Front Cover tests

This week I have been trying out different layouts/ typing for the front cover of my book. At the moment my working title is "Psychology of Reading" as the indents I am recording look into the readers train of thoughts and reading processes. 

In Design Week 2

More techniques learnt in this weeks tutorial in In Design...

When wanting to see what text will look like but no content as yet ... Type- Fill with place holder text

Leading- line spacing, usually 4 up from text size

Curning- Spaces between letters

Space after paragraph

First letter in paragraphs made bigger than rest

Object- Text Frame Options= Inset Spacing

Making text in the middle of the box

Colour to be on CYMK setting

W= Preview mode

Swatches- stops variations of colour 

New swatch of colour- click on box with the colour you want to maintain- then on swatches tab press new swatch icon

Layout- margins and columns to change margins to particular box size then use ruler to keep measurements see able then move margins back. 

Light blue lines= ruler made by pulling down from grey ruler

To insert page numbers

Type- Insert Special Character- Markers- Current Page Number

When changing final doc to Pdf make sure Adobe Pd4 Presets- PDFX3 2002

In Design Week 1

The result of this module as earlier mentioned is a book containing photographic finals for my chosen topic, book indents. For the book we will be using Adobe In Design to create a professional result and layout. 

Last week we learnt a few of the basic techniques  in this program. I hadn't used this software before so this was very helpful. Below is some of the techniques learnt...

Use right tabs to control factors such as pages, colour, swatches etc. 

Picture Frame= then File- Place

When changing the images size to fit picture frames hold shift to keep right dimensions/ scale

Over ride features on master page that not wanted on some pages- Command, Shift, Click

Week 2 Family Library Shoot

Last week when I showed my proposals to the group I also showed a few initial shots of a family members book. The feedback I got was to try photographing public library books but also continue with family members books. The initial shots were my granddads war books that contained indents that were mostly bookmarks only. So this week I have looked at my siblings books and my own books for indents other than  bookmarks. 

Book 1- Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Indents Evident- Underlining, notes on language techniques used in text, bent pages

This image is a little mysterious in the way that the focus I have used has made the pages open wide wordless almost. I may try to crop this images to make the composition a little more balanced as I want to use this photograph in my book. The black background creates striking contrast against the cream/ white pages. 

Nothing very interesting strikes me in this photograph. The only words noticeable is the title which isn't very significant against the indent of the curved pages on the right. 

No black background which doesn't work with all other images, so I won't be using this further. 

The angle I have used for this photograph is interesting as it makes is look at the notes on the page, however the yellow like colour of the sides of the pages is a little distracting. 

Book 2- The Iliad by Homer

Indents Evident- Orange pen marks on top of pages, underlining, notes

The curved pages in this photograph help to create a sense of direction towards the name written. I have altered the curves in Photoshop slightly in this image as suggested in the feedback which has helped the book background be a little more darker and overall image is more striking. The small orange marks in the top right hand corner are also interesting in creating an intrigue into why they are there. 

Book 3- Oxford Mini School Thesaurus

Indents Evident- Dolphin purple stamps on page sides

It was commented in the feedback that they liked how this book looks to be almost bulging out of the composition through its wideness that is depicted. This angle works well, and gives us and overall look on the way these child stamps have been stamped all over and not in one particular place. I will be using this further. 

This angle isn't as visually interesting as the previously but still works because of the fading focus and black background creating contrast and the cream and yellow. 

Book 4- How to Twist a Dragons Tale by Cressida Cowell

Indents Evident- name of Reader in bubble

The background is a little blue in this image so isn't as bold/ striking. The focus isn't quite right either as it would have been better to focus on the name written in the bubble indicating the book owner, it is focused on the colourful back of the front cover. This is just too colourful to include with the previous public library shoot. 

Book 5- Read Me Out Loud Poetry

Indents Evident- Yellow book club sticker, yellow marks, separated pages

Again the colour of the circular book club sticker is too distracting to the actual overall book, however that is the actual indent left. The lines in the book is very interesting in the way the page parts are separating to create lines horizontal. The focus is successful to pull attention to the top of the book closer to the camera. 

The yellow marks are the indent in this image, it makes the reader interested in wondering what has created these marks, a pen?Again the focus works well. There is something going into the top right hand corner which will need removing through cropping if I am to include this, but at this point I don't think it works with other book photographed. 

This angle doesn't work, the landscape orientation doesn't work. The lines would benefit from being photographed in portrait so it creates a sense of direction. 

I really love the effect of the line partitions in this image exaggerated by the portrait orientation. It was commented in the feedback that the white shape at the top left hand corner looks like an axe, however it is actually the front cover bent in that direction. I will be using this image in my book as it is very interesting and striking and creates an intrigue that I want to create. 

