Final Skills Audit

AS Media Production: Final Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Kira-May Charley                      Tutor group: 1.10               Date: 25.04.14

Photographic Skills

Which of the following photographic features/equipment have you used on a camera before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Manual Focus features	YES		I have used manual focus in all of the photographs present on my blog except the one demonstrating the heal brush tool. I found using the manual focus easier than using an automatic focus as it was less time consuming and I could change and have control over how in or out of focus the photograph was.
Shutter Speed	YES		I have used shutter speeds within my light experiment and in this I tried out different shutter speeds to see how much light I could capture in the photographs. I feel that this went well and was not a particularly difficult skill to master.
Aperture control	YES		The aperture control experiment that I did was good to do and I feel that I have grasped the idea well. I could do with some more work on it but I do feel for a first attempt at developing my skills, the photography went well.
ISO Control	YES		The Iso control experiment was also very fun to do and I feel that this was also not particularly a difficult skill, although I will need some more practice at it before I get it perfect.
A tripod		NO
External flash	YES		I used the external flash during my photo shoot for my unit 3 project and overall, I found it gave a very professional look to my photographs. I was very pleased with the way that my final photo shoot turned out.
Self timer facility		NO
Light meter		NO
Composition grids		NO

Photoshop Skills

Which of the following features of Photoshop have you used before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Text control	YES		I used text control within my final project front cover. I found this a particularly annoying feature to use because of its lack of spell check. Text control was an easy feature to use but it was also very time consuming as I had to check over my text multiple times.
Filters	YES		I had previous experience with filters as I use them on my own photography to a basic level (preset filters on mobile phone camera) but the filters on Photoshop were much different. I used filters within my final project photography and I think that I used filters subtly and well to make my product look professional.
Brushes	YES		I used brushes within my Christmas card tutorial on my blog but only to a basic standard.
Layers	YES		I used layer control all throughout my product and I found this easy to work with and it helped me a lot.
Opacity control		NO
Shape creation	YES		I used shape creation within my induction activity and on my front cover to create a button sell line.
Brightness and contrast control	YES		I often use brightness and contrast control in my own photography (settings on mobile phone camera) but using it on Photoshop was different. I had to be much more subtle with it in Photoshop and I used this mainly within my final project.
Gradients		NO
Load selection features		NO
Feathering		NO
Colour curves adjustment	YES		I used the colour curves adjustment in the cross-processing tutorial.
Resolution setting control		NO
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	YES		I used the polygon lasso tool within my heal brush tutorial when I changed the model’s eye colour. The polygon lasso tool is a very simple skill to gain but I feel that I used it well.
Cropping tool	YES		I used cropping within my final project to remove some of the outer edge of the photograph.
Clone tool		NO
Retouch tool		NO
Other skills

In Design Skills

Which of the following features of In Design have you used before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Have you ever used In design ever before?		NO
Margin and column guide creation	YES		I used this in my final project and first attempt at InDesign to help me position my columns and photographs in the right place.
Inserting an image ID	YES		I used this in my final project and first attempt at InDesign to insert my images.
Resizing images in ID	YES		I used this in my final project and first attempt at InDesign but I found this quite difficult as I kept on getting stretched images. Learning to hold the shift key every time I tried to resize my image was difficult to remember to do but by the final project, I feel that I have developed that skill well.
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation		NO
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		NO
Text flow creation	YES		I used text flow in my initial InDesign and final project to make the text flow on into each box smoothly.
Using transparent imagery in ID	YES		I used this within my final project to create the film strip of photographs.
Shape/line creation In design	YES		I used this to create my break-out box in my final project.
Exporting to PDF from In-design	YES		I used this to finally export my project out.
Text Wrap	YES		I used text wrap to make my photographs move around my quote insert in my final project.
Other Skills

Number of new skills achieved:

(compare with your initial skills assessment)

Since my initial skills assessment I have gained 26 new skills. 

Progress Report 4: Last Week of Production/Final Product

My final project, overall, was a success in my opinion. I think that it went well considering that I had never used Photoshop or InDesign before. I had some issues when creating my break-out box and given the chance to do so again, I would make it a bit more exciting as I struggled with it and I would spend more time on it. I learned especially that it is so important to get the composition of the photographs correct and take my time with getting the lighting correct rather than panicking to get it done quickly and having pictures that are underexposed. I found creating the film strip interesting as I had never done anything like that before. It was a very fun and enjoyable experience creating this final product and given the chance to do it again, I would only make a few small changes. I think that my work has captured what I wanted it to from planning but it also has changed considerably with regards to the actual layout.

Progress Report 3: Front Cover, Photo Shoot and Initial InDesign

At this stage, my front cover is nearly finished. I am very happy with the progress I have made considering I am not confident with using photoshop and I have never really used it before. I feel that I have gained more experience getting the lighting right within my photographs by editing the brightness and contrast and making it look professional rather than either under or over exposed. I think that getting the text spacing right was my biggest struggle and it was very time consuming to get all of my text in exactly the right place that I wanted it to be in.

The photo shoot overall went very well and I have achieved all that I wanted out of my photographs. Given the chance to do the photo shoot again, I would make sure that the models had a very clear idea of exactly what they were doing before they started. My photo shoot took longer than expected because of the fact that the models weren't as prepared as they should have been.

The initial InDesign work was basically a case of getting to know the programme better. I have never used InDesign before so this was a particular struggle for me and have had to ask a lot of questions as to how to do things and if I was doing things right. However, I feel that I have grasped InDesign and my project should come together much easier now.

Progress Report 2: Front Cover

Here is a screenshot of my front cover created in Photoshop. In all honesty, I have never really used Photoshop before and because of this, I have found creating my product very difficult but have also gained many skills. I have constantly needed to ask questions to make sure I am using the product properly but I do think that this has improved my skills a great deal. Before, I didn't know that the best way to get text spaced properly was to create different layers and move them closer together or how to download and use fonts within my document and create button sell lines. I had learned how to download and use fonts in my initial introduction to Photoshop and InDesign but I had to refresh my memory. Overall, I am very happy with my progress within Photoshop and working on my front cover but there is still a lot of work that will be need to done on it to get it to a professional standard that I am happy with.

Progress Report 1: Article First Draft.

A screenshot of my initial draft. 

The first draft of my article, in my eyes, was largely a success. I got feedback from three 17-18 year old females right in the middle of my target market. The article contains everything I wanted it to except it was a bit short by about 100-150 words. I am hoping that these words will be made up when I do my second draft and the improvements have been made. I think that the way I have made my article formal but not too formal so as to scare off my target market has worked well but the colloquial language could be improved by using more puns than just in the headline and some contractions and slang more than just 'stuff'. I also think that my last paragraph could be edited or add another paragraph in to tie my article to the theme of the DPS because at the minute the article doesn't actually mention anything about unity and being 'friends together' and therefore I think that another paragraph is needed so that the article and pictures are not completely contrasting. Overall, the first draft of my article went well and I think that it lays a good foundation for the second draft to come along.