CD Cover Done

In my last post, I had decided on a picture to use and had added a slight effect. Since then I have worked quite hard on it. I added a few more effects, added a fade around the edges and added the title of the album and the artist. Here is how the image looked before and after:

I began with the first image. From here I searched online for some interesting effects and this is how I came to the final image. I began by copying the main image by pressing Command + J.

For the image I wanted, I had to add an effect to the second layer called High Pass... This gave the layer a strange grey effect as shown below.

I set the Radius to 5.0 pixels after I experimented and found that this gave the best effect. After this I changed the blend of the layer to 'Overlay'.

Next I copied the original image again and placed it at the top of the layers list. After Desaturating this image, I changed the blend to 'Hard Light' ending up with this image:

Once I had this base image I merged all the layers together and ended up with one image. I added the Artist name and Album title and added a glare for a bit of effect. Alex had already made the Magazine Advertisement by now, which made it easier for me to choose the font. We wanted an obvious link between the three platforms and managed this by having a consistent font throughout the advertisement and album cover and for the album cover having an image from the video.

After I added the writing the CD cover was beginning to take shape:

Next to add a fade around the edges. First I made a Rectangular Marquee selection of the area I want to see:

By selecting the 'Add layer mask' button at the bottom of the layers list. Once this was selected, the area around the selected area disappeared and a menu appeared below the layers palate. From here, I was able to fade the edges of my image to my desired effect.

However; this is not where we end. Next I need to make the fade black. To do this I must create a layer and place it under the original image. Once I have done this, I must colour the layer black so that the fade looks more effective.

Finally, to add one more effect. I added a Lens Flare to fit in with the genre of the song. This was simple as the option was under 'Filters' at the top of the page. After selecting 'Render' and then 'Lens Flare' I was faced with some options.

I played around with the effects and finally settled on a flare that wasn't too obvious and looked like the sun. Here is the final image:

CD Cover

Before I start my CD Cover, I need to research current covers. Here is the slide show I made of some of the Album covers in the charts at the moment. This will help me see what makes a good CD Cover and will influence our ancillary task.

Seeing as we have changed our ideas, we have had to change our ancillary ideas. We've decided that we are going to produce a CD cover and a magazine advert instead of the website homepage. Whilst we were filming for our music video, I took a few shots for possible CD covers and here are some of the best:







However; I don't feel that these will suffice by themselves and will need some effects to make them passable as a CD cover. Here is one attempt for a surreal looking cover:

I'll have a go at a few more effects and see which one our group prefers.

Change of Plans... Yet Again!

Once again we were let down by a band.
Accidents pulled out right at the last minute (the day before we planned to film) and we were left with nothing. We managed to stay in contact over Facebook through the Christmas holiday and came up with the idea of using 'Winter' by Joshua Radin.



The song is acoustic and slow and we found that it is reasonably easy to interpret.
Our group member, Glenn, can play guitar and we will be using him for the video.
Whilst looking for a setting for our video, I came across a small lake (more like a puddle) with a log next to it in some woods. The scenery is perfect and here is a picture:


We began filming at the weekend and managed to get a fair bit done. We hope to come up with some surreal ideas to interpret into our video as we feel it will fit well with the song.