Evaluation Question Six

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

During the course, I used the technology in school whenever possible as I knew I also would have accessibility to the help of those with better understanding of certain hardware/software. However, when not in school, I used my home computer as I found that more work independently needed to be done as there was a lot more detail that needed to be included, this then meant I needed more time than the few hours available in school.

In terms of photography, I felt lighting and a sufficient backing that would not be a white back. Most importantly, prioritising photo's was important as over 50 photos were taken for the front cover specifically. I learnt the importance of 'good quality' photo taking as I looked at the contrast of my photo's to professional photos from the likes of Joel McNally, Jeremy Cowart and Joey Lawrence.

Adobe Photoshop

I had several initial problems with Photoshop because it was a new application that I had never used and I knew none of the basics to begin with but during the development of my magazine and time using it I became a lot higher skilled, I also read 'Photoshop for dummies' and learnt how to completely edit photos from scratch and develop images through filters and fixing tools and also the use of rasterizing. Through my product's development I learnt a lot about Photoshop that I did not already know, including cropping, toning, shading and working with a grid in order to make the lay out more effective. By also using smart guides, I learnt how to cleanly align my work to look more professional

Camera Equipment

I had very little previous experience with high quality cameras or even cameras at all so learning how to take high quality photos had to be quick for me, the camera I used was a Nikon D3000 which is a high range camera, I had no real familiarity with the settings so after learning how to take photos with the correct zoom and lensing it made my photos very clear and high quality for my magazine.

Blogger

I have used this throughout the course by both stock piling and presenting my work during the course.  I feel that feedback from peers is a good way to improve and the use of the blogger’s comment system allowed for me to easily post and receive feedback from other members of the course. I used the application version of blogger on my phone which enabled my work to be very fast and effective and whenever I had ideas I could display them instantly on blogger. This would allow for work to be done both on the move but also to read comments from peers and the teachers.

Animoto

I used Animoto for presentations and ways of providing information about my magazine, it’s a very quick professional slideshow like application that's very easy to use and has surely improved the level of work on research I have produced. It not only was used for my research, but also for an evaluation question. Unfortunately, the fact that the photos of my answer progressed too quickly; this meant the slide had to be paused which caused a slight inconvenience.

Wix

I used wix to create a one page website that would display my evaluation in a different way than those I had previously seen. With this, I could make my answer look professional and also attractive.