Using Adobe illustrator perhaps to improve my illustration

-Stylise glowing edges effect. This type of effect would probably be more suitable for a halloween image, or perhaps even an image for halloween instead of a fashion magazine.


-Diffuse glow in the effects gallery. I quite like this effect, as I think adds a different appearance to the illustration.

Today whilst looking at an example of a media coursework blog I discovered that someone had used adobe illustrator to design their magazine cover. Then once I had seen this I immediately thought that I could of used this for my newspaper advert /illustrated logo image. So I decided to open adobe illustrator CS4 and then I opened my hand illustrated image and experimented with the software to see if I could improve on the design at all. Here I have included some examples of what different possibilities I could use.

For the website I understand that I need to include a minimum of three hyperlinked pages, but in my website I have included a possible 7 hyperlinked pages. I have realised there are some categories that I will find hard to make look realistic, due to the fact that I will need to take extremely realistic photos. In order to progress further in my website at the moment I feel that I need to narrow my selection down now and choose three or four out of the 7 hyperlinks to decide on.

• For the Beauty page I don't think it would be too hard to make images look realistic. I could take photo's of people eyes with different styles of make-up to create different online tutorials of how to recreate a certain look
• Fashion week: I think that this would be fairly difficult to make it appear realistic, due to the fact that the photographs that I would need to attend an actual fashion event like London Fashion Week to capture the right footage and images . The fashion week page would also need to feature all collections ahead of the current season, so if it was winter for instance the s/s collections for the next year would need to be on display. From my research I know that websites such as ELLE and VOGUE mostly include images taken on the catwalk and I think that to get these types of pictures i will need to organise an a catwalk event,l something that given with the time provided and the minimal budget I have is more or less impossible. Therefore I have decided that it will probably be best if I don't include this page as one of my hyperlinked pages.
• Events: Similarly to the fashion week page the events page would need to include images from fashion events and some general events, however, these events are exclusive and I would not be able to access one to get photos.
• Designers: Fashion websites usually include look books of all current and previous collections from each designer in a database / list . I think this page could work as long as I chose original images that are appropriate. I could also include some quirky details such as famous quotes by specific designers e.g. "Fashion fades, only style remains the same."

--Pinhole setting

---fish eye image

Whilst taking photographs of the jewellery I experimented with many different effects on my camera, some of which I didn't even know existed. These techniques included a fish eye setting,pinhole setting ( which highlights a specific part of the photograph with a spotlight), sketching setting.

fish eye setting : I think that this is definitely a good setting, however, I think that for a series of jewellery photographs that the fish eye setting would not be appropriate due to the fact that the generally in jewellery photos the jewellery needs to be displayed in a clear way, so that it is easily viewed by potential customers. I think that in a series of photographs that perhaps one fish eye shot would look appropriate as long as the jewellery included within the shot was in another photograph so that it could be clearly seen.

Pinhole setting: I have experimented with this setting and I liked the way that it can illuminate the jewellery. I positioned the jewellery with the pieces that I wanted to highlight the most situated in the middle, then when I captured the shot the jewellery became highlighted in the middle with the colour fading out towards the ends/edges of the photo. I think this effect was good for making specific pieces of jewellery stand out to the customer.

The sketching setting: I tried the sketching setting on the camera, however I am not planning on using this due to the fact that the contrast and brightness is so different that you cannot even see the main outlines/ forms of the jewellery.

Jewellery photoshoot update:

For the jewellery shoot I used :
White-painted vintage style birdcage
An assortment of vintage-style jewellery
A white wall (for the white backdrop)
A bright desk lamp (for the lighting)



Firstly I searched through all the jewellery in my house and gathered all the vintage style jewellery together. I hung pieces from the different parts of the birdcage and arranged it accordingly to my artistic vision. I then placed the birdcage in front of a white wall in my house and experimented with different types of lighting using normal lighting from my house and lighting using the desk lamp.

Possible props for my series of jewellery photos:

• One possible idea that I have is to use a old vintage looking birdcage to use as a prop to hang jewellery on. I could either juxtapose the vintage style cage with a different style of jewellery, so perhaps exotic looking jewellery, or alternatively I could go along with a particular theme and pair delicate vintage jewellery with the vintage looking birdcage. For this type of shot I think it would look effective to have a plain white backdrop and perhaps a spotlight shinning onto the jewellery to make it glisten in the light.
• I think that I will try the two ideas and see which appears best in photos. Then if I think some of the photos are good enough I will then either edit them on the computer or use photoshop if I want to get a specific effect.
  
  
  

Ideas for producing original images for my fashion channel website

Due top the fact that I have to include origninal images I have found it difficult of things to take photos of that will suitable for a fashion TV channel. I looked at fashion magazines for inspiration on different types of photos/images that I could include and I was drawn to images of jewellery shot in many different, often unexpected ways. For instance in a December addition of VOGUE a whole wintery scene had been created from newspaper by an artist and then the jewellery was selected on a theme and placed imaginatively into the setting. I really liked this idea in particular, because I think the way the jewellery was shot was really unique and different to anything I had seen before. I think that if I were able to achieve photographs even remotely like these photographs, that it would provide an excellent opportunity for me to demonstrate some photography skills and these sorts of images would be really ideal for the fashion channel.

I also found other inspiring images such as:

• vintage style watches that were photographed in pretty floral vintage style tea cups / tea sets, jewellery with different brightly coloured backgrounds.


• One that I particularly liked was a photographs of jewellery that was placed with a separate background of the jewellery taken quickly so it forms a blurry shot that captures all sparkling pieces of light. I thought that I would quite like to create something like this, however I think to create a series of photographs like this and make them look classy would be very difficult as the blurred backdrop could appear a little tacky.


• Although this image from the Asos magazine is not of jewellery, I liked the way that the photograph is very simple, yet effective. I thought it was interesting that the photographer thought that the clothes would look very effective on their own and didn't require a model to be photographed wearing them. I also like the use of unusual props, such as a an old antique screen and an old battered briefcase and I think that rather than distract from the clothes. The props help to sort of achieve a mise-en scene in a way, as the props all add to the vintage appearance of the clothes.