Creative Critical Reflection

Final

Table of Contents Progress

      I took the photos for my table of contents over the weekend and I just finished editing them today. I've never tried so hard to make a mess. Overall I think they turned out well but I'm not sure how it'll translate until I add the actual page numbers and descriptions. Here's what the photos looked like before and after editing in Adobe Lightroom:
Before:                                                                        After:

I was trying so hard to get it to look natural while still following what my layout plan. I was playing with the coco powder for so long trying to get it to fall in the right direction. I think I finally got it right and I'm really excited to see how it'll look with the table of contents over it. In photoshop I'm going to crop it and flip it because it is upside down right now and I'll also make cut and shift any necessary ingredients so that it fits he dimensions.

Editing

I imported the cover photo into photoshop and I think it's looking pretty good. I was able to do the different changes to the colors that I wanted to but I'm still not sure that it's enough. We're breaking into groups tomorrow so I'll get some feedback there and decide out if it's a good idea. When I first imported the masthead onto the photo I was torn on what color I wanted it to be (between black, gray, and white) but eventually decided that the white made the colors pop the most. Here's what the masthead looks like on the cover:

I'm still concerned about the color of the yellow making the white text hard to read but I think the white font is worth putting in the extra effort to made it more legible. Next I added the coverlines including the main coverline. I spent some time deciding on whether I wanted the main coverline to be on top of the other two or below it. I think that even though it seems like logical progression to put it on top, putting it on the bottom helps to fill up the negative space as well as to make it stand out more from the other coverlines. Here is the cover with the coverlines added:

I still think that the coverlines are hard to read when they pass over the yellow but I'm not sure how to fix it. I'm going to present it to my group tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions. 

Cover Image

I took the photos for my cover page yesterday. To make the spice gradient I took a piece of scrapbooking paper and laid out the spices in lines of rainbow order. Then, to add texture and make the photo more interesting, I took a chopsticks and pushed the spices so that they looked more rustic. Then I sprinkled a little extra spice below the main column to create a slight gradient effect and make the edges look less harsh. Here's how it turned out:

I then imported the photo into Lightroom and raised the contrast, saturation, and exposure as well as slightly changed the hues to create a warmer tone. Here's the edited version:

Once I import it into photoshop I'm going to rotate the spices so that they are vertical and I'm going to try lowering the exposure of the yellow slightly because I'm worried about how it will look with letters over it. I'm also going to use Photoshop to make only the second half of the colors more saturated since they are looking pretty dull in comparison to the first three colors. I'm going to put it in to photoshop tomorrow and play with the different font placements and colors.

Two Page Spread

I finished the recipe and my suspicions were right. The recipe left a huge portion of negative space left over. I ended up splitting up the steps a little but differently and it added some more space and I think that having the shorter steps actually looks nicer.
Here's the two versions:

Original

New

As you can see I added a seventh step and I fixed a few small errors like how I forgot to add the cheeses to the ingredients list and then I sightly adjusted the layout to account for the extra lines. I definitely prefer the new version since it shows the shape around the pizza a bit better and it doesn't have that ugly negative space left over. Next I think I'm going to work on the table of contents since that's likely going to take more time to edit and stage than the cover page will. I'm hoping to get the photos done for that this weekend.

A Start

I've started creating the magazine cover and I'm definitely loving how it is turning out so far.
This is it as of now:

     I still have to format the recipe on the second page so that it wraps around the pizza and then I'll just be doing smaller touchups to make it look more professional. It's super exciting seeing how my design looks in real life. I'm starting to think that I'm gonna have a bit of left over space once the recipe is done since I only have 3 more steps but I don't want to add more until I see it since the pizza is going to make the columns much smaller anyway. If I end up with extra space I'm thinking I'll either add another photo or split up one of the longer steps into two so that it looks nicer but I also want to keep it to a low amount of steps because when I was researching I found that a lot of recipes combine multiple steps into one. I think they do this because people only look at the number of steps so if you show them 10 it seems like more work than those same 10 steps put under 5 steps. I still have to see how it looks of course so I'm going to finish up the two-page spread tomorrow if I can but if not then it'll be done by Friday.

Success!

     I made the pizza yesterday and took the photos and they turned out great. The pizza looked great and I got some nice photos of the ingredients to liven up the recipe. Here's some of the photos I got:

Original:                                                                               Edited:

Original:                                                                     Edited:

Here's one of me taking the photos:

I edited using Adobe Lightroom and I took the photos on my Nikon D3100. Once I got them onto my computer I followed some of the food photography tips I've been researching and turned up the exposure and the contrast just a little bit. I also fixed some of the lens distortion and the blue tint from my lighting and I think that it turned out pretty well. I'm gonna put them in to Adobe Photoshop tomorrow and start working on the layout.

Issue

     I attempted to make the pizza today and immediately ran into an issue. The dough didn't rise. The crucial step in making dough didn't work. I went over what could have gone wrong and after some research I think I've figured out what happened. The warm water that I added to the yeast was too hot and killed them rather than just activating them. By the time I figured this out I didn't have time to remake the dough since I had to go to a board meeting for a company I volunteer at. I'm going to remake the dough tomorrow, correctly this time, since I'll have more time if things go wrong. 

     Here's some more really cool lighting tips I tried today that seem promising for now:

https://www.culinaryhill.com/10-tips-for-beginning-food-photographers/

https://thenewbaguette.com/2017/03/27/food-photography-tips/

https://24carrotkitchen.com/10-food-photography-tips-new-bloggers/

The Impact of Too-Hot Water on Yeast. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/8363-the-impact-of-too-hot-water-on-yeast

New Recipe!

I've come up with a draft for my recipe that I'll be making this weekend. Here's the recipe for the dough:

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of active dry yeast
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup warm water

Steps:

1. Pour yeast and water into a bowl, let sit until foamy.
2. Add the oil, sugar, and salt into the yeast mixture. Whisk until combined. Add flour and stir. Allow dough to sit for about an hour or until doubled in size.
3. Lightly knead the dough and roll into desired shape. Bake for 5-8 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit before adding toppings. 

Here's what I'll be adding to the top of my pizza:

• shredded mozzarella cheese
• fresh ricotta cheese
• green bell peppers
• cherry tomatoes
• arugula (after baking)
• pesto sauce (drizzled after baking)
• extra virgin olive oil (drizzled after baking)

I can't wait to do my first shot and see how the photos turn out! I'll be posting some pictures of the process and finished product soon.

Pizza

I've officially decided to give up my attempts towards Rigatoni alla Norma and am from here on out dedicating my time towards making pizza. I'm going to make something simple that will allow me to focus on the aesthetics of the pizza rather than spending my time getting it to taste halfway decent. I'm thinking that this will give me the opportunity to speed up the process and get out of this stagnant state I've been stuck in.

As for the layout I think it can remain the same since the dish will still has a circular outline. If anything I think that a pizza will come across nicer for this. I'm going to make it this weekend and take some test shots that will hopefully give me something more to work with. I'll be drafting my recipe soon as well and once I finish the two page spread I'll be starting on my table of contents with my cover following that.

Here are some pizzas for inspiration that I think look nice enough and are simple enough to execute for my two page spread:
https://cooknourishbliss.com/2015/06/08/arugula-pesto-pizza-with-herbed-ricotta/
http://newyorkelegance.tumblr.com/post/153631905681
https://belleofthekitchen.com/2015/08/25/caprese-pizza/