This document discusses the hardware used to create a music magazine. It describes a Mac computer running OS X 10.6.8 that was used extensively during the magazine's construction. Various software programs like Photoshop and InDesign were vital for editing photos, laying out articles, and more. Additional hardware included a Nikon D3100 camera, horseshoe flash trigger, strobe flash, soft boxes, and backdrop that were used to take professional quality photos for the magazine.

2.  Hardware, in the computer world, refers to
the physical components that make up a
computer system.
 There are many different kinds of hardware
that can be installed inside, and connected to
the outside, of a computer.

3. This is the computer I used for my music magazine. It is a
Mac OS X ( or Apple Macintosh) version 10.6.8. I used this
computer a lot during the construction of my magazine.
This piece of hardware was first introduced my apple
creator Steve Jobs on January 24th, 1984.This computer is
used across the country from editors of a magazine using
it to edit photos on Photoshop to students using them for
classes such as media. It’s appearance over the years has
changed to suit the year and style and is very popular
around the globe. It is a very useful system as it contains
certain programs which were vital in the creation of my
magazine, these programs include Photoshop for the
editing on all my photos and text, In Design which I used to
lay out my article clearly and many other programs which I
used frequently.

4. The mouse and keyboard comes with
the MACs when they were bought they
look just as good as the computer the
crisp white really adds a stylish affect
to the system.The buttons are firm but
easy to push, no stiffness resulting in
having to put force onto the letter you
want with force.This makes typing my
work very easy and allows me to work
a faster pace and get more done.The
mouse like the keyboard is light and
easy to use with no stiff buttons.

5. The camera I used to take my photos is a Nikon D3100 –
Digital SLR. I found this camera to be easy and simple
to use.The buttons are straightforward, no confusion,
the lens is adjustable which helped a lot when a close
up was needed. I also found the photos taken were
clear with no blur and picked up and sharpened every
detail with a Shutter Speed 1/300th.
The flash I used was called a Horseshoe Flash Trigger,
it was really useful and added a lot to the photos I
took. It was an Infra red signal sent to Strobe flash –
triggers the flash in-sync with the camera shutter
(speed set to 1/300th sec to match strobe speeds)this
meant the flash went off at the exact time the photo
was taken, which made for a great photo.

6. This piece of harware was called a Hemisphere 300 –
Strobe flash. It had a dial on back that adjusts
output – with modelling light on. Auxiliary lights set
to slave (triggered in-sync with by built in light
sensor). It was very helpful during the photo taking,
it was especially helpful because it was synced to he
camera.
This type of hardware were Soft Boxes.The model
lights use soft boxes – they disperse the light and
give a softer, rounder light on the subject.They were
very helpful as it made the lights softer, which took
away any harsh light that was on the face or body of
my model. They could also be moved to add
different affects such as shadow.They made the
photo look a lot more professional and clear.

7. The Backdrop. It is lit with a further two strobes on
full power to create a high exposure, white
background. Adds focus to the model of the photo
which also adds more focus.

8. I used InDesign to create the layout of my article, it
helped me easily lay out everything in the way I
want and it was not too difficult to understand,
everything was fairly straightforward.. I used
InDesign to create my double page spread, I decided
to use it over Photoshop because it was a better
program for being able to move text to where you
want and add columns.
I used Photoshop to experiment with my photo’s I
had taken. I experimented with the contrast to tone
down the blue background. I haven’t really used
Photoshop with this project as I haven’t wanted to
change my photos.

9. This is the layout of InDesign, it is
straightforward, it has the typical toolbar
containing file, edit layout etc.
I found it very easy to use and understand
when creating my article.
On the file section of the toolbar, I was able to do
multiple things at once. As you can see there is a
button called ‘Import XML’ this is what I used to
import my photos onto my article, from there I
could then fit it to the size I wanted using a tool on
the layout section.

10. Photoshop is a very useful and
interesting software. In red are the
tools I used most, they range from a
skin cleaning tool to a shape
drawing tool. I used the skin
cleaning tool quite a lot to give my
models a smooth texture to their
skin.The tools in blue were also very
helpful, they also varied from effect
to change the colour/ saturation of a
photo to being able to blur an
image.They were all very helpful but
mostly the ability to make an image
darker and being able to remove the
light if there was too much on the
models face.

11. The blog was very useful, it keep track of what I
had done and what was still needed. It also
meant I could post things and get feedback
from my teacher with ways I could make
improvements.