The document discusses several technologies and software programs the student learned about and developed skills in through creating their product. They learned to use Blogger effectively as an online portfolio and gained knowledge of HTML coding. Prezi helped brainstorm and present ideas interactively. Google Docs allowed easy access to surveys for audience feedback. Skills in iPhoto photo editing and Adobe Photoshop airbrushing, layers, and formatting text grew. Test photography sessions helped develop skills in manual camera functions, framing, and using lighting equipment like wireless flashes.

1. Evaluation Question
Six
What have you learnt
about technologies from the
process of constructing this
product?

2. Online Technology
Blogger
Before beginning the course I had heard of
Blogspot/Blogger and the blogging community before, but I
had always considered it to be another form of social
networking. I had art and fashion blogs on other websites
but I hadn’t considered Blogger to be an effective way of
creating an online and interactive portfolio. Using blogger
has enabled me to display multimedia work in an organised
online storage space that I can access from anywhere. I have
also developed my knowledge of HTML coding when
embedding codes from slideshare, YouTube and GoogleDocs.

3. Online Technology
Prezi
Although I found it slightly confusing at first, Prezi has
enabled me to brainstorm ideas (such as ‘initial ideas’ for my
product) and present them in order to gain feedback in an
efficient and interactive way. Prezi is an alternative to
PowerPoint and is more suited to visual display of ideas so has
proved useful throughout the planning and reasearch stages of
my production.
Google Docs
I was unaware that Google Docs existed at first and assumed it
was just a Google version of iCloud so I had no idea it could be
used for surveys and audience feedback. I found this google
extension extremely useful when getting audience feedback as
my surveys were easily accessable and the data was all organised
and displayed by the software.

4. Software
iPhoto
I had used iphoto before but hasn’t used it to its full
capabilities before the course, as I had never needed
to organise or edit a large selection of photographs.
The editing feature is similar to the ‘adjustments’
bar on adobe Photoshop but it allowed me to make
alterations to photographs quickly during the image
selection process e.g. the contents page main image’s
contrast levels were increased on iphoto before I
chose to use that image in my product.

5. Software
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop was the area where I developed my skills most. I had used Photoshop for my media GCSE
last year so I understood the basic principles of layers, image format, applying text and making
adjustments to the images. However, as I wanted to achieve a professional and well-established
aesthetic to my product, I aimed to develop my Photoshop skills to look similar to a professional
standard. I mimicked the techniques of professional image retouchers by learning how to properly
airbrush. Previously I had used the blemish removal tool to correct lower-resolution images;
airbrushing using layer masks, blur filters and the correct airbrush tool meant I could give the artist’s
skin the ‘otherworldly’ glowing porcelain effect I wanted to achieve.
Adding text to images on Photoshop was an other area of improvement. For the copy on the
double page spread, I struggled with formatting such a large amount of text to fit into the
conventional three column format but after improving my skills, I was more comfortable
when it came to formatting the dozens of text layers on the front cover.

6. Photography
Before the production, I had never formally set up a posed
photo shoot using a professional standard camera. Before
the practical production began I took some test shots to
develop my photographical skills in terms of manually
focusing, framing shots and selecting the correct setting on
the camera depending on the subject and location. I
further developed my photography skills when re-shooting
the original test shots for my production. I learnt that in
order to achieve a studio effect on my images I would need
bright diffused lighting. For this I used a ‘slave’ which is a
type of wireless flash extension so I could light my model
from more than one angle.