These images are the things which I used to create my music magazine. I am going to explain what each image means and how they helped me create my coursework.
Canon 650D
Without this piece of wonderful technology, I would not have been able to put the images which I am very proud of in the magazine. I have always had an interest in cameras, more filming, but I like taking photos and playing around with the angles and lighting. I prefer using a DSLR than a compact camera or a bridge camera because the quality of image is just so much better. Images look sharper and colours are more vibrant. The only problem with using a DSLR is that they are very chunky and the lenses that you have to carry around with you can get very heavy!
Hama 61 Star Tripod, Newer Speedlite TT560 and Samyang 8mm Fisheye
I used my tripod for the front cover shot because I originally wanted my talent, Alfie, to have an image where I could edit it to make it look like he was facing himself, and for this I would need to keep the frame the same so I could stitch the photos together. After look at the image, I decided that it would not all fit on a front cover, so I cropped it down to around half size, and placed it on my front cover. The flash was used for the images on the DPS, because they were taken indoors. They allowed my images to become more colourful and vibrant. The fisheye was used on one of the images I took, but never used. I used this type of lens because I wanted an action shot of Alfie mixing music, but could not fit his whole body in with the turntables and laptop also, so I put the fisheye on which widened the shot and captured the whole scene.
iPhone 4
This was used to contact my talent mainly, but also sharing photos on various sites like Facebook and Blogger was done. My phone was a vital piece of equipment, because without it, getting times for taking photos and sharing images would have been very difficult and a lot more running around would have had to be done!
Sony Vaio and iMacs
I never really hit it off with the iMacs. After years of using Windows based laptops and desktops, it would always be hard for me to change allegiances. One of my first drafts was done on an iMac, but in the end I decided to use to own personal Windows based laptop and that would be the end of it. I used programs such as Publisher on it to create the main magazine. I found that you do not need all the fancy programs worth hundreds of pounds to create a good looking publication, and I think I have proved that in my magazine at least. I also used pixlr, which is a photo editing app online. I used it to edit the photo on the left hand side of the DPS, by changing the brightness and contrast to create an off colour looking image. Sadly, I am having to finish my evaluation tasks on the families desktop computer, as I sat on my laptop and broke the screen!
Dropbox and Outlook
Dropbox is an online document storage facility which lets yo easily share files with other people. I uploaded some photos which I did not use, so they could be used by the talent for other personal things such as social media sites and websites. I used Outlook to email over some other images to the talent, and also when I did not have a memory stick, I could email myself the images to make sure if I moved computers I could still access everything I need.
Teacher help
Overall, I could not have made my publication on my own. The preliminary task really helped my skills develop, and the advice which I was given by my media teachers was first rate. They taught me do's and dont's of the magazine world, what looks good where and what to avoid.
Creating my music magazine was not an easy task. Looking back, I was so clueless to the amount of effort which goes in to creating a publication. I thought that creating a cover, contents and Double page spread would be walk in the park.... wasn't I wrong. I had to bring all the elements together in a magazine which would usually be done by a team of people. Firstly, there was the task of finding a name for my magazine. I already knew I wanted to make an alternative magazine, but what about the title? People who enjoy alternative music are often quite alternative themselves, so you could say that they are distinct? And that was it, the name of my magazine. The fonts and the colours of the title would eventually change, but that did not stop be getting creative with the camera! I wanted to create an image of my talent, Alfie, where it looked like he was facing himself, like there was two of him. So, I set the tripod up and carefully took the photos, trying to get the background of the two photos the same, so I could stitch them together. I tok one of him looking right and then looking left. I put these together and got the shot. I played with effects on the image using Serif PhotoPlus X6. I managed to make Alfie look 'ghosted' into the landscape. This was ironic because the title was Distinct, but the photo made him look unclear. Other images such as the one in the DPS has had its colours edited and I have made a collage on the left hand side of the double page spread, which has been made brighter so the text can be placed over the top of it. From the two tasks, I have made what I think are leaps and bounds. The magazine in my preliminary task is really quite bland and plain, and it really does not make the audience look at it and want to browse through its pages. I am happy with my magazine now compared to what I made previously.
