What have I learnt about technologies making my music magazine.

Luke.M

Hardware : Mac computer

Throughout my music magazine I have been using the Mac computer, these Mac computer are very difficult to get use to if you have never used them before or are use to using a windows computer. Using the mac gave me a good understand how professionals work with the media. Whilst using the mac I learnt that you had to use safari rather than Internet Explorer. Another is that using Photoshop on the Mac works a lot smoother and does not take as much time to loads than other computers. I think using a mac is a good way to get the best out of your work because they run a lot quicker. It was hard to get use to but when you get the hang of things it becomes really good and vital for your work.

MacBuild:9L31AVersion:10.5.8Processer:2 Ghz Intel Core 2 DuoMemory:3GB 667 MhzStartup Disk: Mac HD

Camera: Nikon D3100

In order for myself to construct my music magazine, I had to be able to take suitable photographs of my models. This involved getting my models dressed up and making sure hey were there on time. Also making sure that I booked an appointment for my photo shoot. I learnt how to take close up shots and also long range shots. The camera settings have a manual aperture f11 and the shutter speed is 1/300th. Using such a good camera has made my models look even better and has gave the the picture a professional feel about it.

Studio/LightingWhilst shooting my photo shoot I used an Horseshoe flash trigger which is like a T.V remote just with cameras. The infra red signal send to the strobe flash triggers the flash in sync with the camera shutter. This helps to get the correct lighting for my picture.

I also used a strobe flash and the one I used was an hemisphere 3000. The strobe light is a device which is used to produce flashes of light. This help me get the correct amount of light on my picture. The dial on the back of the strobe light adjust the output so I can turn how bright the flash is. I also used Auiliary lights which set to slave which trigger in sync by a built in light sensor.

Studio/Lighting

When I was taking pictures I used soft boxes and these soft boxes just gave the picture a softer image. The soft boxes get rid of the bright lights to give a smoother and rounder look to the photo, if you were in a professional photo-shoot they would use huge soft boxes so it makes the model look much better.

I also used a Backdrop and all that these backdrops do is give my magazine a strong white background so the image stands out. The backdrop is lit with two strobes which are on full power to create high exposure.

Software: Adobe PhotoShopI have used Photoshop in order for me to get the best out of my front cover. I only used Photoshop a little bit before the magazine and I only knew the basics. Using the software I have learnt a lot for example how to airbrush the images. I also have learnt how to cut out my model and post it onto my magazine and bring him in front of all the writing on the magazine for example the masthead, I did this by using the magnetic lasso tool and cropping all the way around my model and then copying the layer and then moving the layer onto my magazine. I also learnt about the technical element of photoshop to like saving my work as a PSD file. I learnt how to make a new canvas for example by going to new> international paper> A4. I needed my paper to be A4 because that would be the size of a magazine printed off and also it could have pixilated when i printed it. I also learnt that after my magazine was finished it needed to be saved as a JPEG. This is so the magazine would show on my Blog and be placed in Adobe InDesign. Using Photoshop has definitely helped me get the professional feel to my magazine which allows me to make it easier connecting with my target audience. Whilst using Photoshop I didn't experience any major problems, it was just getting the hang of the tools and getting use to the layers and after a couple of lessons it was simple.

Software tools

The box tool is used to select shapers from and images can be cut or edited

Lasso tool is uses to cut out detailed shapes leaving them with no background

This tool is used to soften marks on any images

The paint bucket is used to make block colours for example the background

This is to type all of the writing on the magazine up

The colour palate is where you can choose from a variety of colours.

InDesignI used InDesign to help me complete my article. I have learnt that InDesign was a little harder to get the hang of in comparison to Photoshop. InDesign was much more practical to use when putting everything into position and making sure you had the correct boarders and that everything was in the correct place. InDesign really helped me get the look and feel for my R7B/Hip-Hop feel for the article as I could create three columns and place an image in with the text so the Q&A writing would fit around it. whilst using InDesign I learnt how to import JPEGS to InDesign by going to file>place. Whilst using InDesign I found out that when you did place your work it will be a little blurry and it was hard to see if the work was suitable or not. This did leave a doubt in my mind that after I printed or placed on my blog if that pixilated image would appear but it didn’t.