Poster Image Creation

Photo-shoot

• I used the lighting studio in order to take the image as I wanted to ensure that I there was only a dark and plain background for the image. The dark backgrounds are common conventions of horror posters as it reduces the light in the images. I also used the plain background in order to remove distraction from the main focus of the image which is the killer and the camera lens. 
• The lights that are supplied were used from different angles to cast shadows across the villain and create darker areas to obscure the audiences view of the killer. When taking the image I took multiple different ways of holding the light including above, bellow and from a side angle of the killer. The lighting was used to help create an enigma into who the villain is and what they look like.
• The image of the antagonist is further distorted through the use of aperture, allowing me to focus on the lens that is closest to the camera and blurring the person in the background. Once again I took different images with his camera facing different ways, however in our final image I used the image of the lens facing directly at the camera as it will allow me to edit the image further in photoshop.

Editing

• Once I had chosen the image I wanted for the final piece I dragged the image into photoshop to edit and manipulate further. Firstly I edited the levels increasing the shadows and deepening the highlights to make the image appear darker and more dramatic. Not only this, I also removed the product name from the camera to remove any distraction as it was bright white text in the centre of the image.

• I then cropped a small amount of the image from the top. This allows me to re-frame the image and select the section in which I want to keep and develop further. I selected the burn tool and 'burnt' around the camera, this effect darkens the areas making it more difficult to see the antagonist in the back of the image. I also used the blurring tool to further distort the image and make the culprit incredibly difficult to see in comparison to the un-edited image.

• Once I had finished this I duplicated the layer in order to have two of the same image layering over one another. On the top layer I selected the lasso select tool and outlined around the inside of the lens. I then used the rubber to remove this section.

• I then completed the same process again with the duplicated layer, however this time I inverted the selected area and removed majority of the image leaving only the lens.

• Next I dragged in the image of the victim in to the poster and placed it below the layer with the hole in the lens. I then places the layer with the lens above this image and reduced it opacity. In doing so it created the effect that she appeared in a reflection in the lens. Creating the final image: