WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM

THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

PHOTOSHOPWhen creating my music magazine I learnt a great deal about using Photoshop and how to edit and perfect pictures for use in my magazine. I also learnt how long it really takes to perfect what you are making as I changed my mind about colour schemes etc. many times when I got feedback from my target audience. At first I found Photoshop quite difficult to get to grips with as there are so many different ways of doing the same thing but once I had grasped it, I was able to produce what I wanted with the help of Photoshop, creating, I feel a very professional looking magazine. I have learnt that it is important to label layers in order to keep your work organised and easy to change things at a moments notice. An example of how my Photoshop skills improved is that when making my preliminary task, I did not use the layers sufficiently, without naming them making it very difficult to find the required layer when I wanted to change it, therefore I ensured I labelled each layer when making my final product.

TAKING STILL PICTURES & EDITING OF PHOTOSI have learnt a lot when creating this music magazine about taking still camera shots, what the best angles are for different elements of the magazine and how lighting and exposure can really make a photo. I then learnt how I can edit and improve my pictures on Photoshop to make them exactly how I intend. When creating the preliminary task, I did not think about editing the pictures on Photoshop once it had been taken, and therefore the lighting could definitely have been improved with the exposure/brightness settings in Photoshop. I ensured I made this change when editing the photos on my final product, improving the original lighting when taking the pictures and changing the brightness on Photoshop once I had uploaded them.

MACSWhen creating my final product I used both the school’s and my own mac. At first I found it slightly difficult to get to grips with but once I had I really appreciated the benefits e.g. the screen clarity being so clear I was able to get a really good idea of how my magazine would look when printed and see if there was a pixilated bit of a picture that I therefore needed to edit. I also found that iPhoto was a really great tool for previewing photos before I decided to place them in Photoshop. Using the desktop to store all my photos and files made it very easy when placing them in different programmes throughout the editing process.

STORAGE/PRINTING AND SCANNINGI used SD cards to film on and take pictures with, making it easy to transfer files between the mac and the camera. It also provided a back up if anything where to go wrong on the network, I had another copy on my SD card. I appreciated how useful this was for taking my work home and continuing it and how it meant that everything was always in one place.

At the end of the production work, I had to print everything out, which is when I really appreciated how important it is to make sure that the edges of every picture are clear and not pixilated. I used a scanner for my drawn out drafts to upload them to my blog, this was another useful technological tool when creating my product.