front cover image manipulation

1. Front Cover
The original image is shown to the right. In order to edit this
to fit in with the genre, I will be using Photoshop as it is
software available in school and so is easily accessible. It’s
also familiar due to having used this before, in AS coursework.
Therefore, I feel confident in using this software to achieve
the look I want, with help from tutorials on YouTube or online
forums.
I started off with the grey background layer. On top, I placed
the photo of my ‘artist’. The photo was taken with a dark
background behind it as I wanted to be able to crop around
the actor easily and by having a dark colour background,
selection of the image was made easy. This is because the
lighter parts of the face were outlined with the Magnetic
Lasso Tool which meant the darker parts just hand to be
added to or reduced in order to get the right shape, enabling
me to Select Inverse and delete the background. After this, I
was left with the cropped image of the artist on top of the
grey background.

2. Next, I played around with different colour settings,
such as lowering brightness, to make the image less
harsh and fit more with the background, upping the
saturation and changing the hue so the image still
looked noticeable and was less grey toned, also giving
the image a colour gradient as this was conventional
of the EDM genre, having a bright central image
which contrasted to the background.
However, I decided the image was too faded due to
the green colour not standing out as much as I
wanted it to. I also played around with the
transparency as it being shown on full was again too
harsh so I needed to find a good balance between
vibrancy and blending.
When adjusting the blending settings, I dragged the
scale in on both ends so that the background would
overlap the image slightly to give the effect that the
artist was in the process of evolution, to illustrate the
album title, ‘the evolution of man’.

3. I decided to add in text at this point so I could see the front cover come together. I used Example’s
standard font for this which appears in all his work to keep to conventions of the artist. This is because
it is his logo and branding and it’s part of how people know him so I wanted to maintain that familiarity
his audience would have with him.

4. At this stage, I used the Blend If: Red
effect so that there was a gradual yet
‘glitchy’ fade from the image to the
background. This is so visually it can
contradict the title as it connotes
more to deterioration than
progression due to the image not
being as strong in contrast to the
background. Therefore, showing the
effects of being part of the negative
side of EDM, such as drug use, anti
social behaviour and I also darkened
the background by lowering the
brightness of the background layer.
This was to increase vibrancy of the red so it was less difficult to see and to add definition to the images as it looked too faded
before.

5. I added in the album title using the Horizontal Text tool. Then moved it to the centre of the cover, across
the eyes of the artist as this is a conventional placement for the title which I found from analysing other
albums.
I changed the font a few times to see what looked boldest and what suited the whole tone of the album.
I asked people to choose their favourite out of the options and it concluded to be the one shown on the
left. This may be because it stands out the most and is more unique than the other.

6. My final step was to fade
the image to the
background so it appeared
less harsh as I didn’t like
the appearance of being
able to see the straight line
where the edge of the
image was. This was
achieved by selecting the
top layer, adding a Layer
Mask and then using the
Gradient Tool on the image
by dragging a line from the
background into the image.