chelseaconstantine: September 2014

Friday 26 September 2014

Evaluation

What have you learnt from completing this task?
I have learnt how to use Photoshop, by using Photoshop I have been able to edit my photos and add different colour tines to enhance certain parts of my photo and make it seem more professional and more likely to catch the audience’s eye. In my photo for my front cover I was able to airbrush certain parts of the photo to make them seem like they have a flawless face, I could change the colours of their eyes and the colour of their lips to make it how I wanted it to look. I was also able to use hue/saturation to brighten up my photo and stop them from looking as ‘green’. I have also learnt how to use a Mac; I had never used on before we did this product and at first I struggled in finding out how to do things such as screenshot and were to save my product to, but by practise I was able to do it and I was able to do a lot more editing and use different programmes on a Mac than what I could on a normal computer. By doing this product I have learnt how to be organised and keep all my files and documents in the same place so I could find them. When I do my final product I hope to be as organised as I was in this product so then I can keep to time frames and meet all the required deadlines.

How have you used technology?

I have used technology by using a computer to collect all my research from the internet, I also used it to look at current magazines to get inspiration from, I also used the internet to collect images to create my mood board to also help me with inspiration. The disadvantage of this is that some images may be copyright so I had to be careful and only select certain ones which is what I was able to use. I have also used technology as I used a Mac and a normal pc, I had never used a mac before so I found it difficult at first and struggled to do things such as screenshot but I go the hang of it in the end and found it was so much easier to edit things and helped it make it look more like a professional magazine. I also used my phone for this product to take my photos so the quality wasn't brilliant and so when I do my final product I am going to use a camera to get my quality better. When using my phone I also had to make sure that the camera framing was right and that it was a medium shot.

What conventions have you used and why?

I have used a main image and main feature story because this is what will draw my audience’s attention in, I will also add feature stories to my magazine and there will also be a plug because by using a plug I can add something such as a free item or a competition as this will grab the audience’s attention. I will also be using a skyline and footer. Another convention will also be the masthead this will be the title of my magazine and I will make sure it is bold and stands out from a distance so it draws in the attention of my audience.

What would I change if I did it again?
I would change the way I did my image, I took the photo just down a corridor as the dance studio wasn’t free, so if I did it again I would take it in more of an original place so it didn’t seem as boring, I would maybe take it somewhere with better lighting as well, overall I think I wouldn’t really change anything else I’m happy with the way my product turned out and im happy with my organisation and time keeping.

Final Product

This is my final magazine cover i created.

Camera Shots

When creating my magazine i had to consider which camera frame to use, in magazines the normal photo shot to use is a mid shot so when taking my photo i will make sure it is a mid shot. Other camera frames are extreme close up of things such as eyes or nose, a close up which would be of a face for example, a mid shot which would be of there head,shoulders/body, a long shot which would be the whole body, there is also a wide shot, a shot assigned to the left, a shot assigned to the right, a centre shot, a high shot which can represent power and dominance or a low shot, there is also a birds eye view shot which is seen from a birds perspective looking directly down.

Editing Final Photo

This is a screenshot of my final photo which i used to put on the front of my magazine, i was currently editing it by using a website called picmonkey.com, i was able to change things such as skin tone making them look a little darker and things such as the colours of there eyes and lips. I was also able to airbrush there face and body to create the 'flawless' image.

Practise Photoshop

This is what i created when practicing using Photoshop, I used things such as the lasso tool to cut out my image and get rid of the background i also altered the hue/saturation and the levels to enhance certain parts of the photo. I also used crop and copy to place the Eiffel tower behind the sand, i also learnt how to lock layers and create new levels, i also renamed each layer so when i had a lot of layers, i knew which one was which. I also learnt how to change the feather effect of the lasso tool to make the edging seem less sharp and blended more. I also made some mistakes when using Photoshop by accidentally changing the contrast for example but by making these mistakes i learnt how to put them right and i now know for my future product on how to do it and what to do.

Screenshots of creating my masthead

Here i have screen shot each process of when i created my masthead using a website called chrome5graffiticreator.com it enabled me to change things such as fonts and colours and i was able to enhance the style of dance i wanted to base my magazine on.

Current Magazines

Here i chose 3 current magazines from the internet and labelled the key conventions such as masthead and feature stories so i know what needs to be added to my magazine in order for it to look realistic. I was also able to see what current magazines look like and how there fonts and colour schemes are planned out.