cut out large background that in
the photo that you don’t want.
This tool sometimes selects the whole page as to what its
going to crop.
Levels… - Levels is a tool that you select when you select
a layer and go in to the filter box, selecting levels, a tool of
brightness and contrast to accentuate the font from the
background.
Levels is a huge strength to photoshop as it’s selective
to that last bit of detail that is needed in darkening
the image.
Levels can sometime however be unhelpful, with you
already deciding what brightness you want image to
be and this simply making it worse.

5. There was a day when my friend and I went into the photography room and
took the photos using professional lighting and a camera from the room that we
booked at college. We used the Canon 700D DSL Camera that we had booked
from the college and used the professional white backdrop that was included in
the room. The reason the backdrop was white is because it’s a easier colour to
edit out using the magic wand tool when using Photoshop. With the lighting
there were four camera lights we used to take the photos.
In this shot we turned the two back lights off that were positioned at the the
back drop. We then adjusted the lighting on the right to face closer to the nun
and turned the brightness up , so that the light would shine on the side of the
face like its doing in the image to the left.
The reason we did this is because at the time I thought it would be good idea
and the lighting would work well when it was just casting on one side of the face.
However when I looked at the picture once it was uploaded on to the computer I
considered not to put these in any posters as to me the quality wasn't right.
With the lighting on the left side I didn't’t turn it off but I turned the brightness
down and positioned it upwards so that there was tiny shades of shadow on that
side. Some aspects of it are good with the shadowing positioned to the left. But
the lighting on right side of the face, isn't right as its too bright, and with that it
doesn't’t look very scary.
Also with the lighting being too bright, it looks like the veil is slipping of the
masks head. The one aspect of this image however that I would consider a
strength is the eyes in the photograph. I think this is because they would have
worked well when using the exposure panel on Photoshop, however it’s just a
shame abut the rest of the image that ruins it.

6. For this shot I concluded that the lighting wasn’t very good, with the
shot looking too dark with the lighting around my face.This wouldn't
have worked well in any of my posters as it doesn't capture any
emotion.
It is also the the wrong position with most of my posters being full
headshots with exception of the main poster. However I had already
decided that I was going to use a different image for my main poster.
The shot for this camera angle is at a medium shot, which was merely
just used as the test photo position.
The camera we used was Canon 700D DSL and we had to adjust it as it
was something new to us. Also with the camera we took all these with
the flash feature that was included on the camera.We did this
because it looked more professional as the lighting became better
when doing so.
Along with this its also shot in different angle than what was
expected, with me needing a close up head shot.This shot however
was simply a camera test and was not considered to be a official
image to my poster.With the lighting for this picture, I positioned the
lighting by turning up the brightness of lights that were at the back,
and moved the angle of the lights so that that they were positioned
straight to the backdrop to project the bright light. I did this because
at the time I though this would make my shot darker. I then turned
down the brightness of the two lighting panels that were facing me
and positioned them down, so that they were missing the headshot in
the photo.The reason I did this was because I wanted a bit of shadow
casing around me, as if I didn't’t have this then you wouldn't have
been able to see me at all.