Learning how to use Photoshop for my Ancillary Texts

Despite having used Photoshop previously for my first year on my media course, I decided it was best to get to grips and learn how to use Photoshop. For this I decided to look up some tutorials on YouTube. I simply started by looking at simple beginner videos such as the one below:

From this I have learnt that:

1- The Marquee tool allows you to select a specific area, and allows you to edit that specific section without editing anything outside of the selected marquee tool.

2- Next I learnt that the lasso tool is exactly the same however this allows you to basically draw your own selection instead of having it as a specific shape.

3- I have learnt that once editing you can use the history brush in order to restore back to the original image.

4- The dodge tool, helps to enhance lighting and bring more lighting to the images/areas in which you select.
5- The burn tool is pretty much the opposite to the dodge tool as it darkens the image/areas unlike the dodge tool.

This video was very basic, just discussing simple tools upon the side bar, however I learnt a good few new tips which may and probably will be helpful for my ancillary texts.

Next I decided to look for some different videos, The one above is about basic photo compositing. From this video I learnt that you can use the a layer mask tool , this allows you to edit around the image without ruining the whole image.

due to the fact that I am looking to use my model to create my ancillary texts, I decided to take a look at working with and covering up acne and blemishes.

When watching this video I decided to practice this technique. I took an image off Google of a male with acne.

This is my sample image.

From the video I learnt to change the Hue and saturation selecting just the reds and then change the colour change from the bar at the bottom of the bars on the left side of the image this lowers the redness and helps to reduce the redness in the skin therefor making it easier to 'perfect' the skin. Next I moved onto using the spot healing brush to edit and remove blemish this enabled me to create an image which then creates the stereotypical 'perfect model skin'.

This was my final outcome of the image.

The next technique I decided to look at was teeth whiting, this is a technique I may not use due to the theme of loneliness and emotion in my video my actor may not be smiling on my ancillary texts, however I decided just in case I choose to have him smiling its best to learn the technique in advance and for future reference.

So far Ive found this pretty  difficult so I think later in my course when I begin my ancillary text then I think I will run this video again and have another practice.

My next technique I decided to look at was changing eye colour, this is a technique I probably will not use due my actor keeping his eye colour in my music video. However this will be good if I am to add a an extra actor or model to my ancillary texts or for again future reference.