Media Course Work

1. What have you
learnt about
technologies from
the process of
constructing this
product?
By Bethany Jones

2. What is Hardware?
 Hardware is the machines, wiring, and other
physical components of a computer or other
electronic system.

3. MAC
Computers
 The Mac I have been working on throughout this
process is called ‘’Mac OS X’’ it is version 10.5.8. It
includes a ‘’2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo’’ having a duo
core 2 intel, was useful to have because it is faster, and
it enables me to use software such as ‘’Photoshop.’’
 Hardware for Macintosh (Mac) computers is produced
by Apple Inc. The Mac product uses Intel x86-64
processors. All Mac models ship with 1 GB RAM as
standard, this enables the computers to run effencitly.
The Mac computer I have been working on comes
with a “ nVidia GeForce graphics cards that include a
dual function DVD and CD burner, called a SuperDrive.
This really helped when I was designing my magazine
on the computer.
 Macs include two standard transfer USB and Firewires,
this was really important when I had to transfer article
analysis from different computers.
Hardware

4. Hardware
 A keyboard is a typewriter-style device, it uses an
arrangement of keys to act as mechanical or
electronic switches. Interaction via teleprinter-style
keyboards became the main input device for
computers.
 A keyboard has characters engraved or printed on the
keys and each press of the key typically corresponds to a
written symbol. However, in order to produce certain
symbols the computer requires you to press and hold a
number of keys simultaneously. Some keys can produce
actions or execute computer commands.
 The keyboard uses a text entry interface to type text and
numbers into a word processor program. But the
interpretation of key presses is generally left to the
software.
Mac
Computers
Keyboard

5. Hardware
 Over the years Apple have maintained a distinct form
and function with its mice that reflects its own Apple
design.
 The most important design of the Apple mice that sets
it apart from others is the single button control
interface. It was not until recently that Apple
introduced a mouse with a scroll button, and 4
programmable buttons.
 Apple now have introduced a optical LED based
control mechanisms. I have used the latest Apple
mouse throughout this process, it has a laser tracker
that improves the control of the mouse.
Mac
Computers
Mouse

6. Hardware
 The mouse I have used throughout is an optional
based version of the Apple Mouse in white. (M5769)
 Apple have flipped the conventional appearance of
the mouse upside down, they have evolded into a
sleekly featureless appearance. This in turn makes it
much easier to use as you don’t have to worry about
the mouse sticking.
 This was the first mouse to use LED for solid state optical
tracking rather than your typical rubber ball.
Mac
Computers
Mouse

7. Hardware
 Firstly I used the ‘’Nikon Coolpix Camera’’ in order to
create to my ‘’student magazine’’ we created these
in order to get to grips with how cameras worked and
how Photoshop worked.
 If you look at the images below, you can see that the
camera gave clear and lifted photos for such a little
camera.
Nikon
coolpix
Camera

8. SD Memory Card Photos
An SD memory card can transfer images from the camera
and onto a computer.
I did not use this throughout the process of creating my final
magazine, however I did use it throughout the creation of
my student magazine.
Helping understand the different ways of transporting
images from the camera to my computer. Enhancing my
Knowledge of technologies and helping me find out which
process was more efficient.

9. Hardware
 The camera I used throughout my product making
was the Nikon Camera D3100 – Digital SLR, the settings
were manual with an aperture of 11f with a shutter
speed of 1/300th.
 This really helped lift my photos, as with the Nikon
Coolpix if you did a close up shot it may have come
out a little fuzzy. However the D3100, really gave a
clear and enhanced photo.
 Also I had never used a camera of that kind before
and I really benefitted from learning how to use it and
what shot worked where.
 Having a 14 mega-pixel camera really enhanced the
quality of my images because it made look so crisp.
Nikon
Camera
D3100 –
Digital SLR

10. Hardware
 As you can see from both the images above, the camera produced
excellent quality. Although I didn’t use the image on the right, I
wanted to try it out, and the camera’s shutter speed made it possible
for me to capture my model jumping, it enabled me to capture the
happiness the model was feeling at that time.
How it
helped
my
photos?

11. Hardware
 The revolution of the photo makes the photo look much brighter than it
could have been with the Coolpix camera. For example, as you can
see from the images above the lightening recreates the illusion of
daylight.
 Something I really liked about using this camera was how clear it made
the face, you can really see the make up and make out each detail
on the model’s face.
How did
it help my
photos?

12. Hardware
 In order to achieve the best possible images I had to
make sure the Horseshoe flash trigger was in sync with
the strobe flash, in order to do this the infra red single
was sent to the strobe flash, which triggers the flash
making in sync with the camera shutter.
 I set the speed to 1/300th of a second to match the
speed of the camera shutter, producing quality
images.
 It was a useful piece of hardware because it meant I
did not have to mess around making sure all the lights
were set up each time, and I could focus purely on the
images.
 Having the trigger also meant that I could sort out a
problem easily if something went wrong. The light box
inside the Horseshoe made the image much brighter,
which was good as it’s always hard to put more light
into a photo.
Horseshoe
Flash
Trigger

13. Hardware
 The strobe flash was probably one of the most useful
piece of the technology I used, it really made the
picture come to life with the light.
 The strobe flash had a dial on the back to adjust the
output, I learnt what settings made the best possible
picture. Ensuring the modeling light was on.
 I set the Auxiliary lights to slave in order to brighten the
photo and make it seem as if it was daylight. This was
set in sync with a built in light sensor in order to achieve
the best image.
 Having a built in light sensor made it easier because
you didn’t have to adjust the settings manually.
Hemisphere
300 – Strobe
Flash

