The final check...

Thursday morning Imagewise gave me a final call to ensure the layout and order of the book was correct. I sat on the phone with a team member explaining each and every page until there was mutual agreement and understanding. I am finally feeling more relaxed that everything will be done correctly and on time just still a little apprehensive. Another positive is that the price of my final 5 books had reduced in price when I had predicted they would increase. Instead of £215 they cost a charming £161 and after returning the dresses that cost £480, my budget was looking healthy and was happier.

The plot thickens...

Tuesday evening I get an email from Imagewise saying I must send my page layout before Thursday morning or my books will not be printed in time. This confused me a lot as I had sent them the previous evening. I call the office straight away explaining and they instantly apologised and told me they have had issues receiving things via Wetransfer. I re-sent the documents for a third time using a different email address and called back again to confirm they had definitely received my work. They had. I felt relief knowing they finally had my work and could start Wednesday but still panicked that I have lost 2/3 days and with a bank holiday approaching, deadline day was closer than around the corner.

The curse of the printers...

I waited until Monday to submit my page designs as I wanted to go the the Imagewise office myself to explain where everything should be on which paper and so on. Thank goodness I did go as I discovered my layout was wrong. I was so frustrated with the lack of communication and explanation of how everything should be laid out. I found out that anything printed on the translucent paper needed an extra white page after it on Indesign so It could lay on top. I went back to Uni to fix the problem which took hours, as it shifted all the other pictures and was a mini disaster. Finally I used Wetransfer to send my documents to the company so they could get started Tuesday morning.

Pages and pages and pages...

Similar to Photoshop, I have no technical ability to use Indesign. I was a little nervous to get stuck in and really wished I had hired a graphic designed to help me but once again I had left it too late to organise any help. I got stuck in and I was surprisingly whizzing through and completed my document after 2 days of working on it! I had shocked myself again and was so proud. Another confidence boost. The book worked ad flowed really well, I ensured all spelling was correct, the layout was central and neat and I was ready to head off to Imagewise to get it all printed.

I have got it 'covered'...

Imagewise informed me that the longest part of printing a book is the book cover. Therefore I designed that first on Indesign. With the help of Ken and a few phone calls later to the printing company, the cover was ready to be sent off straight away. I wanted my cover really simple with the title of my fairy tale; 'Adriana' and my name on the back, all black. The font I found online that I could download for free called 'Italiano' which had a script style but still easy to read.  I originally wanted the cover font to be a dark pink but although I would have loved it, it was inappropriate for the overall product and could have made it look cheap, tacky and silly. I also though white looked to boring so I played around and went with a gradient of white to grey to black which complimented the style and edit to my image with a dark filter fading on each of them.

Photoshop is the fairy god mother...

I was worried about editing as I have NO IDEA how to use Photoshop. After consulting with peers and adopting youtube tutorials as my best friend I soon got to grips with basic editing. A couple of my images needed extra work as my tutor noticed in one of my images I had a shadow on my models face but it was the best image to use for my book, It took a long time to do but I managed to remove the shadow. My tutor also said I should make her appear paler as she was supposed to be dead in the image and she still looked quite flushed so I cooled the image down making her look pale and cold compared to the bright flowers surrounding her. Another image I needed to do more work on was the image where Adriana is about to die and she protects Teddy from the fire. I needed more smoke in the image, so I researched how to do this and I was able to add a smokey effect over the top to create the same look as the narrative was describing.

Considering I had no idea how to even create a new file on Photoshop, I am really proud of the job I did on editing my pictures. They all still look really natural which is what I wanted and needed for the product with a few essential tweaks here an there. 

The chosen ones and a final tutorial...

After hours and hours of trolling through my shoots I have found the final images. I have increased the amount of pictures I will have in my book as I love more than one from a number of shoots and they help the story flow better. This may increase the price of the book but I am willing to take that risk to increase the quality of my final product.

I have favourites and least liked , the images I feel are most successful are mainly shoots with Jen alone. The best quality image is on I re-shooted, one where Adriana's character is crying, I am so glad I took the time to re do this image as the results were great. I love the images of my model in the green dress, in a black floral dress and the two together laughing at the cottage. I feel they show the Disney fairy tale element I was to add to the product whereas the storyline displays aspects of the darker tales told centuries ago. The combination appears to be working together well, proving my idea successful.

A particular image I am not overly keen on is the two models together sat on chairs under the tree. I love the location and layout but I feel their facial expressions and posture is awkward. I wanted to re-shoot this particular picture but had unfortunately run out of time due to me needing to edit and submit for printing and my models going back to college.

I showed my final images to Jennifer and she gave advice on editing. On a couple pictures she said it would add to the effect and theme of the storyline if I had a dark filter to the image and then to add it to all of my images to create a theme and style throughout the book. I loved this idea as it was as though the characters are in a dream world with a nightmare of curse lurking around them about to consume all happiness.