InDesignCS3

I found the InDesign tutorials to be helpful, but much of what they went over I already knew. There were some slight changes made from CS2 to CS3. I learned how to create a bleed within the document setting. Often times I would want my images to extend right to the edge of the paper and need to create a bleed. The colored lines help you differentiate your document from your bleed and slug. I am use to using layers in Photoshop and Illustrator and the layer in InDesign are very similar. I thought it was interesting how you can select text boxes and move them to other layers by sliding the small blue square on your layers palette to the layer you want it to go on.
I found it helpful that the control panel switches when you move from text to images. The top area makes it easy to change size, effects and other options quickly. The keyboard shortcuts can really save you time. I like how you can modify the key commands to your own customized setting. I have used master pages before. This helps if you want something to remain in the same spot on all of your pages. This feature saves you the struggle of making sure things are perfectly aligned on all the pages. I am drawn to being able to create shapes with the shape tool and experimenting with the graphics.
For the upcoming projects I would definitely use the text wrap feature if I were working with a text heavy document that also has an image. The text wrap can really make the page look intriguing and well thought out. I would also use the object style to customize effects to multiple images. This can be great for changing both the attributes and the effects of images.

Resource for Photoshop

I found this video on making an urban collage self-portrait. I thought it was really fun and interesting how it showed the different layers and effects being made to the photograph. Although I don’t think I am going to use such an urban theme to my work, I feel this video gave me ideas on how I can change my background and add swirl designs to enhance my piece. Since I am familiar with Photoshop I new what effects he was using, but if you just started to learn Photoshop you may have trouble following what the steps were. I like the idea of adding several images on top of one another to create depth.
For my self-portrait I want to keep it minimal in overall design, but use subtle effects to change my original photograph. I may use fabric to incorporate in the background of my image because I like the idea of fabric collage being intergraded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTOK4fSCZAY&feature=channel

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTOK4fSCZAY&feature=channel

Examples- Self Portrait

I chose these two self-portrait images because I felt they really caught my eye and experimented with unique styles. I thought the typographic self-portrait was extremely interesting. I like how she incorporated a biography of her life to make up her face outline. I am impressed how it came out so realistic. I also chose the more abstract woman self-portrait. I like how she used different materials to make up her face. If you look closely you can see there are music notes in the background, which show that she really enjoys music, or is a musician.
I will use both of these examples to help me with my own self-portrait. I am going to experiment with unique approaches. I like the idea of adding type in a creative way. I am also highly influenced by the use of fabrics into the work to give it a more handmade feel.

Self Portrait

Self-Portrait Questions

A self-portrait is a representation of a person. It can be abstract or realistic, however, it expresses who they are. A self-portrait can be made in any medium.

I feel that there are many distinct things that make me who I am. I am tall and have long brown hair and blue eyes. I am interested in photography, painting and graphic design. I love to travel to new places and I enjoy teaching young children art.

I want people to see me as someone who is kind, passionate about art, caring, and ambitious.

I feel I can express my different sides at different places in my life. If I am in school I tend to be very diligent and eager to learn, where as if I am hanging out with my friends I tend to be more open and free. If I am working I am become immersed in my projects and need to be quite to concentrate.

You can reinvent yourself after overcoming something huge in your life or having to change due to something that happened in your life. Many times it can be good to reinvent yourself. You may decide that who you use to be isn’t who you want to be anymore. You have the ability to change yourself.

I think it is easy to see how you are changing when you look back to the previous year. It may be hard to see change from day to day, however, by looking at it more long term you are able to clearly pick out the changes. You may change due to a new job, new partner or by trying something different.

I want to become a great art teacher in the future. I want students to be able to understand and create art. I also want to someday have a family of my own and be able to teach my children different things. I want to become someone who is happy at their job and who enjoys going to work.

Photoshop CS3

I found there to many several changes from Photoshop CS2 to CS3. I think one of the best upgrades would be the quick selection tool. Now you are able to click the “w” key and then click in the area of the image you want to select. If you don’t want to select a certain part of it you use the alt key and then click. This feature makes it very simple to take a certain part of the picture out and to place it on a plain background. In the past I remember spending a lot of time trying to perfectly select on object, this was much more difficult before. You are also able to use refine edge to view the object on multiple backgrounds such as white and black. This can be very helpful if you are working with displaying products. The smart filter was another feature that I would definitely use. With this you are able to use multiple filters on a single image and you can change the stacking order to create unique views. It is also interesting how you can us the blending controls for each filter. I think the exposure feature would help when adjusting the lighting for photographs. By using the smart object selection you can really adjust the shadows and highlights of certain areas. In InDesign I thought the tool called frame fitting would be particularly useful. Sometimes your picture can be brought in and be way too large; this will help fit it proportionately to the page size. The multi place tool could also be effective when you are working with many images at the same time.
I think the video on making and refining selections was the most helpful to me. If you don’t know about he quick selection tool you can really have a hard time trying to select a certain object out of the whole picture. I felt the first speaker was very clear and had a good pace. I noticed the woman speaker to be too slow and to have a slight lisp. The last male speaker was harder for me to listen to because of his strong lisp. I felt these tutorials were very useful. I feel that I need to upgrade my Adobe Suite because I am missing out on great new features of the programs.

InDesignCS3

I have used Adobe InDesign before, however, it was mostly in CS2. I am much more familiar with Photoshop and Illustrator, but I have made magazine layouts and booklets before with InDesign. I learned a lot of new tricks that would really help me design more quickly. I can remember times when I had to manually move my text around a picture. I will briefly summarize what I have learned from these six videos.

I was familiar with how the direct selection and selection tools work. It is different from other programs the way the frame resizes and the image doesn't. I also find it useful for me to group objects when I am trying to keep certain images together. I think I would use the optical curning to adjust the spacing between my text and try the optical margin if I had a story. I find the style sheets to be extremely use full when working with a large amount of body copy. It seems as though many new buttons have made it very simple to use features such as bullet points and numbering text. It is useful how InDesign will know to keep the numbers in order if you insert of delete a bullet point. With the text wrap there are so many options that are accessible to you with just clicking different buttons. When you have text covering an image it can be difficult to make it flow just as you wanted, however, now you can choose different alignments and it will change the placement. I would use the detect edges feature for the text to be close to image and follow the outline. It can be hard when you are working with so many different pages, but if you mange your pages well you will find it to be easier. The speaker recommended to go to the panel options and turn off "show vertically", this way you will be able to see all your pages side by side.

The last speaker with managing pages was my favorite, I felt he was very clear and had a good pace. I found the speaker for the text wrap to be too fast and the speaker for text styles hard to understand because of the lisp. The woman speaker for making selections was good, however, I preferred the more calm and clear male voice. I found the text wrap and text styles videos to be most helpful. There is so much to learn when it comes to working with multiple page documents. It is best if you make the style sheets early in the beginning so you can change whole sections of type to the way you want.