Evaluation Question 6-Draft

Photoshop

Throughout created my magazine I have been able to massively develop my Photoshop skills and techniques. I have had previous experiences of using Photoshop during my Media GCSE coursework and have been able to use this as a starting point, such as how to create the page sizes, insert images and text ect…

During this coursework I have learnt how to use many different features which made a big impact on improving my magazine and Photoshop knowledge. One of the key yet very simple feature that I used for the first time and heavily relied upon was the guidelines. Using the guidelines allowed me to align and gives my pages a bases to be set upon, this helped to make my magazine look a lot more professional and realistic. Also while producing my magazine I have learnt how to edit photos on Photoshop, such as the brightness and cropping. The brightness tool was key in creating my magazine as after first attempts at printing it was clear that my images needed brightening, throughout this I learnt how to brighten an image so that it still looked realistic and professional. I have also improved my skills within layers and where to best place layers to create an effective looking magazine. Another tool that I discovered and utilised while creating my magazine was the colour matching tool; this allowed me to perfectly match the colour of my font to my artist’s lipstick and clothing to make a clear seamless link between the two.  

Other Medias

During the creation of my magazine I have been documenting my process on my blog which is using Blogger from the research to stages of my magazine and the evaluation, I have tried to use a variety of different medias to show my work.

I have used both Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint throughout every stage as I am very familiar and used to working with this software. To be able to upload my Word documents and PowerPoint presentations I have had to use new websites of Scribd and SlideShare. During the process of creating and preparing for my magazine I have learnt how to use these websites picking up key helpful tips such as, leaving a white border on PowerPoint so images and text are not cropped out and leaving a lot of space between images and text on Word so that photos and text do not overlap. Also using these websites, I have learnt how to embed websites links, addresses and codes into my blog showing how I have also improved my general knowledge of Blogger.

I have also used other presentation websites such as Prezi, Glogster and Piktochart. This has been a new experience for me to learn how to work and navigate these different websites to create an effective display of my work. Each website has a different way of creating the presentation (Prezi) or poster/document like display (Glogster and Piktochart) and I have found Prezi and Piktochart most enjoyable to use and easier to navigate.

Throughout the entire creation of my magazine I have used both Google and Instagram to be able to find out information and images. Google was particularly useful to research other magazines, magazine designers ect… which enabled me to gain ideas and inspiration for my own magazine. I chose to use Instagram over Google Images as I found images and photos more relevant and linked to my target audience via social media platform than on Google.

Camera

For the key role of taking my own images for the magazine I used the camera that was available in the school studio which is a Nikon D3200, which is a good quality and well reviewed camera. I utilised the use of this camera as well as learning along the way, such as the effect and impact of flash and how to upload photos from the camera onto a computer. For my draft I used my own iPhone 5SE to take some of my photos; however this did not look as professional or as clean as the photos I took on the camera. From this I learnt how much better the camera quality was a creating clean, sharp and good quality images that will help make my magazine to look more professional and realistic. While taking my photos I used a tripod to take some of my photos which allowed me to take a well balanced and even shot. I use chose to not use the tripod for some of photos as this allowed me to access different angles and create different shots, showing how I have learnt to accurately use the camera and resources around me.

 Within in the studio I used the studio lights present in the studio and white room. I experimented with the arrangement of the lights to see what different effects on the photo this would have, such as having one placed to side to create an effective side profile look. Although I did not use this image in my magazine I was still happy with the images produced by this technique and learnt a lot about how light can affect a photo. Overall I had my lights facing the people being photographed as by using a plain background I really wanted to highlight my “artists” allowing them to stand out and look eye catching in the image.