The student felt they had improved their photography, Photoshop, and layout design skills over the course of their media studies. For their initial ancillary project, they rushed their photo shoot and the images were not professional standard. However, for their final music magazine, the student planned the shoot better by booking a studio, models, and planning poses and lighting. This resulted in higher quality images. The student also learned to properly use a camera, upload photos, and got better at editing images in Photoshop. Their initial cover design was plain with an out of place barcode, but their final magazine cover had well-designed cover lines in different sizes and colors. Overall, the student felt they gained valuable skills in photography, Phot

1. Question 7 Notes
I feel that I have come a long way from when I first started the Media A level course, learning many
techniques on the computer on software such as Photoshop, and when using cameras. On my ancillary, I
was taught to take professional style photos, however I wasn’t well prepared as I didn’t have a studio or a
model, so I rushed during my photo shoot to find people willing to have their picture taken, and the
images weren't to a professional standard. I took around 200+ images, and only a small few were eligible
for a front cover image. When creating my final music magazine, I prepared by booking a studio, having a
main model and a back up model ready, plus a third model for my contents page image. I planned each
image so I knew what lighting, pose and pose/stance I wanted the model to have. This made the photo
shoot much more professional, it was easier and quicker and gave my images a professional look to them.
I was also able to experiment with the camera but changing the shutter speed, fade and use of Rule of
Thirds to create industry standard images. I was able to upload and save my images quicker and easier as
I fully understood how to use a card reader when uploading and saving the images.
I also developed my understanding of layout plans. Looking back on my Ancillary project, my front cover
was far too empty in regards to cover lines, and was incredibly plain when dealing with colour schemes
and fonts. The bar code stood out in a negative way, and it was unclear which cover line was the main
story. There was also no model credit, and the mast head was uneven. However, my use of photo shop
on the actual image was quite skilled in terms of using the magic wand tool and other effects to blur the
background and using tools such as the blemish tool to even the models skin and make him look more of
a model, instead of someone who has agreed to have their picture taken.
To improve my skills of Photoshop I spent time on each image to make sure I edited each one to a
professional standard in my music magazine, and to make sure I didn’t make the same mistakes as my
Ancillary projects. However, I still wanted Holly and Mathew to look natural, and not over edited. So, I
used tools such as the blemish tool and the burn tool to simply hide any blemishes, and enhance their
natural features such as their eyes or eyebrows. This gave them a natural airbrush, but didn’t make them
look fake or plastic. They looked more professional than my ancillary project, and less fake. I also spent
time researching music magazines such as Q and NME, and noticing which areas they had their cover
lines and how they were presented. I wanted my magazine to look busy and full of stories, but I didn’t
want to take it away from the main cover image. So, I created many cover lines in the same font but
changed their colours and size to make the magazine look busy. This was effective as it shows that I have
developed my understanding of how cover lines should be presented.
I have also removed the bar code, and I would have this and the price on the back of the magazine, as I
felt that it got in the way on the front cover, and made the magazine look messy.
Overall, I feel that I have progressed the most that I could've in the time period I have been given, having
no experience of a media lesson or Photoshop prior to this a level course. Having created 3 successful
pages, I feel that I have gained a lot of skills, mainly on Photoshop such as airbrushing the model and
using the magic wand tool to place them in a separate image. It is a challenging yet fun piece of software
to use, which is what has been the most beneficial in the creation of my music magazine.