QUESTION 6WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

Throughout the process of making my magazine I have been introduced to a variety of helpful tools and software that made

my blog more media-rich and helped my final work look professional. I used many forms of software and hardware

throughout the process, including Apple Macs, Photoshop and Blogger.

HARDWAREBefore beginning this process, I had never before used an Apple Mac. Whilst creating my magazine I have used the Mac to access software such and Photoshop and Blogger, while also having access to the internet. Without the Mac I would have limited, or no access to the software needed and would not have been able to create my product. It also helped me become familiar with the computer and improved my knowledge on technology. I have used these skills in other subjects such as business and photography, which also warrant the use of Macs. I have learned how and where to save work so that it may be easily accessible, however the strangest experience was having to ask how to log off.

Creating my products required photography and for this I used a Canon camera. Being a photography student as well as media, I have experience using this particular camera. It is of a high quality, which allows my images to also be of a high quality and needed very little editing. This project, along with my photography studies, taught me a lot about angles and the importance of lighting which helped me when deciding which images would best suit my genre of magazine. I used medium-close up shots with low key lighting to show off my model’s disinterested facial expressions and highlight her blue hair.

SOFTWAREBlogger is a website that allows anyone to create a blog and post almost anything. Before AS media I had never used blogger, but I now use it to present all of my work and update any deadlines to be me or changes to be made. Blogger is a very easy website to use, it can immediately upload text and images, but also as the option to link to Slideshare, Prezi etc. Blogger also allows you to edit old posts, allowing me to make changes now an fix any previous mistakes. It has the option to save a post without publishing it, so that I could switch from piece to piece without having to upload something half-done

All of my magazine pages were created using Adobe Photoshop. I already knew the basic controls, but the experience that I have gained from Media and Photography has helped me greatly and will continue to he in the future. I understand that it is unlikely that professional magazines wee created using this software, however through learning the proper use of each tool I believe I have been able to create work to a professional standard. A particularly helpful tool is the ruler, which allowed me to see the middle f my double page spread, where theoretically the staples would be if printed. This was useful as it allowed me to make sure that nothing important would be lost in the middle if the magazine were to be folded, as professional magazines obviously are.

Prezi is a website that allows you to create a digital presentation in a media-rich way. It offers a variety of templates and allows you to upload pictures to and create a specific order for your presentation. The templates offer a variety of designs and colours to keep the viewer interested, but the website also allows you to start from scratch and create your own template. A lot of my work, especially research and planning, was created using Prezi as it is a relatively easy website to use and can be uploaded to Blogger.

As excellent as Photoshop is, it is lacking in interesting fonts to use. Professional magazines use a variety of fonts and sizes, most of which can be found on Dafont.com. This website is relatively easy to use, with their fonts separated into categories and an option to search using keywords. Many, if not all, of the fonts used in my final products came rom the website as it as the option to download the font for free into Photoshop.

Slideshare is another presentation website. However, instead of allowing you to create the presentation, it simply uploads it to the internet. This was helpful as much of my work, including this, has been created using Microsoft PowerPoint. However, Blogger does not have the option to upload PowerPoint and so Slideshare must be used as a middle ground. The website is fairly easy to use, once you upload the document with a description and choose a category that it fits into, the document can be uploaded to Blogger using an embed code.