Evaluation Six

Example of Using Technology : Aids Evaluation Six

Evaluation Six: Text Format
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the project?

Technology is a fast growing trend, it now helps us advance in taking images, editing images and putting things together to get a final product, through this project I was able to see the advantages of technology and how it makes production easier.

Camera:

I felt one of the most important technologies I used during this production was the camera I used to take all my pictures.  Canon 550D DSLR which is my preferred type due to its simple interface and reliability compared to other branded cameras such as Nikon, even the shape of the camera was suitable to my usage with small hands and its light weight.  Using a digital camera gave me a immediate advantage over anyone taking images with a film camera. This is because I was able to take photos and check them on the screen of the camera and see if the lighting, contrasts and angles were suitable, whereas using a film camera I would have to take all the pictures all at once, process them and then get them printed before I could check if all the elements were correct, which would also be very costly as I would have to print out hundreds of photos. After this I would have had to scan them into a computer making the whole task a lot more time consuming, especially as my production required lots of different photoshoots, models and test shots. Lastly having a digital camera enabled me to have clear photos which would not be blurry. Therefore having a digital camera has advanced my work by a large amount as I have full control over my photos. I conduced many different photoshoots which varied between studio locations, outdoors and indoor events. For the studio shoot location I set up a white back drop light by Interfit portrait photography lighting. By having trigger lighting on this brought the lighting on only when I took the photo giving a professional look and effect to my photos. For this shoot I used an 18-55mm 4.6 aperture lens which enabled detailed photos and I wide range of possible angles to access. Next I set up an identical camera on a tripod focused on the set. I then hooked this up with another camera which enabled me to create a time lapse of my whole photo shoot as proof.  For all outdoors and events images I found that I had to take more care in where I place my models to ensure the lighting and shadows were not blocking my models position, by having a digital camera I was able to check the quality immediately.  The camera allowed me to have professional looking photos and really increased my chances of having an excellent product.

Editing Photos:

(Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0)

To edit and create my product I primarily used Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0, this is a photo editing tool which has allowed me to lots of different effects, edits and make changes to my images which is crucial to making magazines. This programme advances over any programme such as paint which is very basic and limited. There are endless amounts of things I used on Photoshop but the prime tools that I used to create my production were tools such as layering, liquidation, clone tool and using the different gradient tools. Using the layering allowed me to create a picturesque look for my magazine, and allowed me to place different things on my magazine such s text, secondary images and image effects. It makes my magazine less plain and more interesting and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Liquidation allowed me to fill in blank spaces or parts where the magic wand had cut parts of my image off. It came handy to also squeeze and bloat certain parts of my image to make it all fit onto the page.  The clone tool was also useful to get rid of any impurities on my models face such as unwanted hair, spots of skin colorants. Gradients were also a key tool I used, this is because my magazine is heavily dependant on layering and placing things together so the gradient allowed me to make things more transparent and allowed me to make certain elements bolder and stand out when required.

(Picasa)

Picasa is an easy and quick photo editing tool that focuses on the lighting and contrasts of the photos. For many of my images I edited them on Picasa before importing them onto Photoshop, this is because I was able to make lighting more prominent using a simple slide bar. Picasa also enabled me to straighten any photos which were taken on a slight angle; other tools include blurring images, creating glows, giving the image a temperature. Another key tool I Used on Picasa was the crop tool, I felt it was more effective to use the crop tool on Picasa over Photoshop as it had set dimensions which would make it more equal rather than using freehand which could be mistaken.

Creative Freedom:

Within this production I felt that technology had broadened my creative freedom on how I want to portray things. For example through the research, proposals and pre productions I did not have to stick to word documents and power points. But instead I was able to use programmes such as Prezi which is a zooming presentation device which allows me to zoom and fly around the screen as a presentation which makes it more interesting and fun. I was also able to make videos, animations to showcase other parts of my project. It shows the different varieties technology has to offer and how media industries are competitive with technology and trying to out do the other. One programme I enjoyed using was Adobe Flash to create my animation, I felt it was simple but affective; I used an image of two people that would be considered my target audience and made squiggly lines as their mouths which moved when they spoke. To make the voices different I recorded myself using a microphone and imported the clip to Audacity which is a sound editor, using this I was able to make myself sound different for the two characters. I made myself sound very girly and squeaky and manly and rough. I felt this was different and really showed that technology plays a big part in every day life.

Lastly the internet was very useful to help my creative freedom. I was able to look at YouTube and videos on tutorials to teach me how to do things on Photoshop and editing skills. This was invaluable to me as it showed how technology was able to act as a teaching tool. Through tutorials and videos I was not restricted in the design of my magazine due to the ability to do anything I wanted with it.