What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

By Bethany Jones

What is Hardware?

Hardware is the machines, wiring, and other physical components of a computer or other electronic system.

MAC Computers

The Mac I have been working on throughout this process is called ‘’Mac OS X’’ it is version 10.5.8. It includes a ‘’2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo’’ having a duo core 2 intel, was useful to have because it is faster, and it enables me to use software such as ‘’Photoshop.’’

Hardware for Macintosh (Mac) computers is produced by Apple Inc. The Mac product uses Intel x86-64 processors. All Mac models ship with 1 GB RAM as standard, this enables the computers to run effencitly. The Mac computer I have been working on comes with a “ nVidia GeForce graphics cards that include a dual function DVD and CD burner, called a SuperDrive. This really helped when I was designing my magazine on the computer.

Macs include two standard transfer USB and Firewires, this was really important when I had to transfer article analysis from different computers.

Hardware

HardwareA keyboard is a typewriter-style device, it uses an

arrangement of keys to act as mechanical or electronic switches. Interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards became the main input device for computers. A keyboard has characters engraved or printed on the

keys and each press of the key typically corresponds to a written symbol. However, in order to produce certain symbols the computer requires you to press and hold a number of keys simultaneously. Some keys can produce actions or execute computer commands.

The keyboard uses a text entry interface to type text and numbers into a word processor program. But the interpretation of key presses is generally left to the software.

Mac ComputersKeyboard

Hardware Over the years Apple have maintained a distinct

form and function with its mice that reflects its own Apple design.

The most important design of the Apple mice that sets it apart from others is the single button control interface. It was not until recently that Apple introduced a mouse with a scroll button, and 4 programmable buttons.

Apple now have introduced a optical LED based control mechanisms. I have used the latest Apple mouse throughout this process, it has a laser tracker that improves the control of the mouse.

Mac Computers Mouse

Hardware The mouse I have used throughout is an optional

based version of the Apple Mouse in white. (M5769)

Apple have flipped the conventional appearance of the mouse upside down, they have evolded into a sleekly featureless appearance. This in turn makes it much easier to use as you don’t have to worry about the mouse sticking.

This was the first mouse to use LED for solid state optical tracking rather than your typical rubber ball.

Mac Computers Mouse

Hardware Firstly I used the ‘’Nikon Coolpix Camera’’ in order to

create to my ‘’student magazine’’ we created these in order to get to grips with how cameras worked and how Photoshop worked.

If you look at the images below, you can see that the camera gave clear and lifted photos for such a little camera.

Nikon coolpix Camera

SD Memory Card Photos

An SD memory card can transfer images from the camera and onto a computer. I did not use this throughout the process of creating my final magazine, however I did use it throughout the creation of my student magazine.Helping understand the different ways of transporting images from the camera to my computer. Enhancing my Knowledge of technologies and helping me find out which process was more efficient.

HardwareThe camera I used throughout my product making

was the Nikon Camera D3100 – Digital SLR, the settings were manual with an aperture of 11f with a shutter speed of 1/300th.

This really helped lift my photos, as with the Nikon Coolpix if you did a close up shot it may have come out a little fuzzy. However the D3100, really gave a clear and enhanced photo.

Also I had never used a camera of that kind before and I really benefitted from learning how to use it and what shot worked where.

Having a 14 mega-pixel camera really enhanced the quality of my images because it made look so crisp.

Nikon Camera D3100 – Digital SLR

Hardware

As you can see from both the images above, the camera produced excellent quality. Although I didn’t use the image on the right, I wanted to try it out, and the camera’s shutter speed made it possible for me to capture my model jumping, it enabled me to capture the happiness the model was feeling at that time.

How it helped my photos?

Hardware

The revolution of the photo makes the photo look much brighter than it could have been with the Coolpix camera. For example, as you can see from the images above the lightening recreates the illusion of daylight.

Something I really liked about using this camera was how clear it made the face, you can really see the make up and make out each detail on the model’s face.

How did it help my photos?

Hardware In order to achieve the best possible images I had to

make sure the Horseshoe flash trigger was in sync with the strobe flash, in order to do this the infra red single was sent to the strobe flash, which triggers the flash making in sync with the camera shutter.

I set the speed to 1/300th of a second to match the speed of the camera shutter, producing quality images.

It was a useful piece of hardware because it meant I did not have to mess around making sure all the lights were set up each time, and I could focus purely on the images.

Having the trigger also meant that I could sort out a problem easily if something went wrong. The light box inside the Horseshoe made the image much brighter, which was good as it’s always hard to put more light into a photo.

Horseshoe Flash Trigger

HardwareThe strobe flash was probably one of the most useful

piece of the technology I used, it really made the picture come to life with the light.

The strobe flash had a dial on the back to adjust the output, I learnt what settings made the best possible picture. Ensuring the modeling light was on.

I set the Auxiliary lights to slave in order to brighten the photo and make it seem as if it was daylight. This was set in sync with a built in light sensor in order to achieve the best image.

Having a built in light sensor made it easier because you didn’t have to adjust the settings manually.

