final skills audit

AS Media Production: Final Skills Audit Print Production

Name:                         Tutor group:              Date:

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 Focus features	x		Composition, production pictures. I used this on the first set of photos that I took, this was also the first time that I had used a cannon camera so I was unsure. When I used the manual focus for my final piece I felt like I was better at using the camera. This enabled me to take the photos the way that I desired.
Shutter Speed	x		Water, leaves and torch. When I was using this it allowed me to set a time on how long it takes the camera to take the photos. When I was taking pictures of water I set the shutter speed so that it took the photo really fast unlike when I took the torch photos, when taking these I changed the settings so that the camera took the photos really slowly. This allowed the camera to catch the moving torch so you could see the trail that the light was leaving behind.
Aperture control	x		Change depth of field
ISO Control	x		Changing the light that is been allowed into the lenses from 200-800 to brighten the images and avoid black images. I used this when I was taking my photos outside. I found that when the IOS setting was at 200 my photos were coming out black. Obviously this was not how I wanted my photos to look so I turned the IOS setting up to around 800. This drastically improved the look and brightness of my photos.
A tripod		x
External flash	x		Flash to enhance the picture and lighten images. I did not use this for my final project because I used the light meter to make my photos brighter. I decided against using the external flash because I wanted the background to stay bright. I did not want my model to look bright and then have to sacrifice the brightness of my background.
Self timer facility		x	To allow for movement, an example of this being used maybe getting a group photo. Instead of someone missing out on the photo it gives the group the opportunity for them all to get into the photo. The camera gives you an option on how long you want it to wait before the photo will be taken. When you activate the timer the camera count down then takes the photo without any assistance.
Light meter	x		For magazine photos to get the right settings for our product, this allows you set the lighting that you want for your product. You can make your photos really bright or dark by adjusting the light meter.
Composition grids	x		Rule of thirds to help position and balance the image. This shows you what rule of thirds the main subject of your photo is going to fit in. It also gives you an indication on who/ what is going to look more dominant in the photo. It also allows you to line thing up into the position that you want to desire. Finally it allows you to see what is straight up and down left to right.

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
Text control	x		I moved text either closer together or I made longer changing size and shape of the text for my magazine front cover. I did this because I think that it looked more professional
Filters		x
Brushes		x
Layers	x		Layers used in Photoshop in order to make sure each layer was changeable and doesn’t effect the real image
Opacity control	x		Making a block colour more transparent
Shape creation	x		Creating shapes for front cover to give a professional effect
Brightness and contrast control	x		Changing the contract in order to achieve the best colour
Gradients		x
Load selection features	x		Put model on front of magazine front cover title
Feathering		x
Colour curves adjustment		x
Resolution setting control	x		Put pictures at 300 pixels per inch
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	x		Placing image on front of other objects
Cropping tool	x		Cropping out imperfections, I used this when I was editing my photos to cut out bits of the photo that I did not want on my cover.
Clone tool	x		Changing colour of glasses to get rid of the shine
Retouch tool	x		Getting rid of spots and blemishes –I used this when I was editing Zoë’s face.
Other skills Stroke tool Warp tool Doge and burn Margin guides Rotate Drop shadow Transform	x		I used the drop shadow on my header to make it look more professional. I used margin guides to make sure that all my text lined was in the same position. This made my cover and DPS look neater.

In Design Skills

Which of the following features of In Design have you used before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Have you ever used In design ever before?		X	I had not used InDesign until I made my first DPS.
Margin and column guide creation	X
Inserting an image ID	X
Resizing images in ID	X
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation	X
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		X
Text flow creation	X
Using transparent imagery in ID	X
Shape/line creation In design	X
Exporting to PDF from In-design	X
Text Wrap	x
Other Skills

Number of new skills achieved:

(compare with your initial skills assessment)