Using Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphic and picture editing tool. It enables the user to alter, manipulate and create images either from existing photos or found images.

Throughout the first two weeks of the Media course we learnt how to use many different tools using photoshop. They are:

Marquee Tool - cuts box shapes around a part of an image.
Clone Stamp Tool - makes a perfect copy of a highlighted part of the image.
Lasso Tool - this tool enables you to cut around a specific shape to later transfer it onto another photo.
Clone Stamp Tool - this creates an exact copy of a specific area which you can then copy onto another part of the same photo or onto a different photo.  
Eraser Tool - this enables you to take away any mistakes from your work.
Dodge Tool - this tool lets you lighten a specific area of a photo.
Burn Tool - this tool instead  of lightens an area makes the image darker in desired areas.
Sponge Tool - this saturates the different colours to makes them become richer.

I found that using the different tools on Photoshop proved to be harded than i would have thought however, dispite my hazy start i found my feet and found most of the tools relativly easy to use.
I found that the Marquee tool was quite an easy tool to us as it was simple, however i prefered using the Lasso tool because the cut was much more accurate compared to the Marquee. This tool wasn't as easy to use as the Marquee tool beasue it was harder to guide the line neatly around the desired object. 

This week we applied the different tools we used to create our own movie poster. We, in groups of three, went out to take a selection of pictures which we could then transfer into a action/horror movie poster. We decided to take photos in dark areas like the woods and over grown areas, which were an approprite setting to a horror movie setting.

Basic skills camera work and composition

Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.

Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and effective than ever before.

The rule of thirds is one of the most important rules of photography. It works by drawing imaginary lines - two horizontally and two vertically. The most important element of the photo should be where the lines intersect. The best places to put things into your photo would be a third of the way up, a third of the way in from the left and so on. Places that are not so good to put important elements of your photo are right in the middle, right at the top, right at the bottom or away in the corner. By using the Rule of Third it can help you to produce a balanced looking picture.

Introduction to media studies

I am looking forward to studying Media Studies and have already begun by creating a new trailer for Doctor Who, shown below. I am particularly interested in learning how to use a camera and about the different angles one has to uses to create the best piece of film eg rule of thirds, sight lines etc. As I am interested in this element of Media Studies I am particularly looking forward to planning and filming our upcoming thriller sequences. While creating these I am also looking forward to learning more about the target audiences and how the cinema world works, as well and different production companies. I think I will take to the subject well as I have a keen interest in different styles of films, and how they work.

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Doctor who trailer