Thursday 20th February 2014

Today I spent most of the day working on the Hallmark banner. I spent a lot of the morning manipulating the photographs I took yesterday using the techniques Adam has explained to me. Using these tools he introduced me to I was able to edit three images of a ring so that they all looked like they had been photographed in the same frame. In addition, I was able to edit the background so that the rings looked like they were on a pure white background, while still keeping the shadows so that the photographs looked more natural. 
Just from learning these tips from Adam I already feel a lot more confident in Photoshop. I have always been interested in Photography, and always take photographs when the opportunity arises, especially when I go on holiday, that I can then edit in Photoshop and upload to my blog and Instagram. However, I always take photographs of places and scenery, or I do some documentary photography, but I have never really taken photographs of people. I think I always shy away from photographing people because I don't know how to edit the photographs in a professional way, but now I have learnt how to use these tools I can see how these would help me with portrait photography. 
I love working on photography projects and this task has reminded me how much I miss my photography course. I am definitely motivated to continue with photography as a hobby and I am eager to incorporate it into my final year projects. Adam explained to me that at his last job he always got asked to retouch photographs because he knew how to use some of the basic tools whereas the other three designers didn't know how to retouch photographs at all, and used this as an example of a situation where being a designer and having strong photography skills will really be useful and help you stand out from the crowd. 
After the last couple of days I have decided that I definitely want to spend more time working on print and photography projects, branding and editorial design in particular. At work I have really enjoyed producing logos and business cards, and I have especially enjoyed working on some photography for the last couple of days, and in my own time I have been drawn to a lot of editorial design while looking for inspiration for designing this logbook.