Evaluation - Question 6

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

I have used a variety of software and different technologies to create my final product. This includes, photoshop, Indesign, a camera, an Apple Mac and using Blogger to monitor my progress.

I started by using my Casio 10.1 mega pixel camera for my photoshoot where I took hundreds of photos for my final pieces. This camera was my own and one I use on a regular basis at home and in my own time, so I found it easy to use and had no problem taking the shots I was after.

The hardware which I had used the most throughout creating my final piece was definately the Apple computer. This was a piece of hardware which I had never used before and the software it included was not the easiest to get used to. I have always used a windows computer software but I can now definately say that I prefer using the Apple software now.

To create my front page, contents page and my double page spread I have used Photoshop and Indesign. I used Photoshop for my front page and contents page. However, Indesign was the more appropriate software to use for my double page spread.

I had never used Photoshop or Indesign before the beginning of this year and personally I believe that I have adapted to using them quite quickly and there are not many things I struggle with. I am more confident with using Photoshop though because I think it is easier to use and I had more experience with it. I only decided to use Indesign because it was more suitable when inputting text and images onto the pages and using tools like text wrap. However, to begin with I did not want to use Indesign because I was so confident with using photoshop but at the end of creating my double page spread I realised it was definately the better technology to use.

Photoshop

Photoshop is an image manipulation program which is mainly used for editing photos. I created both my front cover and my contents page in Photoshop. I found it quite easy to adapt to and the tools where fairly easy to grasp. It was my first time of using photoshop but I can now successfully use the following tools confidentally; editing images (brightness and contrast, saturation, black and white, colour and vector), the history brush, managing layers, creating and editing the text, spot healing tool, eyedropper and the magnet lasso tool. I did find software extremely clever because the edited images were much better than the originals and I definately felt proud that I had managed to use the software well and effectively.

Indesign

Indesign is a desktop publishing program which is used to combine text and images. Unlike photoshop I found this software slightly harder to use and I was not really confident about using it which I do not think has changed much. My opinion on this piece of software is that it is more advanced than photoshop and I found it had to adapt to being that it was not similar. However, the tools I did manage to use on it which were not available of photoshop most definitely added the finishing touches to my double page spread. Whilst using Indesign, the tools I learnt to use were; text wrap, creating columns and linking one textbox to another. These tools were the main reason Indesign was reccomended for creating our double page spread and althought I did not find it that easy to use I am pleased with the outcome.