5. Camera
For both preliminary and main tasks I used my own camera the canon 70D. I already own this camera because I also take
photography which gave me an advantage and saved me time and also meant I knew how to use the camera and a basic
knowledge of composition and camera settings.
I felt more confident when taking the main task photos than the preliminary because by that time I had familiarized my
self with the setting and gave me a thankful advantage because it allowed me to create professional looking photos.
When taking the preliminary task photographs I was still unsure on how to fully operate the camera which I feel made
them seem less professional than the main task.
In the preliminary task I decided to use a lower aperture because I knew I was going to be taking the photos inside of the
school in a natural environment which is normally very busy and can distract the viewer from the main focus and also
making it harder to place text because it may become hard to read.
With the main task I chose the Hip Hop genre and the majority of the photographs throughout the three pages were
most in the studio. So I decided to follow this convention. I used a canon 10-22 mm lens which helped me portray the
artist as intimidating and create the distortion in the DPS picture. I used ISO 100 at f/8 to make the photography as sharp
as possible with a shutter speed of 160 allowing me to take the photography's without a tripods allowing me to quickly
alter the angles I was shooting at.
I felt that my camera skills really developed from the preliminary to the main task
not only understanding how to use the cameras setting but also looking at other
magazines really opened my eyes to different compositions of the artist and angles
that portrayed different things.
I went from using AV mode in the preliminary task allowing me to have aperture
priority and manually change the aperture to going fully Manuel in the main task
even white balance.
6. Lighting
In the preliminary task I use natural lighting to make the magazine feel more realist
having the models in normal situations, but also the reason I used natural lighting was
because I didn’t know how to use studio lighting at that point.
After looking into other Hip Hop magazines I noticed that studio lighting was use in the
majority of the magazines making it a convention so I also designed my cover and DPS
photos to use the studio.
After creating the preliminary task I started using the lights in my photography class
which made me more confident when coming to taking my main task photos. I did
research into what lighting techniques used create different effects on the artist by the
way the shadows rest on the model.
I ended up using a strip light which lighted the
whole of the model making it clear to the
audience who the artist is. The lighting also
helped to portray wealth.
7. Photoshop
My skills developed dramatically in Photoshop during the cover page for the main task. Going into the preliminary task I had no
knowledge on the tools and how to use them. This automatically gave a disadvantage and meant I spent a lot of time understanding
how to use the tools, getting my head around the layers and watching tutorials on YouTube.
I kept to the basic tools in the preliminary task such as the rectangular marquee tool, paint bucket tool (also testing with the opacity)
and finally the horizontal type tool. Because I lacked in experience with Photoshop I felt it lacked with my creativity during the
preliminary task making the pages seem less professional.
After spending more time on the software, also in other subjects and downloading the free trial at home allowed me to familiarise
my self with the tools and ultimately allowed me to be more creative after understanding how to use the layers to my advantage
creating more 3D designs.
YouTube tutorials helped me throughout both projects and also members of the class with more experience. I started learning new
tools and techniques via YouTube like the magnetic lasso tool, this tool allowed me to cut out the artist and place text being them
and YouTube tutorials helped me with this.
I even started downloading new tools online that helped me create the end result I wanted.
My editing skills in dramatically developed from the preliminary task to the main, mostly because of the familiarisation with
software's such as lightroom and Photoshop. The more time I spend using this software the more creative I could be taking
advantage of all the assets they provide. I used YouTube tutorials to help me when stuck and to learn new techniques. I felt more
comfortable using lightroom to edit because I use that software in photography but for the DPS I wanted to learn something new so I
used Photoshop to edit the picture and I used tutorials when I was stuck.
8. Mise en scene
In terms of planning out what I was doing the main task was a lot more comprehensive.
This I feel is because I spent more time on researching the conventions of the genre I chose
and I really wanted to portray a certain vibe which I feel like I achieved successfully .
The models used for the preliminary task I didn’t really put much thought into and didn’t
really matter apart from age. But the main I had to think about ethnicity, age, gender etc. I
feel like I managed to reflect the genre just through mise en scene in the main task which I
am pleased about.
I looked at other magazines and followed conventions. I felt that because the genre I chose
needed to have such specific conventions prominent to make it as effective as possible I
spent more time understanding he genre so I could reflect this as effectively as possible
therefore my skills developed dramatically and my attention to detail became much higher
in the main than the preliminary because it had to be.
For his NVC being a dominant direct mode of address to his Versace costume and the low
angle that makes him look more powerful.
9. Layout
My skills developed with the layout mostly from looking at other magazines from the
same genre. In the preliminary task it was more wherever it fits I put it but in the main
task I did a lot of research into other magazines and also did a lot of planning on that
mine would look like changing the layout multiple times.
Instead of following one magazine layout I brought aspects of many magazines that I liked
and combined them also bringing new things that made the magazine unique which is
seen throughout many magazines like fonts or even graphical features.
I changed the layout of the DPS many times because I felt like
the headline ‘who shot ya’ ended up being out of place. This
was mostly because the awkward composition of the word
‘ya’.
I felt like my awareness of how the layout effected the final
out come of the page developed dramatically since the
preliminary task allowing me to create more professional
work.
10. Colour Scheme
My awareness to colour schemes and the impact they have to create a feeling for a
specific genre defiantly developed from the preliminary to the main task. I feel like the
research part of the main task helped me understand what colours to use and how to
use them to highlight important information.
The colour scheme I picked defiantly helps to reflect the genre by following conventions
of the genre.
I feel like the process it took to choose the fonts I would use became more specific as I
needed a specific vibe that reflected the genre. Unlike the preliminary. I started to look
at online websites suck as Dafonts and 1001 fonts that allowed me really target what I
was looking for, and helped me create my final piece. I noticed when doing the research
for the main task how important the font would be to achieve the look I was aiming for
which I didn’t really understand wen doing the preliminary task. I focused on a
1960’s/1970’s font type that reflected the time period when Rap and Hip Hop was
introduced.
I also started to understand how important font sizes where and used different font sizes
to make more important information stand out the the viewer.
Fonts
11. Organisation
I feel that I needed to be more organised in the main task because I was aiming for a really
specific vibe. I had to be more organised than the preliminary because I had more things to
do such as a studio shoot.
To organise the studio shoot I arranged to borrow equipment such as a back drop and
lighting from the photography department and also a place to do this. I then had to
organise a model that reflected all the key conventions I had been researching. Unlike in
the preliminary task where I just used anyone I could find because I took them in school
and the magazine was for a school, but I still organised to go into a science classroom and
take pictures of them while they were doing experiments.
I used new technology to organise people in the main task such as whatsapp to message
friends what time I needed their assistance and also outlook and emailing software I used
to formally ask teachers to borrow equipment.
Organisation was key in the main task because I needed to use certain equipment and I
needed a specific model for the photo-shoot.