Book 6- Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Indents Evident- written reader name

Again there is too much colour in this image to be taken further in the project. The focus works to pull attention to the written name on the right page telling us of the book owner. The background colour isn't quite right either. 

This isn't as striking as I want in the photographs I want to include in my book of book indentations. The indent isn't as noticeable, it being a slight scuff on the right top corner of the book corner. 

Book 7- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Indents Evident- Creased bind, bent cover to one corner

In this image I wanted to record the creases in the bind of the book, which I think I did well, however again the colour doesn't work well in the series I want to create. 

Overall i will need to look back at the public library images and consider which of these work coherently if any. The colourful books will not work well as there is not much colour in the sociology books I photographed. 

Jem Southams Painters Pool

Book Layout/ Info-
Published 2006
36 four-color illustrations
10x12

During last weeks feedback the group briefly looked at Jem Southams' Painters Pool book. The photographs in the book are taken in Stoke Woods in the South East of England. For a painter named Mike Garton the woods became his studio and a huge inspiration for his paintings. For about two decades every day Garton would capture the woodland on canvas. He would leave his canvas' in a hidden den he made in the wood. He constructed a pool where a tree had fallen across a stream, and secretly tended it for many years. Jem came across his den and pool and decided to record it through photographs and in this book. The early photographs in the book show signs of Gartons den and presence through factors such as fallen trees, easels and wooden poles. Mike Garton developed an illness that stopped him painting the scenes therefore in Jems images his presence disappears. 

Front cover with bold colour to draw in audience. No text only image to give a taste of the photographic content of the book. 

Frequent double page spread in the book, involving two photographs of very similar scenes. Very small captions under each photograph letting viewer know when the image taken. Each double page spread has photograph which continue from left image. I really like the use of white framing, I hop to use this in my book to give spacing and it makes the viewer focus on the photograph and notice the caption. The small font of the title is used so that the photograph is looked at first. 

Single photograph with blank left page to show a gap in the season in which she didn't photograph. Could signify the change from Autumn to Winter? 

The photographs show small hints at the presence of Mike Garton. The images are themselves quite similar it makes us look at the slight changes.

The text telling the viewer of the context of the work (it being a document of Mike Gartons "studio" is left until the viewer has looked at the photographs, it creates intrigue into the purpose of the work. Also when you have read about the context it makes the viewer go back and re look at the changes/ significance.  

Week 2 Public Library Shoot

Public Library

So this week I went away and did a shoot of family books with indents and did a shoot in the public library. I decided to concentrate on one group/ collection of books in the library, the psychology/ media section. I decided to do this due to the amount of information a reader has to take in when reading these kind of books, so therefore indents will have been left by readers as a way of indicating the places/ bits of information most important. The initial shots of family images were taken on a black background and worked well in providing visual impact so I have continued this in the photographs you'll see below. I have taken these books back home to be photographed where my initial shots were so that a similar amount of natural light is on the books I photograph. I have recently had feedback for these images, trying to cut down the selection to ones that are possibly good enough for book. Some of the comments under each photograph are what was said in this feedback.

Book1- Work Placements A Survival Guide by Christine Fanthorne

Indents evident: Blue/ Clear post it notes acting as book marks- no writing on notes

This shot was taken above the book to display how the clear post- its are individualising the parts the reader needed when looking through the book. The photograph is quite abstract due to the pages stretching across the width of the image. The book is standing on its foundations in the composition therefore the pages are spread out and therefore creating lines down the photograph. The background would need altering a little as it is a block black colour to the top left and grey on the left. 

Not as visually strong as previous due to lack of abstraction and visual impact. Again the background isn't all one shade of grey or black. 

Due to it being a black book I have photographed it is overall more abstract, the white pages stand out because of them being in between the black. I will definitely be taking this photograph further into the project and possibly into the book. The angle I have taken the dividers in also show they are individualising pages. It is also a little more noticeable that the object is a book because of this side angle. 

Book 2- Television Technology and Cultural Form by Raymond Williams

Indents evident: Pink/ red arrow sticker for indication of particular page, pencil note marks, lines to indicate emphasis on particular paragraph read

In this photograph I have lay the book on the black background and photographed it from above. The image is a little to flat because of the angle I have photographed it in. The pages are a little distracting to the viewer also in this image because on the left they are photographing. The angle does not work for what I am trying to capture. I wanted to capture the captions in the book so I am a little far away for the viewer to see these. 

The contrast in this image works well, the red and white work against the black to pull attention to the book pages. The red arrow post it used as a book mark has been ripped off at page length, indicates the reader is trying to communicate through the writing but has been cut off, it makes the reader question what was written. The word communications written at the top has also been half hidden which symbolises the cut off in the readers writing. 

