Studio Shot - 2006 Annual report cover

Back in 2006 I created a small Photoshop image to showcase document designs as if they were taken in a studio. I’m giving the template away for FREE!

It was first used to create a mock-up studio shot of an annual report cover design I did. Initially I didn’t want to send just a A4 cover mock-up, but felt it needed to be put it into some sort of context. Taking that idea a little further, I decided to make it a more glamorous context; as if it was a product shot photographed in a studio. (click here or pic above to see larger version).

But what if there was a change to the cover design? I didn’t want to have to go to all that trouble only to have to redo it all over again. So I decided it would need to be able to be updatedable and reusable. That’s where Photoshop’s ‘Smart Objects’ came in quite handy.

As most Photoshop users will know, using ‘Smart Objects’ allows you to leave any changes like colour adjustments or transformations you make to the object in tact while still being able to edit the original. This template created with ‘Smart Objects’ allows you to do just that.

Here it is for you to use freely, but credit would be appreciated ;).

‘Studio Shot’ Photoshop CS3 file - studioshot.zip (.zip 316kb)

Instructions
To edit the cover image

• Double click the layer named ‘Cover’ (Smart Object) in the layers panel. a new window should open with the cover design for you to edit.
• Once you have made changes to the ‘Cover’ Smart Object, close that file and save changes.
• You should see the cover and reflection update automatically in the final comp.

If you have any suggestions or requests please feel free to comment. - Stu