The document discusses the various technologies and software the student learned to use while constructing a media studies project. They learned how to successfully take photographs using equipment like cameras, lenses, soft boxes and backdrops. They also learned how to use software like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and WordPress to edit photos, layout pages and create blog posts. Additionally, they learned how to navigate and organize files on a Mac computer as well as upload and embed presentations on Slideshare.

1. AS Media Studies
Evaluation
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?

2. Hardware
Camera: Model: Nikon D3100 – Digital SLR
Lens: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm
Settings: Manual Aperture f11
Shutter Speed: 1/300th
What have I learnt?
I have learned how to successfully take pictures, using the
equipment such as soft boxes to create good-quality images
that I could use later on in my magazine.
I could use the zoom in and zoom out option, and I now
know how to position the camera effectively so that it
captures the person I’m taking photos of well.
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

3. Horseshoe Flash Trigger
Infra red signal sent to Strobe flash – triggers the flash in-
sync with the camera shutter.
(speed set to 1/300th of a second to match strobe
speeds).
Hemisphere 300 – Strobe flash
Dial on back adjusts output – modelling light on.
Auxiliary lights set to slave (triggered in-sync with by
built in light sensor).
What have I learnt?
I have learned how to use the strobe flash to my advantage – it
helps make pictures look more professional as it provides good
lighting, and doesn’t create any shadows (unless you deliberately
want that sort of effect).
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

4. Soft boxes
The model lights use soft boxes – they disperse the light
and give a softer, rounder light on the subject.
What have I learnt?
I’ve learnt how to use soft boxes efficiently. As I was
basing my magazine strongly off of other magazines
such as Q or Kerrang!, I noticed that their front cover
photographs are usually well lit. Soft boxes helped me
achieve the same effect.
Backdrop
Is lit with a further two strobes on full power to create a
high exposure, white background.
What have I learnt?
I’ve learned how to use the backdrop efficiently – it’s
there to help you edit the images later, and to make it
easier to remove the background whilst editing if you
don’t want it.
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

5. Equipment
iMac
What have I learnt?
I haven’t used an iMac before, so learning the shortcuts
and how exactly the keyboard works was confusing at
first. For example on a Windows PC, you could use the
control + C keys to copy something, but I found that this
doesn’t always work, so I had to use command + C.
I also learned how to take screenshots:
+ +
+

6. Software
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Mac OSX El Capitan (ver. 10.11.6) & Finder
Finder has helped me
navigate round the system
and to find my documents &
applications more quickly
and efficiently.
The iMac user interface has
helped me organise my files
into an easy to understand
way, and to be able to
access them quicker.
What have I learnt?
I have learned how to navigate around the system, and how to organise
my documents so that they can be easily accessible.

7. Adobe Photoshop (ver. 12.0 x64)
Adobe Photoshop is used to manipulate and edit
images. It’s also used to create GIFs.
What have I learnt?
I have learned how to put in guidelines so that
my cover, contents and feature pages are
organised and that the size of images/text are
proportional to the size of the canvas.
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

8. Adobe InDesign (version 5.0.4)
InDesign can be used to create works such as
posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers,
and books.
What have I learnt?
I have learned how to use this software, including
specific features like adding images and text boxes and
importing and exporting files.
It took me some time and practice to remember to use this
function – it allowed me to place text/an image onto my
article page. To be able to add anything in your document,
you needed to draw a box, much like drawing a text box in
Microsoft Word or Photoshop.
These 4 functions can be found in the bar at the top
of the page. It allowed me to change how the text
would wrap around an image, instead of the image
either covering the text or the text covering the
image.
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

9. Wordpress
A website which allows you to create your own
blog(s).
What have I learnt?
I have learned how to navigate around my own blogs,
and how to create and edit posts, as well as adding
new pages and links to my posts.
This button allowed me to embed links into my posts so that it
was much easier to show and explain some parts of my
evaluation.
I needed to highlight the word/phrase I wanted to add a link to,
click the button and paste in the website link, which would
direct the reader to website.
Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

10. Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Slideshare is a slide-hosting service. Users can upload files
privately or publicly in formats such as PowerPoint or PDF.
Those slides can then be viewed on the site itself or embedded
on other sites.
What have I learnt?
I have learned how to upload my PowerPoints onto the website,
and how to embed them into my blog posts.
This was my first account on this website, so I also learned how to
set it up, and where to find the code that’s specific for each file.
Slideshare
If you want to upload a file onto the website, you will be
presented with this menu. Adding a good title, a
description and some tags will make your presentation
easier to find for other users.
When you’re done, you need to click the ‘publish’ button.
You will then be given a unique code which you can use to
embed the file into your website.