Technical Tutorials - Photoshop Practice

Below is a short video showing some of the techniques and skills that I have learnt from using photoshop. These skills include adding saturation to an image, how to blur an image, how to add text to an image, and how to remove the saturations placed on an image.

Below is a practice CD cover that me and my group made on photoshop, using the new skills that we had learnt from using the software.

The CD cover that we produced has some key features to it that match the conventions of our chosen genre:

• The background colour of our CD cover is an earthy green, which matches the convention of having natural and neutral colours as the backdrop of the CD.
• The font used is also very unique and catches the attention of the audience, which again is a convention of our chosen genre as it helps the CD to stand out from the rest.
• Although the colour of the font is black (which is a convention), an effect known as 'outer glow' was placed on the text to make it stand out even further and again try and catch the attention of the audience. The white glow also helps the text to stand out from the background colour also, which helps the audience to clearly see the name of the artist and the album title. By doing this is allows these two things to stick in the mind of the audience, which is a key thing when creating a CD cover.
• Mid shots of the artist is used, which makes conventions of our genre, especially when it is a solo artist and not a band, as the one person is the main focus of the cover and by using these mid shots it allows the convention to be met.
• The clothing used in the CD cover also matches that of artists in the indie-rock genre, as hoodies and chinos is a key part of their fashion, and again by matching this it also allows the audience to relate to the artist, as the audience will most likely have a similar taste in fashion to that of the artist.
• An 'under water' effect was also placed on the CD cover, which links to the colour used for the background of the cover as it helps to again give the cover a natural and neutral feel.
• There is also consistency of design throughout the CD cover, which helps the audience to gain a feel for what the audience is about, and also presents the cover itself as clear and understandable from the simplicity used.
• Lastly, barcodes and record label finish off the CD cover, and meet the last of the conventions of an indie rock CD cover, as these two things are essential to have when creating a CD cover.