Print Skills Audit

AS Media Production

Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Kate Dow                           Tutor group: 1.33                Date: 4^th April 2011

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 Features	X		Completed this skill every time I used a camera, I used the turning dial that’s at the top of the lens of the camera to bring the object into focus (reduce blur).
Shutter Speed	X		Completed this skill during a media lesson (practical) where we were learning to change the shutter speeds in order to capture movement. We used slow shutter speeds such as 10” to capture light movement in the dark, and fast shutter speeds such as 1/4000 to capture quick movements. (e.g. people jumping into the air.)
Aperture control	X		Completed during a media practical, learned how to increase or decrease the aperture of the camera lens to let in/not allow as much light into it. This can make an image in bad lighting brighter, and also decrease the glare or remove some light if the area is too bright and over-exposed. (Change depth of field.) Because it allows you to change the depth of field (photos above) you can creatively blur out the background to bring the main object in the shot into focus.
ISO Control	X		Completed this skill when we were practicing different types of ‘lighting’ in a media practical. The ISO is how sensitive the camera is to light, I learned that when you’re outside on a summery day the general ISO that you use is about 100 because there’s enough light around for decent photos. Whereas if you’re taking photos of fast moving objects (sports) then you can increase the ISO to 400 in order to capture things in good light.
A tripod	X		Used when I was taking the photos above in ‘aperture control’ to reduce movement and camera shake.
External flash	X		I used an external flash when I did my photo shoot for my final project. There were 2 external flashes either side of my models so that I could create shadows etc…
Self timer facility	X		Haven’t used this on the media course, but I have used it on my own camera from home when I took a group shot because there was no extra person who wasn’t in the photo who could take it.
Light meter		X
Composition grids		X

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
Have you ever used Photoshop before?	X		Used Photoshop during media lessons, when I created my induction project, my magazine mock-up and my final project front cover.
Text control	X		I used text control to add enigmas/masthead/sell-lines etc to the front covers of my induction project, magazine mock-up and final project.
Filters		X
Brushes	X		I completed this skill during a media practical; I downloaded and used brushes from ‘Brusheezy’ for the front cover of my magazine mock up.
Layers	X		I used layers when I created my induction project, magazine mock-up and final project front covers. Layers make Photoshop easier to use and reduce your chances of making mistakes, because if something goes wrong and you can’t undo the things you have just done, then you can just delete that layer and start again. Whereas if everything was on one layer, you wouldn’t be able to do that- and it would be much more difficult to use.
Opacity control	X		I used opacity control on my induction project, magazine mock-up, and the front cover of my final project. On my final project I made some of the text on the front cover have different opacities so that the colours weren’t really heavy and solid, that way I could direct attention to the important parts of the front cover by making them stand out more.
Shape creation	X		I used the rectangular shape on Photoshop to create the long slanted banner at the bottom of my front cover final project which holds a sell-line and image, and also to create the skyline above the masthead.
Brightness and contrast control	X		I selected the light bulb on my front cover for final project with the magnetic lasso tool and then used the brightness slider to up the brightness of the light bulb, that way I made it look like it was turned on and it made the front cover more exciting.
Gradients		X
Load selection features		X
Feathering		X
Colour curves adjustment	X		Used to make the colours in the photos of the faces in my double page spread better, and also used to make the image on my front covers look more exciting and brighter to attract an audience.
Resolution setting control		X
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	X		Used to select the outline of my light bulb in order to enhance the brightness. Also used in my induction project to select parts of the text and make them different opacities/delete sections etc to make it look like it was worn and damaged.
Cropping tool	X		Used to make the photo on the banner at the bottom of my front cover for final project smaller. Also used to reduce the size of the barcode on the front cover, and to make the faces on my double page spread larger. (Cropped in smaller so the proportions of the faces were bigger, and they were all equal distance away into the depth of the page.)
Clone tool	X		Used on my front cover for final project, because my model had things written on his arm in pen, so I used the clone tool to select the pen marks and merge them with the natural skin colour so that they didn’t ruin the picture.
Retouch tool	X		(Also used for the same reasons above.)