Editing the Carrie's War photograph in photoshop: Front cover

I started off with the original image that i took in a studio with studio lighting.

 I then straightened the image up and changed the levels to make the lighting and shades look how I wanted them to, This involved mainly darkening up the image a bit and lightening the back of the image more. I then changed the hue/saturation to make it have more of an orangey/yellow glow like the back page does. I think changing the levels helped me to achieve the look that I wanted.

 I then added in the title of the book I decided to have it at the bottom of the design because I thought that this made the perspective look good, the text actually looks like its in front of the scene. I then added a little bit of colour like the image but I wanted it to be slightly lighter so it showed up well against the background.

I did the same to the author name but added it to the top of the image to balance it out. I think this cover turned out well after some editing on photoshop. It looks how I originally intended so I am pleased with it.

Photographing my Carrie's War cover: Front page

The front cover photo was harder to get right compared to the front cover as it was hard to light the image correctly as the house couldn't be too dark as the detail would be lost. This took a lot of trial and error, here are the photos that we started with. (they are slightly wonky but the final image wont be)

 This was the first photo that we took, the lighting was completely off and there was all sorts of shadows being cast on the house so the lights had to be re positioned to eliminate this issue. Another problem with this image is the tree positions, they are too far away from each other so there is huge visible gaps between them.  

 The previously issue was now resolved and I tried photographing the scene with the title in the photo. I didn't like how this looked because it was hard to see the title. I took the title off and decided that I would add it later in photoshop. 

 This was getting closer but was still slightly too dark and a lot of the house detail was being lost. Also the top of the image was blurred and out of focus.

This is the image that I decided to work with in the end because the detail in the house was nicely visible.  The front trees are not as dark as I would have liked them to be but I couldn't get the trees dark and the house light because they were quite close together. I think once this image is edited in photoshop it will work out how I want it to. 

Photographing my Carrie's war cover: back page

I started to photograph (with a lot of technical help) my book cover design for carrie's war as this is a vital part of my design. It was very tricky as the lighting has to be perfect to give the effect that I want for the cover. As I have layers of trees making the scene look like a forrest the lighting had to be played around a lot to make the image have lots of depth and shadows. I decided to start by photographing the image that will be on the back of the cover because it more simple than the front cover image and thought it might be good to start off with a more simple image. Here are a few of the photos that I started with (They're a bit wonky)

 We started off lighting it from above and the left side but it made the image look too flat and everything was all the same orangey colour so we tried a few different lighting and camera settings.

 This time the image still looked too flat but the colour had improved as it was more white rather than orange. I want the original image to look white so it will be easier if I want to change the colours in photoshop when I edit them.

 This image was getting closer yet again but was not quite there because there was more variation and depth between the laters with the way that the shadows fell but it wasn't quite right.

We decided to try it with the light closer to the image and try holding up tracing paper behind the set to soften the light this was creating even more depth but it still wasn't there

we then decided to try with lighting the set with the soft box from behind and this seemed to be the correct solution because it started to look a lot better. There was also a dimly lit light in front of the set to light the front of the image slightly. Now it was just a case of getting the composition and camera angle right. Here are the photos with the correct lighting.

 This is the first image where the depth was really working and the shadows were looking good but the camera angle needed to be moved around to make the image central.

 The camera angle on this image is improved from the last one but not completely right yet so we got a bit closer and straightened up the edges more.

Finally after a long morning of experimentation and lots of different lights and techniques being used we got the image just right. The next step is to edit the levels and colours a bit in photoshop to help the image reach its full potential.

Artist research: Hari and Deepti

Hari and Deepeti create really beautiful scenes using just plain white paper, They look a bit boring to begin with but after some very clever lighting they are transformed into the most magical looking scenes, they really do transport you into another world. The scenes that they create are focused on storytelling, they depict adventures and travels from all around the world. I would love to try out this technique for my book cover as it is really unique and eye catching. I don't know if it would work for carries war as it is a book for a younger audience and the lack of colour might not attract them as much. On the other hand it could be really effective and work well. Ill have to work with a trail and error attitude to see if this kind of idea will work. It was really hard to chose because all of their pieces are beautiful, but here are some of their designs that I think work best.

Image before lighting and photography

Image after lighting and  being photographed