Evaluation Activity 7.

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

My first task was to create the front cover and contents page of a school magazine. I was very pleased with my preliminary task, as I had never used photoshop before, I had not learnt that much about it at that point and so I think it went quite well. Looking back and comparing it with my music magazine it shows how much i have learnt about the programs. Although I am still pleased with my preliminary task, the lack of photoshop skills at that point show compared to my music magazine. My preliminary task was very much a practice, almost like trial and error for using photoshop, to prepare me for my main task. I had to start thinking about target audience for my preliminary task, how I was going to attract to the students and how I was going to make a school magazine interesting. Thinking about these things again prepared me for my main task, as target audiences and appealing to people are key issues to deal with when making a magazine.

Main Task

Since doing my preliminary task I have learnt a lot of new photoshop skills. I have learnt how to do different lighting effects, how to retouch images properly, how to cut things out and move things around (magnetic lasso tool) and how to put effects on text etc. I also did much more research for my main task, and so I had a much greater idea of what sort of things to include in my magazine, and how to appeal to my target audience. By doing so much research I also had a clear idea of the typical conventions of a music magazine, and so I was able to include all of these on my magazine, to make it look as real as possible. I did not research typical conventions of a school magazine, and so I did not really have a clear idea of what to include in my preliminary task. Because I also had a lot more time to complete my main task, I was able to do proper plans, and so I had a guide of what I was going to do which made completing the final piece a lot easier. When it came to taking photographs I new the typical posses of models, and I also knew I wanted a teenage girl to appeal to my target audience, and for this girl to be the USP of my magazine. I can see now hoe basic my preliminary task is compared to my main task, which reflects the skills I have since gained in photoshop CS4.

Both of these photos are unedited, but these are the two main photos. Th one on the left I used for my preliminary

task and the one on the right is the picture I used for the main cover of my music magazine. Despite the fact that

they are both unedited, I can tell the difference in quality of the pictures. For my preliminary task I did not really think

about location and lighting ect, I just took a picture. From researching it was clear that the main image was vital for

your magazine to appeal to your target audience, and so everything about it had to be perfect. I had planned the

location for this picture, I had properly dressed my model up making her look the part, and I had to make sure the

lighting was right. After taking much more care of the photo, the quality s much better.

I found my main task a lot easier to do than my preliminary task. This was for several reasons:

- I was more used to and had gained much more knowledge of photoshop, and so editing my images became easier.

- I had carried out a lot more research and so I knew what the typical conventions of a music magazine were.

- I was better prepared because of the preliminary task, it gave me the practice in photoshop that I needed for my

main task.