What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your product?
By Gemma_Louisa
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Camera & Lighting
The first technology that I used was a Canon Digital SLR camera coupled with lighting. I had previously used this camera and so I did have some prior knowledge on how it worked. However, I did have a few problems when I entered the studio. After choosing my black back drop and styling my models, I realised that the camera wouldn’t connect to the lights. This was a problem because it meant that my lighting would be affected and so the images may come out dark and ill-focussed. -
Camera & Lighting (How I overcame the problem)
In order to overcome this problem, I decided to take some test shots and before each picture I changed the lighting. For example, I switched off the flash from the camera and only used the ceiling lights, but this produced unprofessional images. Therefore, I tried switching off the majority of lights and used just the flash. I also stood a little bit closer in order to make sure that every detail was in focus. In my opinion, this lighting choice constructed appropriate images that were well lit. -
Photoshop (Airbrushed Glow)
By the end of my production, I feel that I had learnt everything I needed to kow about Photoshop. For example, I learnt how to create an airbrushed look by just using two simple tools. The first tool I used was the eyedropper tool, which allowed me to find a colour to match my model's skin tone. After this, I used the pianbrush tool and painted on the colour that matched their skin. -
Photoshop (Airbrush Glow) - Continued
Due to shadows and contours, some parts of the face were darker than others. However, I didn't want to cover the face in the same colour, as it would look unrealistic. Therefore, I found the colour of each part of their faces and then painted even the tiniest of places with that specific colour. In order to get in to all of the contours, I adjusted the size of the paintbrush to make sure that it only covered a certain part. -
Photoshop (Cutting Out)
When choosing secondary images for my contents page I decided that I wanted to cut the background off one in order to create a variety in the way that my images were displayed. In order to achieve this I used the lasso tool. However, I found it extremely difficult to crop the image, without cutting parts of it out, which made it look like it had sharp edges. Also, i found that it took a vast amount of time if I wanted to be very specific. -
Photoshop (Cutting Out) - Continued
Therefore, I decided to use the magic wand tool, which allowed me to select a portion of the background in one click. This meant that I was able to select the whole background in a few clicks, rather than having to draw around my image free hand. -
InDesign (Layers)
When using InDesign I found that it was best you use layers as it meant that I could edit specific areas of my doscument without affecting other content. Also, if I wasn't sure where to place a cover line, for example, I could place it in two different places in two different layers and then switch through the two layers to decide where it looked best. Therefore, layers helped me to create an effective and professional composition. -
InDesign (Quality of Images)
I problem that I had with InDesign was the resolution of my images. This meant that I couldn't screen shot my three artifacts, to put them on my blog, withought their images looking blurry. However, I eventually found that you could improve the appearence of your images by clicking on it, scrolling down to display performance and then clicking high quality display. -
InDesign (Rule of thirds)
InDesign helped me to understand the importance of rule of thirds. Through using grid lines I was able to effectively place certain features of my product so that they were more dominant than other elements. For example, I tried to keep my models in the middle third so that they became my consumers' focus pull. Also I wanted to adhere to Dyer's star theory and therfore I placed them in the centre of my front cover to convey their importance.
