Evaluation - question six

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

I feel as if although I had some knowledge of photography before this project, I improved my skills and learnt more about taking a successful portrait image for the front cover of the magazine. I gained further experience working with a model in a pretty professional environment and experimented with lighting, expression and positioning.

In terms of what I learnt about Photoshop during this project, I feel my skills broadened a lot more. I discovered new features of Photoshop such as the ‘quick selection tool’ and text in Photoshop. I also improved my knowledge of layers. I was able to cut out my main image from it’s background and change the overall colour, I also learnt how to erase part of the masthead where it covered the model’s face - all these aspects improved my cover and made it look professional. I had never used text in Photoshop before, so this was something new for me, I learnt how to create boxes to frame the text and how to change the size, colour etc. The programme I used for the double page spread was InDesign, I had never used this software before and so learnt quite a lot about it whilst experimenting with the creation of my magazine article. I gained knowledge about how images work in InDesign, bleed and slug, placing text in columns, and how to curve the shape of the text box to follow the outline of the model’s hair.

Challenges I faced throughout this project included working with text in Photoshop, which I didn’t necessarily overcome, but instead learned to adjust to, creating separate layers for each piece of text and remembering to select the correct layer before moving items. I found it difficult to colour fill text boxes in Photoshop as well, but I overcame this issue by creating a coloured shape and placing it behind text, then linking the layers so they moved together. On my front cover, I had many different attempts at cutting out the main image from it’s background as I needed to ensure it had a smooth edge and looked professional, but I found the ‘refine edge’ tool helped with this. I did struggle to keep things straight and organised, and I discovered the best option to help me with this was to create guidelines and then remove them afterwards. I also had problems transferring certain items from Photoshop to InDesign but I used the internet to help me overcome this issue.

Photoshop, photography and InDesign were not the only technologies I learnt about during this process, I also used Blogger for the first time. This increased my knowledge of web design, writing quick but engaging blog posts and embedding content from YouTube, Slide Share etc. I made sure I presented my blog professionally and that its style reflected the content.