Digipak Experimentation

This is my first attempt at using Photoshop to experiment with different digipak covers. For this cover, I took inspiration from the original cover for the Stone Roses' album called "The Stone Roses". I did try to create my own background using the brush tool however, I found it very difficult to get the paint splatters' to look professional and resorted to using a image from google images that I significantly manipulated however, everything in my final digipak will be my own work. I used several techniques in this image such as pattern overlay, a sponge filter, adjusted the brightness and contrast and used a glow around the text. I particularly like the pattern overlay as it gives the background a bubble effect and would be a potential technique that I would like to use on my own digipak.

This is my second attempt at creating my own digipak cover. The background for the digipak is birdseye view of central Manchester. I decided to use this idea as when looking at the album art for The Stone Roses' album 'The Stone Roses" the background looks like an birdseye view of a city and so I decided to apply this theory and used Manchester as is is the hometown of The Stone Roses. Firstly, I adjusted the size image to a 12cm by 12cm as these are the 

dimensions for a digipak and you can see this change significantly between the original image (top) and the finished image (bottom). I then decided to change the colour balance to purples and magenta as oppose to the greens and blacks of the original image to give it a bit more colour and appeal. Finally, I adjusted the brightness and contrast to give this finished sharp background which I think contrasts very well against the bold text to which I added a slight glow around the edges and applied a white and grey colour scheme to help it stand out against the background.



To the left is my third attempt at using photoshop to manipulate images and creating a digipak image. As you can see, these two images differ a lot as I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with this image to try and create a unique look which I think I have achieved. I first started by sticking with the paint splatter idea took from The Stone Roses' first album as I find this look very appealing. I then decided to change the colour scheme as I have already created an image with a blue and red theme. I done this by using the colour balance tool and adjusting the colours
to a orange and purple scheme. I like these two colours together as I think they contrast well together and stand out. Once the colours had been adjusted, I then decided to use the filter tool again and used the patchwork filter which I think worked very well in the end. I then used the "plane crash" text which worked very well with the theme of the image and changed the colour of the text to a medium black to stand out against the background. For the text, I added an effect called 'stroke' to give the text a bold outline and then adjusted the opacity so the outline was not too black to displace the overall effect of the text. In this image, I like the use of the filter and think I will be using this technique in my own digipak.

Above is my final attempt at using photoshop to create a digipak image. Between the four attempts I have done, this final attempt is my favourite. I used the filter 'cutout' for this image which changed the image dramatically giving it a whole new look which I find very appealing. I also used a bevel and emboss technique on this image to help the image bulk out and give it a more 3D effect. The colour scheme fits very well with the ideas I have in creating my own digipak and I think they contrast very well and give the image a warm tone. For the text, I used the font  'Old Press' which I downloaded from DaFont and I think it has fit very well with the colour scheme of this image. As I was only experimenting with images briefly, I did not download the original image and therefore can not upload the original to show the comparison.