Blog Write Up

During my time using photography, Photoshop, and InDesign I have developed some new skills. Using Photoshop I have developed my skills using the software and have been able to edit photos easily. Here is a photo that I created for a blog post on my football blog.

As well as Photoshop my skills using InDesign have improved a lot and although I am not the best using the software. I have improved a lot using both of these softwares, and before my time at the QE I did not know how to use either of them well.
My photography skills have improved a lot, and I now know that taking a picture isn’t just about clicking a button. I have learned how to use shutter speed, aperture control, and much more. Here is a photo that I recently took, and with the use of the rule of thirds I ensured that my model’s eye line was on level terms with a viewer’s eye line too.
 

 

 During the last week of production I was faced with some problems regarding my photos as they took up too much space on my products and I hadn’t taken any back-up photos during my photo-shoot. These problems were hard to overcome so I re-did my photo-shoot to get a better photo. This problem was annoying and took up a lot of my time that could have been spent on bettering my overall folder work.

 

Photoshop tended to be easier than I expected although when I first started using it, it was very difficult software to use. However, due to much of my extra work where I edited photos frequently, I began to get a good feel of the software which led to it becoming a much easier task. Despite this, I still feel that it is slightly hard.

Photoshop looked a lot harder when I looked at it, and was when I started, but I overcame this through practice and it became much easier software to use.

AS Media Production: Final Skills Audit Print Production

Name:       Ben Edkins        Tutor group:   1.19     Date:

 

Photographic Skills

Which of the following photographic features/equipment have you used on a camera before?

 

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Manual Focus features	X		I used them to take composition photos, and the photo-shoot. I did this well as to ensure that I got a good resolution for my photos.
Shutter Speed	X		I took some good photos using this. I took photos of moving objects to catch them in freeze frames.
Aperture control	X		Allows focus on a certain ground i.e. foreground or background etc.
ISO Control	X
A tripod	X		Allows the camera to be static and disqualifies any handheld elements such as jerking movements, I used a tripod during my photo-shoot.
External flash	X		Allows a room/area to be lightened up via a source of which is not the camera. This can be lighting equipment, of which I used during the photo-shoot.
Self-timer facility	X		Allows the camera to schedule a photo, allowing no photographer to take the photo. I used this to take a photo of myself and friends, but it took a few tries.
Light meter
Composition grids	X		Used to ensure that photos were adhering to photographic laws such as the rule of thirds etc. I took my photos to a good level although some had poor resolution.

Photoshop Skills

Which of the following features of Photoshop have you used before?

 

 

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Text control	X		I used this in both Photoshop and InDesign to change the gap difference between text lines. I used this well and effectively.
Filters	X		I used a colour filter to give my magazine a good blue glow/tinge, but decided against keeping it as it didn't improve the look in any way.
Brushes	X		I used brushes when making my CD front covers to create clouds. I used brushes very well in my opinion, although I over-done it on one of the 3 CD covers I made.
Layers	X		I used many layers on Photoshop to structure my products I.e. magazine front cover. I organised these well.
Opacity control	X		I changed the opacity on creates shapes to give them a good effect on my magazine. I used the opacity control well.
Shape creation	X		I create shapes because I wanted to add a good element to my magazine, and provide a foundation for text such as sell lines. I used shapes very well on InDesign too.
Brightness and contrast control
Gradients	X		I used a gradient on my magazine front cover. I did this well and it gave my product a good background.
Load selection features	X		I used this to create a headline for my voluntary football journalism. I used this well and found that you could create good features around and on text.
Feathering
Colour curves adjustment
Resolution setting control
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	X		I used these to draw around preferred imagery before copying and pasting into a different Photoshop document. My skills of this tool have significantly improved of the course of the year, and I can now use it very well!
Cropping tool	X		I used this to crop unwanted, excess imagery from an image. I did this well as it is very simple.
Clone tool
Retouch tool
Other skills	X		Burn tool- I used these to make an image look more charred than usual. I used this on my vampire tutorial. I did this well in my opinion. Sponge tool- I used this tool and 'desaturation' to draw the colour away from selected parts of an image. I again used this on my vampire tutorial and used it well.

In Design Skills

Which of the following features of In Design have you used before?

 

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Have you ever used In design ever before?	X		I used it to create a double page spread. I did this rather well considering the software was very difficult and I overcame that well.
Margin and column guide creation	X		I used these to give me a rough guideline as to where I could work on my double page spread.
Inserting an image ID	X		I inserted many images onto InDesign, and although slightly difficult I done so quite well in my opinion.
Resizing images in ID	X		At first I couldn't re-size my images but after a play around I found out how, and done so on my double page spread to make the image the perfect size. I did this well.
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation	X		I manipulated a lot of text in terms of positioning and chose to put my headline on a slant, I did this very well as in my opinion it looked good.
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading
Text flow creation
Using transparent imagery in ID
Shape/line creation In design	X		I created a ‘mock’ double page spread and used lines to separate mini statistics and other news regarding my topic, but that didn’t link entirely to the main article body. I did these well. I created shapes on my double page spread too.
Exporting to PDF from In-design	X		When I finished my double page spread I exported it into a PDF file in order to be able to transmit the product to the moderator. This wasn’t too difficult, but you had to ensure you did it right, and therefore took a bit of time.
Text Wrap
Other Skills

 

 

 

Number of new skills achieved:

(Compare with your initial skills assessment)

 

15.