Evaluation Activity 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Camera: I have used a variety of technologies in the construction of my final magazine. The main thing I used was a camera for the photographs of my magazine; I used a      Nikon D3200 camera that was provided at school, when taking the photographs for my draft magazine I felt like it provided good focus on my pictures and they turned out really well; making my magazine look very high quality so I used it for my final magazine as well. Using this camera, I have developed skills which include using the flash to create a lighter image, finding the right angle and camera shot so that my magazine looks sophisticated with the photos as they are of good quality. I did have the opportunity to use my camera at home however I did not have the time and were unable to meet with my model outside of school. By using my magazine, I could’ve produced better photos as I knew how to work my camera and knew how to edit photos and use different options for a better effect on my photographs.

Lighting: The lighting that was provided in the white room made my pictures look flawless and effective with the use of soft box lighting to avoid shadows which would made my images look unprofessional and of not a good quality. I experimented on turning off all of the light and using the flash on the camera, focusing on the model but it didn’t turn out as good as the pictures with the lights on so I didn’t use these images. The lighting for my preliminary was not as good as my final design as I was new to taking professional pictures and didn’t know how to change them and what looked good. With practice and a lot of time, I have now discovered new techniques to make my photos in my final product look proficient and of good quality. Throughout using lighting, I have discovered that this is really important in talking the right photos that look really good, I haven’t yet experimented with natural lighting but I felt that this wouldn’t be good for my magazine as other pop magazines did not include natural light, they were taken inside with key lighting.

Photoshop: Another technology I used is a very important part of creating and editing my magazine called Photoshop. It allowed me to edit and manipulate my images for example making some colours stand out more than others. I also used it to remove certain areas that are not needed and cut out some of the picture so that it can fit on the A4 size of my cover. I didn’t have a lot of experience using Photoshop before I started to design my magazine and have learned a lot in the process of designing my final product. I have learned how to edit images to make some colours stand out, how to crop images and to use a paintbrush to remove stray hairs. Without this I would not have been able to create my magazine in an efficient way. On a few photos I have also used the remove background tool on Microsoft word which has allowed me to insert pictures without the background so that I could manipulate them in a way that looks good on my magazine. I have found that these types of programmes are crucial in the editing and creating of a product and if you don’t know how to use them then your product will not look as good or efficient. Throughout this process I have learnt a lot in using all these different techniques and tools on programmes like Photoshop, I feel that I have created my magazine in a creative, unique way that is of a good quality by using this programme.

I have been using the pc computers at school to produce my product; I have also been able to do my coursework when needed with my Mac computer at home. Throughout this task I have been using an online programme called Blogger, I used this to download all my coursework on so that my teachers are able to see my progress and mark it. I have used a lot of other programmes like PowerPoint and Microsoft word, these have enables me to lay out come of my coursework in a certain way, with these I have uploaded them on Blogger. I think that this is a more effective way of laying out my coursework as it was difficult to just put it on blogger as some of the text would be a different font when I published it and the photos would not align or go where I want them to. To make my coursework look neater I used programmes like Slideshare and Scribd, these enabled me to organise my coursework and lay it out in a neat and creative way. I then saved them as a PDF or copied the URL link and uploaded my work onto Blogger. This has expanded my knowledge on different websites and programmes as I have experimented on them and figured out a way to lay out different work in a different way so that when I uploaded them all on blogger they did not look boring.