When creating the preliminary task, which was to produce a college magazine, I did not know how to use Photoshop as I had only just been introduced to the technology program. This put me at a disadvantage because there could have been certain areas of the project, such as improving the quality of the image or adding a background, that I did not know how to do. This meant that the final production was more basic than it could have been had I had experience with using a variety of different and advanced technologies. If I had created the product again after practising my skills with Photoshop and other editing software I think that my product would have looked more professional and would have more appeal to my target audience. Examples of some of the complications with using Photoshop was that I did not know how to use the blur tool, the red-eye tool, the spot healing tool and the clone tool. As I developed my skills in using these skills, I was able to manipulate the image to create better effects. I also had to develop my skills in order to understand how Photoshop worked with regards to layers and importing images for editing. This was essential for organising the layout of my magazine efficiently so it could be easily read and consumed.
Another element of the development of my skills in using editing software is changing the backgrounds to suit my creative decisions and ideas. Some example include: accommodating a background for the ‘phoebe can’t dance image on my contents page, the original background for this image was dull and messy, to change this I had to learn to erase the original background and learn to use layers in order to apply the new background. Another example of my creative decision making, influenced by my skills using editing software was, on my double-page-spread, I used a notebook-style background, in the beginning of the production process I did not think about using an image as a background of the page. Once I had realised this, I took a picture of the inside of a notebook, then uploaded the image onto Photoshop and organised the text around the background image.
When creating my foundation portfolio (producing a music magazine), we used Blogger. This showed the progress of the production, examples of this was posting blogs of any images, masthead texts, fonts and logos that were of great influence, posting images and photos that I had taken for the magazine and explaining how they met the codes and conventions of my chosen genre of music magazine. I also posted regular blogs of any ideas that I may like to include in my product. My experience in using the internet and blogging websites was limited as, at the time, I had not used a blog before and was not used to the settings. I also did not know how to customise the blog to make it look more organised and the ways in which I could display my work efficiently.
Another piece of digital technology which I had little skills in using was the cameras. The camera I used was only a basic digital camera but it was still hard to take a good picture that I was happy with as I had little skills with using camera’s, which settings I could use and how to manipulate the images. As I developed my skills with the camera throughout my foundation portfolio product I was able to take better pictures, this made a difference to which images I included in my magazine and how they followed the codes and conventions of the genre of music magazine which I had chosen. An example of this is the main image on the front cover of my magazine. The particular image that I used was one of many attempts to produce the right image. When practicing taking photos, I learned from my mistakes and investigated a variety of camera settings, angles and focus. This helped me to make a more creative decision of the image that I wanted to include in my magazine.
Throughout making my music magazine I had used basic text fonts in the early stages of the production, as I improved my skills on Photoshop and using the internet, I found a website called Dafont.com, which offered a wide range of different fonts. This helped me to make more creative decisions about the style of text and how it related to the conventions of my magazine and how it represented the music genre. An example of this is the masthead on my front cover. At first the name of the band was Sticks and stones, I realised that this name did not have the same effect as the name Pulse, so I tried to find a font that would be relevant to this name. By using the website Dafont.com I managed to find a font that was relevant. Had I not developed my skills in using the internet, I feel that my overall product would have looked basic and ineffective.
In conclusion, the ways in which I developed my skills by learning from the mistakes that I made in my preliminary task and the early stages of developing my foundation portfolio task, and exploring different uses of technology, I was able to make creative decisions and carry them out successfully to create a professional-looking product that met the codes and conventions of a typical rock music magazine.
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