Photo Story Photoshop Assignment

Photo Story Assignment

20 points • Due before start of class Monday 9-19

We're going to first edit the images in Photoshop, then put them in a simple, almost comic-book style layout to tell our visual story. I'm pretty open to how you want to lay them out in InDesign as long as it looks "clean" and can easily be followed. (Maybe you want to put a stroke around each photo or round the corners? Let me know and I can show you how.)

PHOTOSHOP: 

Step 1: Edit in Photoshop

We'll be concerned with (in proper order): 

Exposure
Contrast

Color

Saturation

Cropping

Sharpening (Optional)

The EASY way to do contrast is

Image -> Auto Tone 

Image -> Auto Contrast

The EASY way to do color is

Image -> Auto Color

The more manual way is through the "Adjustment" window. Here is where we will adjust the saturation. But instead of the actual saturation adjustment, let's do vibrance, which is sort of "smart saturation."

Cropping: Note about cropping... you might not want to crop much in Photoshop. We'll be able to crop in InDesign using the frame tool. It's good to have extra image to work with. But if you know you want to leave something out, go ahead and crop.
The crop tool is on the tool bar, the fifth icon down. Select the tool, then click and drag to crop. Hit "Enter" after you've made the crop selection to apply the crop. Note that if you need to undo something you'll need to go to the "History" window (Window -> History).

Sharpening: Some images need to be sharpened to make them "pop." Make sure the background layer is selected, then go Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharpen Mask. Play with the "amount" slider to increase the sharpening.

FYI, the "radius" slider changes how large the sharpening effect is, and the "Threshold" slider changes what lines are sharpened (the lower the Threshold, the more lines are sharpened, the higher the Threshold, fewer lines are sharpened).

Finally, saving so we can bring them into InDesign. We'll save these as a JPEG. 

File -> Save As....

Under the drop-down menu, change from Photoshop Document to JPEG. 

I recommend saving all your edited images in a separate folder so you can find them easily when you move on to InDesign.

INDESIGN: 

We've brought images into InDesign before. Same deal here. 

We'll just create a simple layout on a 20" by 20" size page. When you create the document, you can type 20" into the box for the height and width. InDesign will convert it to picas. The orientation can either be portrait (default) or landscape (sideways). 

With your layout of your story images, you'll want to make sure the reader knows where to start and where to go next. Left to right, then down is the natural progression. 

Make sure you have more space between photos that aren't next. For example, more space between row 1 and row 2 than photo 1 and photo 2.
To help keep your spacing between photos on a row consistent, you can create a small rectangular guide and move it around, making sure each photo is the same distance from the photo next to it with this little guide box. Just remember to delete it or hide it before you export.

If you want to, you can add small arrows to help guide the reader. You can vary the size of the images as you go along, to emphasize some over others.

Lay the images out in a clean fashion: a consistent amount of space between each one (and each row), keeping the right proportions of each photo (remember to resize with COMMAND+SHIFT).

SAVING
Export as a .JPEG and save in our class turn in folder. Name the file LastnameSTORY.jpeg. Remember, due before class next Monday.

GRADING:
5 points: Photo editing (good color, contrast, exposure)
5 points: Design layout
5 points: Pleasing alignment
5 points: Attention to detail