Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the production of my magazine I have relied heavily on technology, not only as I used computing software to create my magazine but I used a number of cameras to get the images to include in the content.

Photography- Gathering photographs was relatively easy for me as I have taken the AS Photography course and at the same sort of time I was planning my magazine I took a set of high key photographs using a special type of lighting on a white background in order to create a bright tone. To do so I used an SLR camera in which I had to tweak the settings so that I could capture the best quality photo possible and therefore focused on aspects such as the focusing and the shutter speed. I used one of my photos from the high key set for the contents page as I thought it gave the appropriate ‘look’ and matched in with the semi- glamorous theme of the magazine. I also used a number of my friend’s digital cameras to captures images of my cover star and feature star which are just my close friends, I took images of ‘Lexy Laws’ every night we went out to events as she was then dressed up and therefore looked appropriate for the ‘Lexy Laws’ image, the majority of these images went towards the ‘spotted…’ section at the end of the double page spread.

Computing- These images, once taken, had to be uploaded onto the computer and transferred into a separate folder where there are organised before any edits are made.

Photoshop- When I began to use Photoshop at the beginning of the year I was really inexperienced in how to use the software and was unsure of how to function any of the tools but with me also doing my Photography course, I found it progressively easier to use as this subject is based around using this particular software. Just from experimenting and exploring the tool bar I found that my knowledge of what can be done on Photoshop has expanded greatly and I now feel a lot more confident in using it. I ‘placed’ all my images onto the appropriate magazine page and for most I edited them slightly, by using tools such as the dodge tool, the blur/sharpen tool, the spot healing tool and the healing tool; these were all to improve the quality and look of the image and to give them a ‘flawless’ effect that is in keeping with the people and look that’s involved and associated with my magazine.
I used the patch tool to fix images that may have had unwanted overlapping objects or people in the picture and this picture of my friend Michael I really wanted to use as I think he portrays the right image for my magazine but it had things overlapping him so I used the patch tool to correct this. I also used the blur tool to even out his skin and the pixilation to create a better quality picture.                      

Before                                        After