Adobe Products: Photoshop

For the past few weeks we have been learning how to use Adobe products to better our production skills which will help us by giving our magazine a top quality look and a professional finish. The first piece of editing software we were taught to use was Adobe Photoshop, which is a professional photo editing software crucial to the production of magazines in the industry. Photoshop is used to touch up photos to give them more of an appeal to the audience. We were first taught how to colour correct our photo, which means giving the photo a bit of a glow to make the cover model or artist look more attractive, as you can give them a hint of tan. We also learned how to use the 'Spot Healing' tool and the 'Clone Stamp' tool. the Spot healing tool allows the user to remove any small blemishes or spots on the skin to give it a nice clear look. By making a persons skin more clear the target audience are instantly drawn in because they do not see multiple spots on the face and find this repulsive. The spot healing tool gives the picture a nice clean 'airbrushed' look however the shot still looks fairly natural, it's just we know that skin cannot be perfectly clear no matter who you are.

As you can clearly see, the photo on the right has clearly been edited and you are instantly drawn to that picture. Why is this? It is because the use of Photoshop has given the editor the ability to make her skin very soft and glowing, and as part of the 'male gaze' theory we are drawn to this picture because the model appears to be more attractive after having touch ups done to the picture. Photos after editing attract a larger audience and also give the magazine a more professional look, therefore I will be using Adobe Photoshop in the production of my Music Magazine.