Nature at Risk - Adobe

Creating the final version of my Nature at Risk assessment using Adobe products was definitely much easier and gave me much more options in terms of editing seamlessly, adding effects and arranging images. Creating the final version in InDesign involved me working in all three softwares for different parts. As requested in the assessment criteria I had to create a logo for each page using Adobe Illustrator, and I also used Photoshop to edit the images provided to make them work and fit in my final outcome.

Creating this logo was actually a very simple process using Illustrator. I simply took the image provided and placed it in Illustrator, then did an Image Trace, which changed the leaf from looking like a photograph to looking more like a drawing. I used the 6 colour preset to create the background behind the leaf and then had to change the colours (which were originally on a grey scale) to green. I did this by expanding the image and individually changing the colour of each section. Changing the colour was a simple task, however, when zooming into the image I found that there were stray specks of white dotted around the background of the image. I then had to copy each colour code from the fill options and change each white speck to the relevant colour. This was the most time consuming part of making this logo, but apart from that, this effect can be achieved very easily.

I created the above image using Photoshop, it is very similar to the trial version I created in Fotofix, however, when using photoshop I was able to do more in terms of editing the look of this image. This was created using two layers, again with the tree bark as the background and then placing the nature image on top. In photoshop I was able to use the elliptical marquee tool to cut out a circle of the nature image. I made the selection using this tool and then selected the inverse and deleted the left over parts of the image (corners etc). I also used a feather when cutting the background of the nature image, which gave then edge of the circle a softer edge. 

This image was another test version of one of the pages of my document, I did this using Photoshop, although I did this in a very basic fashion, I wanted to test out using these tree branches in an image and getting a good finish around the leaves. I tried to use a masking tool and then blending the background. However, I did not feel that the final product was of a high enough quality, therefore I decided to use another image of leaves provided that had less of a jagged edge. Doing trial versions has been very useful and helped me to learn how to do new things within each software, as well as perfecting techniques that I already knew.