The student used several technologies to create their music magazine, including a digital SLR camera, iPhone, Photoshop, internet, lighting equipment, and Windows photo editor. They learned how to properly use the camera and phone to take high-quality photos. Photoshop allowed them to manipulate images, though some functions were difficult. The internet helped with research and keeping work organized online. Lights were easier to use than expected. The photo editor was easy but less effective than Photoshop. Overall, the technologies helped create a professional product and improved the student's technical skills.

1. QUESTION 6:
What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing the product?

2. In the process of making my music magazine I
used a range of different technologies to
achieve my final product. From using these
technologies I have improved my magazine.

3. To achieve my final production I used:
- I phone 4s
- Digital SLR Nikon Camera
- Adobe Photoshop
- Internet Explorer ( blogger/Google etc).
- Lighting
- Windows 8 photo editor

4. Digital SLR Nikon Camera
I used this camera to take the photos of Lydia (Cara Aurellie)
for my front cover, contents page and double page spread.
Being digital meant that I could see the photos straight
after I had taken and them and could then see if I needed to
make any changes to them e.g. lighting, pose. The large
amount of memory on the camera also meant that I could
keep the images and I could then decide later which images
I was going to use, or I could upload the images straight to
my computer instead of storing them on the camera incase
they got deleted. By using this camera I learnt a lot as it
helped me to figure out how to use it properly and how all
of the different functions of the camera work for me to
achieve the best outcome for my music magazine.

5. Iphone 4s
My Iphone 4s was another technology I used to take pictures for my
music magazine. I took a black and white image of my friend Sophia
to feature on my contents page and also took my phone to concerts
and took photos. This phone is lightweight and produced clear
images that I could use in my magazine. Also because the phone is
light it was easier to carry around than a camera. Using my mobile
phone also meant that I could send my images via mail so that I
could edit them on my windows 8 editor or Photoshop. I was also
able to keep in contact with my focus group trough facebook on my
phone to send them the images and ask for their opinions, and I was
able to keep in contact with Lydia (Cara Aurellie) via facebook to
arrange a day/time for me to take the photos. By using my phone it
made my production process a lot easier as I was able to keep in
contact with people very easily.

6. Adobe Photoshop
I also used Photoshop to help me with my production.
Before using this programme to create my music
magazine I hadn’t used Photoshop for two years
meaning that I was unsure on how to use it properly
and thought I would find it difficult to use. Now I am
able to manipulate my images, add text and create my
production. Although I do still find some parts of
Photoshop difficult to use, for example: Making all the
text line up, making all the text the same size and also
cropping photos. But without the help of Photoshop I
would have found it difficult to create my final product.

7. Internet Explorer
The internet helped me in my production as it allowed me to research
magazines so I had an idea of what a music magazine looked like
and what conventions I needed to use to make my final product. I
also used my Google account and Blogger to keep all my work up to
date and upload my process onto blogger. At first I had no idea how
to use Blogger, but now I do know how to use it and also now know
how to upload my work and change the layout and backgrounds of
my blog page. Blogger was useful in my production as it allowed me
to refer back to my work if I needed to make any changes or If I had
forgotten anything that I needed to use in my magazine. It was also
a fast and easy way to keep all of my work together and organised.
My work wouldn’t of been as easy to refer to if it wasn’t in a
technology form, whereas if my work was hand written it would of
taken longer and less organised.

8. Lighting
Before using the lighting my production I thought I
would find the lights difficult to use, but they
were not too difficult. I knew how to switch them
all on and I knew how I wanted the lighting and
where to position the lights to create the effect I
wanted. There was also a lighting sheet In the
media room which helped me to choose where
about’s I wanted the lighting to shine on Lydia’s
(Cara Aurellie) face. For a few of my photos the
lighting didn’t work so I had to learn where the
lighting worked, which meant a lot of
repositioning.

9. Windows 8 Photo Editor
I used this software on my own laptop. I found this
photo editor extremely easy to use and still
created good effects on my images. Although it
was easy to use it was not as effective as
Photoshop as you could not enhance certain parts
of your image, you had to enhance the entire
image. So I used this at first to make image
adjustments, but edited my photos on Photoshop
to use in my final product because it was a lot
more effective, created better images, and was
easier to enhance an image that would actually
look like an image you would see in a magazine.

10. Changes.

11. Overall the use of technologies in my production has been
extremely useful as without them my magazine would
look and feel a lot less professional, and would look a
lot less like a music magazine. They helped create my
final product but also allowed for me to keep up to
date with all my work, my work to be organised, keep
my work organised and also easy to plan. I didn’t know
how to use all of the technologies but I am now better
at using them and found each technology helpful and
easy to understand. If I was to make another music
magazine and needed to use these technologies I could
you them without virtually any help from others.