Digipak construction- the front cover

Here I have chosen an image of the shoreline which I feel is particularly effective and has a good balance of colours. It also mimics a shot from my music video, and using a similar shot will ideally enable the audience to make instant connections between the two and create a synergy between my products. I then decided I wanted to alter the shape of the image. I  chose a circular image because I feel it is very strong graphically, and creates a good shape which draws the eye in to the center and focuses on the wave. I also decided to mimic the theme running through the name of the artist "kordulas" which stems from a star constellation, therefore using a planet like orb seemed appropriate.

Here is a before and after shot of my image after I modified it using adobe photoshop elements 11. I have also increased the brightness and contrast of this image and adjusted the highlights, shadows and colour balance.

To edit my image further I decided to take another shot of the waves I had photographed in my shoot, and layer this image over the top. I cropped the image to the circle shape and layered it over the original image. I then adjusted the transparency or opacity of the top image so that you could still see aspects of the first image. I chose this look to mimic a cross blend editing technique I used in my music video, in my video I also used two shots of waves overlapping which provides a direct reference.

I then needed to add text to my graphic as this would be used for the front cover. I had already researched fonts on www.dafont.com and downloaded a free to use font specifically for this digipak. Using the text tool I positioned the name across the center of the circle and chose white for the font colour as this helped the word stand out against the photograph and complimented the colours within the image. 

I then spent some time re-positioning the text and my image until I was happy with it.  I decided to display the text across the center as I felt this played nicely into the rule of thirds and helped exaggerate the horizon line/crashing waves. I then decided this image was too predictable for an up and coming fresh new band. Therefore I decided to rotate my image to make a more interesting graphic. I settled on the sideways photograph as I feel it works well within the circular shape and helps the eye to follow the word across the frame.