Again I have photographed this particular double page spread from above, again it is a little too far away. The pages are again flipped half way so is distracting the reader from looking at the indentations. 

This is a crop of the image I showed at feedback. The earlier image had the red arrow bookmark previously photographed in shot but not fully focused, this was pulling attention away from the folded page. The folded page creates a symmetrical effect. There are no words that jump out to me as a viewer but new words are almost being created as the two pages are colliding and therefore the words also are. I may try re shooting this effect in the next week to make it more visually striking. 

For me this is one of favourite photographs  have taken this week because of the multiple tones and effect of the pages as lines. The block black background makes this image visually strong against the white/ cream pages. I will definitely be using this in the book. The lines of the pages direct our eyes to the just visible red pot it book mark. 

In this photograph, feedback was given to consider re-shooting because of the the focal points shot, as it is unnoticeable in what the notes the reader has made says. However I may want this doubt because it creates an intrigue and makes the reader look at the photographer even closer than normal. I shot it using a small focal point to focus in on the underlining used by the reader, however it may need to be a little bigger so that the note down the margin is all see able. 

This is the same note as previous photograph however shot so that the note is a little more readable, however again the focus points need adjusting a little. 

Book 3- The Hollywood Feature Film in Post war Britain by Paul Susan

What was really interesting in this image I have took is the emphasis on the word attraction that the reader has pulled out through underlining and a bold slash symbol. This is really interesting due to it relating to the title of the book-"Hollywood", Hollywood is often related to attraction etc. I think I will be using this further due to this relation. 

Again the words that are underlined hint at the title of the book. Words such as "remodelled" hint at the Hollywood lifestyles that we all know of. The words also relate to what we get from the unfocused image on the other page. I didn't want the image focused as it would distract from the indents, however the posture of the people we can make out relates to Hollywood once again. I am not sure at this point whether I will use this image in my book due to the rest of the images I will use will not consist of images but binds or text. 

This image isn't as bold as others becuase of the grey background however I do like the bind I have captured. Therefore I will try to do some post production on the background to make it darker and therefore create a bold overall photograph. 

Book 4- Media Coverage of Terrorism by Allali Etie

The space to the right of this image doesn't work well as the reader isn't looking primarily on the book bind/ indents. Therefore I wont be using this image in the book. 

I really like the soft look to this photograph. It shows the pages that have been taped back in a little more out of the book than the others. The grey background works well in this image to exaggerate a softness. This will be used in the book. 

In the feedback session I put a power point together with all these images. I put this certain image next to the photograph below as a way of explaining why the pages are like this. This was received well in the session so I may decide to use this combination in the book. It has also made me consider other combinations this week. 

I will be using this in my book along side with the previous image as a sort of justification for why the pages are out a little. I like the focus in this images as it doesn't put to much emphasis on particular words except programming as it is crossed through. I don't think the reader was meant to put a line through the word but underline it instead. 

The focus in this photograph pulls out the words "Vulnerable Media" and also terror seems to stick out when the viewer knows the title of the book, "Media Coverage of Terrorism". The repeated letters of either a t or f is also interesting, we wonder what this could be an abbreviation for, the reader who left these indents could only know this so is quite personal to them. 

Book 5- Violence and Media by Carter and Weaver

Due to the differing background degrees of grey I won't be using this image further, the bind itself isn't as visually striking either as the lines that are existent in others don't have the same directing effect to the indent. 

This photograph is striking in the way that the book pages are spread in one particular corner with a black background surrounding it however the focus isn't right. There needs to be either emphasis on the word university stamped across the pages or the yellow bookmark. Therefore I may try to re- shoot I similar photograph with the smae book considering the focus more whilst shooting.

The lighting isn't right in this image the content of the pages has almost been bleached out. I will need to re- shoot this particular part of the book as t was very interesting how a reader has done this to the book. 

Again the focus needs reconsidering in this page, I need to work out which words on the page I want to pull out. This page is interesting because it has been violated by a reader, this relates to the title of the book, "Violence and Media", The media has been the object of violence. 

The images I have shot for this book all have something a little wrong with them. I have taken this book back to the university library so in the next few days I will see if I can find this book again and re- shoot according to the mistakes I have pulled out, as the book indents have significance. 

Thoughts on Public Library Images 

Overall the photographs I have produced from looking in the university library have come out very well. The backgrounds have mostly worked out, particularly when they have been darker creating a more striking contrast against the white/ cream pages of the books found. From my initial shots the public library has worked out more successfully because of the wider range of indents I have capture. Some need tweaking using Photoshop or re- shooting due to background or focus mistakes. I will definitely be using some of these images for my book. As I didn't have any connection with the readers that have left these indents it has made me consider them the way the viewer of my images will, it has caused an intrigue. I need to consider text in my book because the titles of most of the books are very significant in what indents are in them.