These are some of the new websites and programmes that I got introduced to when constructing my

product. This was the first time I had taken any media subject and so all of these websites were new to

me. Photoshop skills especially were new, as we had to use Photoshop to make all of our products and I

had to learn how to use it from scratch. This is also where YouTube Photoshop tutorials come into the

new technology I had to learn to use, as some effects on Photoshop needed more guidance.

Blogger: On blogger I learnt how to set up my own blog and run it, adding labels and gadgets to my

work. Also looking at other blogs to see how they set work out for me to follow their examples.

Sometimes I had to import work from somewhere such as prezi so I had to learn what an embedded

code was, and how to transfer the prezi to my blog.

Flickr: This was one of the very first programmes I used because we used it to do pre-evaluations on

front covers of magazines to help us with ours. I had never used flickr before either. I had to learn how

to upload magazines to it, add notes and then get it to appear on my blog.

Prezi and slide share: These two programmes were used to construct power points and diagrams in

ways that it flows and is presented interestingly. It’s a way of making my blog more diverse instead of

just using flickr analysis.

Photoshop: I learnt many new skills on photoshop; everything I learnt was new as I had never used

photoshop before. Some things I learnt were; blending options such as drop shadow and glow, magic

tool or the background tool when erasing a lot of things at the same time.

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

When constructing my products I also had to take photos to use on the front cover, contents and

double page spread. I had used a digital camera before so this part wasn’t new technology for me,

but the lighting and camera angle and what colour backgrounds to use were all new skills I had to

acquire. I learnt what was best for the certain types of photo I wanted.

Learning the terminology of close up, medium close up etc. also helped as I could identify what was

used in magazines I was looking at closely during my design to reflect this in my photos. For example

in the magazine blender the front cover used a medium shot, so therefore I used a medium shot to

get the same effect.

There are advantages and disadvantages of useful websites to create, save, show and evaluate work…

Advantages

The advantages of learning new skills and being able to use such a variety of

technologies is that when it comes to my blog being assessed the person marking my

work can see my range of skills and how I have varied my work on different

programmes, in each having the skills to produce those products.

I can also use them for my own use not just in media, for example prezi is a great

way of presenting work which I can use in class presentations instead of basic power

point.

Having the skills in photoshop will help me in the future if I want to go and do media

editing at university, or further education that involves these sorts of programmes.

These websites are a lot more effective, modern and efficient than just using power

point and word to present every piece of work. They also allow more significant

editing and techniques to be performed and allows me to widen my skills in

computer technology.

Disadvantages

Relying on these programmes isn’t always good because they are free now but they may

become un available in the end if you aren’t paying for them, or the site may no longer be in

use, and/or the settings may change so what you were used to using has now changed.

The price of photoshop is expensive and if you cannot download it free at home than your

work will fall behind as for these products we are reliant on photoshop.

Learning all of these skills and getting used to the programmes can be confusing, especially

when they are all so new, if I don’t practice one skill I will forget it and have to continuously

teach myself.

For me using prezi was difficult as it was such new software to me, but I finally got used to it

and then the settings changed and I had to get used to it all over again. But because I don’t

used it constantly I forget what I have learnt as I’m not rehearsing it, and then it takes more

of my time to try and learn it again.

One of the elements of technology I used: CAMERAS AND LIGHTING

This photo was taken during the session of taking photos for my front cover of the music

magazine. I’m taking the pictures while getting the person in the photo to mirror my

position so that the image looks how I want it to for my front cover. The girl in the photo is

holding a microphone as this is the music element of the photo and I also have lighting set

up at a high angle. This creates a shadow behind her, but it’s not too bright on her face

which is good as I want the focus on her whole body for a medium shot not a close up on

the face. The white background is used to reflect the colours of what she is wearing as this is

important, and the white is easy to edit out in photoshop afterwards.