Photo shoot pictures - articles 1 & 3

For the second picture I decided to attempt to use the transform, stretch and warp tool to change the position of the model so that her foot was actually closer to her head. I found this quite difficult to do without distorting her leg or foot or her head and shoulders which I also stretched. But I think that the end result was successful and looked realistic.

I conducted the photo shoot for pictures for my first and third article in the QE photo shoot studio and I think it went fairly well. I organized all props and costumes well so nothing was missing, my models turned up and were very flexible in knowing how to pose and using the prompts I had planned, and I managed to get quite a variety of pictures to chose from. For some of the styles of dance that the pictures represented, I found that more than one pose was almost equally as successful, and so I have edited more than one in preparation for putting into the article, and at a later date I will choose which one depending on how it looks with the other pictures and the arrangement of the article. It is also useful to have more than one alternative because one of these may be used in the contents page to represent the content of the magazine.

Article 1 - Energy Drink picture

These are my top two pictures for my first article to accompany the section on the dangers of energy drinks. For the first picture I have adjusted the colour and I have also airbrushed the grey area surrounding it, as the paper on the floor in the studio was a little dirty and marked, so I perfected this using the clone tool and the brush tool. Although I am fairly confident using these tools it was a little difficult because of the shadows in the picture and it was difficult to airbrush out the imperfections without affecting the shadow and causing weird shapes and streaks so this took a little longer than usual.

For the second picture I have only needed to adjust the colour and the exposure of the picture because it was slightly to bright and had a bit of a yellowish hue. 

Both are good pictures, the first looks quite dramatic and shows the bottle of lucozade in a negative light because of the way it is lit with narrow lighting, which is appropriate for this section of the article, and the way it portrays energy drinks. On the other hand the shadows and greyness of the picture may clash with the bright colours in the article, or people may prefer to have a person in the picture. The second is another well taken picture in the clarity and the way it is composed. Although it isn't as dramatic and connatational as the first, this may be what is need to fit in with the appearance of the article, and it has a person in too which may be favourable.

I will have to try out both in my InDesign page, and I may need to ask my audience also for their opinion.

Article 2 - Bollywood

This is probably my favourite picture of the shoot. I like the way it is composed and I think it will look good in my article, perhaps with text wrapped down the right side of the model. I think the colours look vibrant and appealing, therefore making the style of dance appealing, and I think that the way that the model looks directly into the camera it captivating to the reader.

To edit the picture I have adjusted the exposure to make the dark parts of the picture darker and generally improve the picture's appearance. I also airbrushed the skin on the forehead, under the eyes and neck using the clone tool and brush tool. I also fixed the roots of the hair a little, and removed the hair frizz on the ponytail. and resting on the shoulder, using the same tools. I found this process fairly easy and took it in my stride. Finally the bindee on the model's forehead was slightly uneven in the original picture, and using the transform tools, rotating and warping tools I managed to move it to the centre of her forehead as it should be. Overall I was quite quick to complete the photo editing for this picture because I am confident with using the tools and it's a good original picture.

Yoga/Pilates

These are the two pictures I have to choose from which represent dance in the styles of yoga and pilates. The first picture I first adjusted the exposure and colours to make it a bit darker and to fix the yellowish tone. I also did a little airbrushing on the model's forehead using the clone and brush tool. I also used the clone and brush tool to edit away the bracelets that she was wearing that she wasn't able to remove for the shoot. This picture was fairly easy to work on.

 Cheerleading
These are the two alternatives that I have for pictures to represent cheerleading. The first is just of the pom poms and the second is with a model.  For the first I had to adjust the exposure and again I had to airbrush out the imperfections on the sheet of paper that they were laid on. I also had to airbrush out the long strands of the pom poms to make them appear tidier. I found this a little difficult again because of the shadows in the picture which were initially affected by the airbrushing and so it took a bit of time but I think that the end results are successful.

For the second I had to again airbrush out the long strands of the poms poms, and I also had to airbrush the face of the model slightly. Also I adjusted the colour a little. This was an easier picture to work on.

Ballroom/Latin

These are the 3 alternative pictures that represent both ballroom and latin.

The first again is just of the shoes by themselves. I had to edit the exposure and other levels and I also had to airbrush out the words, logo and size on the sole using the clone and brush tool because I felt it was distracting attention. Although normally I find this easy to shadows in the picture again caused a little difficulty which meant it took a bit longer to get right.

Secondly for the pictures of the model wearing the latin shoes I had to again adjust the levels, but also because the model was wearing black toe nail varnish that you could see through her tights I had to edit that out too and replace with natural looking toenails, using the brush tool carefully. I felt that this was successful but again a little time consuming because it was difficult to make look natural.

Gymnastics 

For this picture that accompanies the section on gymnastics there was very little editing to do, other than adjusting the colour to get rid of the slight yellow tone.