14. Hardware
Auxiliary Light
Dial to adjust
light
Switch
sensor
Stand
Strobe
Light
Labelled

15. Hardware
 I couldn’t just use a strobe light one its own as it
would have been too bright and washed the
model out.
 Therefore I did my research, and discovered soft
boxes would be a good piece of kit to use in
order to disperse the light.
 The disperse of the light gave a softer rounded
image.
Soft
Boxes

16. Hardware
 The final piece of equipment I used was a backdrop.
 This was useful as it made the light bounce off the
back of the set, making for a better image.
 I got two extra strobes, I set them to full light capitcy,
this gave the illusion of the absolute whiteness of the
background. This created high exposure.
Backdrop

17. What is Software?
 Software means computer instructions or data.
Anything that can be stored electronically is software
e.g. Word, Powerpoint, InDesign.
 This is in contrast to storage devices and display
devices which is known as hardware, e.g. Cameras,
Computers, Lights.

18. Software
 I used Photoshop to make my whole magazine, it was
a really easy program to use as everything was in one
place.
 Photoshop can edit and construct images into multiple
layers, it is multi layer system that makes it so easy to
use because you can clearly see what goes where.
 It uses PSD file format, it was easy to change it to a
Jpeg file when I needed to place it on my blog.
Photoshop

19. Software
Photoshop
This is the
colour plate,
this can be
used to make
the
background
the colour of
your choice.
This is the layer
system you can see
it is labelled as
‘’Background’’
This is the
tool bar,
it gives
you a
symbol
for each
tool so
you are
aware of
what
you are
using.
This is
the
layer.

20. Software Photoshop

21. Software
 As you can see from the pervious slide I developed my
whole front cover in Photoshop, it gave me various
options of fonts, suited to the genre of my magazine.
 It allowed me to develop graphics, for example the
white lines that spilt up the coverlines on the right hand
side, this made it easier for the reader to read.
 Photoshop also allowed me to set up a suitable layout
to display the contents of the magazine in order to
create a realistic looking magazine.
Photoshop

22. photo
layer
Editing
tools
Photoshop
Editing
properties
Tool Bar

23. Software
 Photoshop was useful for editing images as it gave you
room to be creative, for example I disoriented the
background of the image and created a strip of
colour in order to create to an atmosphere.
 Photoshop allowed for many different editing
properties, this enhanced all my images as I could
create a different theme for my cover, contents and
article.
 I set my model outside in order to play around with the
lightening, furthermore the outside setting set the
scene and tone for the magazine.
Photoshop

25. Software
 The contents page was harder to create as there were
so many different layers to the magazine, also I used a
lot more graphics.
 Photoshop was useful because you could clearly see
what colours contrasted one another, for example the
tone of white against the red.
 I was able to choose a layout that fitted my contents
page by taking inspiration from different magazines
that had the same genre as me.
Photoshop

26. Software InDesign
Indesign is a publishing application produced by
adobe system, it can be used to create products such
as flyers and posters, therefore I thought it would be
useful to input the text on to my article.

27. InDesign

28. Software
 InDesign was a difficult software to get my head
around as it had some many different elements to it, I
learnt how to cleverly input information onto a layer.
 In order to put the text onto the I had to create one
column, in which the text that I had already written in
word appeared.
 Furthermore, in order to find out how much of the text
could fit onto the layer, I kept increasing the size of the
column, I resized it in order to create a realistic looking
article.
InDesign

29. Software
 The blog software I used was called WordPress, it was
good because I could upload a lot of work at once,
and I could arrange it in my dashboard.
 The dashboard was useful because it was an overview
of every post on the system.
 It was an easy software to use because everything
was in one place furthermore I learnt how to make
multi pages in order to make my blog appear
professional.
Blog

30. Software Blog
Easy access
to new post
Creation of
New pages
Easy viewing
posts
Access
to
dashboa
rd and
pages.
Notifications

31. Software
 WordPress helpfully allowed me to keep up to
date with my blog posts. It kept everything in
order, which allowed me to understand where I
was with work.
 It kept drafts of posts I had worked on meaning I
could edit them quickly if needed.
 As you can see from the image above, creating a
new post was a simple task, as all I had to do was
click one handy button. Allowing me to work
efficiently.
Blog

32. Software
 PowerPoint has been my main source when
answering evaluation questions.
 It has allowed me to present my ideas and
various answers in exciting ways instead of
just using a blog post.
 It also enabled me to set out images and
screenshots more efficiently because you
can easily crop images just by going on the
menu bar.
 It also allows me to insert shapes, text boxes
and images allowing my ideas to flow.
PowerPoint

33. Software
 Slideshare is a virtual storage system, in which you
can upload various PowerPoints and documents.
 I used this to upload my power points to my blog,
you simply create an account and upload you
power point, once uploaded you have the
choice of an embed code, this can be copied
and pasted into a blog post and once posted
the power point appears.
SlideShare

34. Software
 Microsoft word processor is a piece of software that enables
you to create a document of your choice.
 I used this to create a plan of my article before I placed it
into InDesign. This allowed me to ensure that all spelling and
grammar was correct before posting my final product, giving
it a professional finish.
Word

35. Summary
 I have learnt a lot over this process, beforehand I did
not know how to use a professional camera. But after
this process I feel extremely confident, as I have learnt
how to link the camera to the lightening and what shot
looks best creating a clean finish.
 Furthermore, I have become far more able when using
software such as Photoshop, I can now confidently
edit images creating a slick final image.
What have I
learnt?