Hemisphere 300 – Strobe Flash

Hardware

Auxiliary Light Dial to adjust

light

Switch

sensor

Stand

Strobe Light Labelled

Hardware I couldn’t just use a strobe light one its own as

it would have been too bright and washed the model out.

Therefore I did my research, and discovered soft boxes would be a good piece of kit to use in order to disperse the light.

The disperse of the light gave a softer rounded image.

Soft Boxes

HardwareThe final piece of equipment I used was a backdrop.

This was useful as it made the light bounce off the back of the set, making for a better image.

I got two extra strobes, I set them to full light capitcy, this gave the illusion of the absolute whiteness of the background. This created high exposure.

Backdrop

What is Software?Software means computer instructions or data.

Anything that can be stored electronically is software e.g. Word, Powerpoint, InDesign.

This is in contrast to storage devices and display devices which is known as hardware, e.g. Cameras, Computers, Lights.

Software I used Photoshop to make my whole magazine, it

was a really easy program to use as everything was in one place.

Photoshop can edit and construct images into multiple layers, it is multi layer system that makes it so easy to use because you can clearly see what goes where.

It uses PSD file format, it was easy to change it to a Jpeg file when I needed to place it on my blog.

Photoshop

SoftwarePhotoshop

This is the colour plate, this can be used to make the background the colour of your choice.

This is the layer system you can see it is labelled as ‘’Background’’

This is the tool bar, it gives you a symbol for each tool so you are aware of what you are using.

This is the layer.

Software Photoshop

SoftwareAs you can see from the pervious slide I developed

my whole front cover in Photoshop, it gave me various options of fonts, suited to the genre of my magazine.

It allowed me to develop graphics, for example the white lines that spilt up the coverlines on the right hand side, this made it easier for the reader to read.

Photoshop also allowed me to set up a suitable layout to display the contents of the magazine in order to create a realistic looking magazine.

Photoshop

photo layer

Editing tools

PhotoshopEditing properties

Tool Bar

SoftwarePhotoshop was useful for editing images as it gave

you room to be creative, for example I disoriented the background of the image and created a strip of colour in order to create to an atmosphere.

Photoshop allowed for many different editing properties, this enhanced all my images as I could create a different theme for my cover, contents and article.

I set my model outside in order to play around with the lightening, furthermore the outside setting set the scene and tone for the magazine.

Photoshop

SoftwareThe contents page was harder to create as there

were so many different layers to the magazine, also I used a lot more graphics.

Photoshop was useful because you could clearly see what colours contrasted one another, for example the tone of white against the red.

I was able to choose a layout that fitted my contents page by taking inspiration from different magazines that had the same genre as me.

Photoshop

Software InDesign

Indesign is a publishing application produced by adobe system, it can be used to create products such as flyers and posters, therefore I thought it would be useful to input the text on to my article.

InDesign

Software InDesign was a difficult software to get my head

around as it had some many different elements to it, I learnt how to cleverly input information onto a layer.

In order to put the text onto the I had to create one column, in which the text that I had already written in word appeared.

Furthermore, in order to find out how much of the text could fit onto the layer, I kept increasing the size of the column, I resized it in order to create a realistic looking article.

InDesign

SoftwareThe blog software I used was called WordPress, it

was good because I could upload a lot of work at once, and I could arrange it in my dashboard.

The dashboard was useful because it was an overview of every post on the system.

It was an easy software to use because everything was in one place furthermore I learnt how to make multi pages in order to make my blog appear professional.

Blog

Software Blog

Easy access to new post

Creation of New pages

Easy viewing posts

Access to dashboard and pages.

Notifications

Software

WordPress helpfully allowed me to keep up to date with my blog posts. It kept everything in order, which allowed me to understand where I was with work.

It kept drafts of posts I had worked on meaning I could edit them quickly if needed.

As you can see from the image above, creating a new post was a simple task, as all I had to do was click one handy button. Allowing me to work efficiently.

Blog

Software

PowerPoint has been my main source when answering evaluation questions.

It has allowed me to present my ideas and various answers in exciting ways instead of just using a blog post.

It also enabled me to set out images and screenshots more efficiently because you can easily crop images just by going on the menu bar.

It also allows me to insert shapes, text boxes and images allowing my ideas to flow.

PowerPoint

SoftwareSlideshare is a virtual storage system, in which

you can upload various PowerPoints and documents.

I used this to upload my power points to my blog, you simply create an account and upload you power point, once uploaded you have the choice of an embed code, this can be copied and pasted into a blog post and once posted the power point appears.

SlideShare

Software

Microsoft word processor is a piece of software that enables you to create a document of your choice.

I used this to create a plan of my article before I placed it into InDesign. This allowed me to ensure that all spelling and grammar was correct before posting my final product, giving it a professional finish.

Word

Summary I have learnt a lot over this process, beforehand I did

not know how to use a professional camera. But after this process I feel extremely confident, as I have learnt how to link the camera to the lightening and what shot looks best creating a clean finish.

Furthermore, I have become far more able when using software such as Photoshop, I can now confidently edit images creating a slick final image.

What have I learnt?