Final skills audit

AS Media Production: Final Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Jack Cartwright      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		The majority of the images that are used in my blog all feature some form of manual focusing, this is when the person taking photo manually changes the focus of the camera by twisting the lens, this can be done to make a picture look crisper or can be done to make things out of focus for specific reasons, maybe if the image is telling a story it can create a larger impact or it could just simply be because it is aesthetically pleasing.
Shutter Speed	x		The image can change dramatically depending on the shutter speed that is used
Aperture control	x		Aperture control is the size of the hole in the lens which allows light to enter in, so the larger the F stop number, the smaller the hole is which in turn is allowing for less light to be let in. This is used to change how much depth of field is used so the image can be controlled more efficentently and it can make the subject of the picture clearer.
ISO Control	x		ISO control is how much the light reacts with the camera and how much you want to limit it; this can change the look of a picture drastically and make it either very bright or very dark.
A tripod	x		A tripod is used for two reasons either you want to take a photo of something that you are featured in and want to set it up and put it on a self timer so that you can walk into the frame and have no one operating the camera, or when you need to keep the camera perfectly steady and at a certain height.
External flash	x		The external flash is used when the natural lighting is too low or you want to create an effect similar to isolating a model so that everything is dark around them yet there face is in perfect focus, this is usually done during broad daylight.
Self timer facility		x	I never used a self timer facility
Light meter		x	I never used the light meter
Composition grids	x		A composition grid is the grid that shows up when taking a photo that helps show where the eye line is and if your photo is centred and in the correct area you want it to be In.

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 have used this in Photoshop to create the title and for the sell lines.
Filters	x		I used a black and white filter for a previous draft of my front cover and I also practiced with it on some of my other photos to see what the outcome was.
Brushes	x		I have done used brushes to create a CD cover to demonstrate my skills.
Layers	x		Everything that I have done in Photoshop involves some sort of using layers as they are essential in effectively creating your product and creating any piece of work in Photoshop
Opacity control	x		I used opacity in some of the text that I had done in previous drafts of my front cover as they provided a nice effect however even though I haven’t used it a lot I would still say I was quite skilled at it as it is very easy effect to produce.
Shape creation	x		I used this quite frequently in my images however it was quite subtle one of the ways in which I implemented it into my work is in my final product the bottom right where it mentions the free tickets it has two circles one of low opacity and one with little lines, both were created with the shape creating tool.
Brightness and contrast control	x		In all of the photos that I have used I have increased or decreased both the brightness and contrast of the image this is so I can generate the best looking picture and is a very basic thing to be able to do in Photoshop.
Gradients		x	I haven’t used any gradients in my work
Load selection features		x	I haven’t used the load selection feature
Feathering	x		I have used feathering only subtly though in some of my photos so that the edges can be slightly faded out and that the centre of the image is emphasised more as the centre of attention.
Colour curves adjustment	x		In all of my photos I have adjusted the colour curves however I have only done it slightly so they all still look natural because I didn’t want to ruin my images.
Resolution setting control	x		In all of my images I have started with choosing the correct resolution setting so it fit to the size of the pages that I needed because I didn’t want to have done all of my edits and have to resize it which would then pixelate the image decreasing the look of it.
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	x		I used the magnetic lasso and polygon lasso tools frequently during my work so that I could select specific areas and quite small parts of the photo so I could accurately change it or morph it into something different.
Cropping tool	x		In all of my photos I have cropped at least something off of the photo, this is because they have either included something I didn’t want in like half a person or someone’s hand and in some cases it was because I wanted a portrait photo but the photo was in landscape and it had to be cropped to fit the style.
Clone tool	x		I used the clone tool to copy shapes to make the process a lot quicker and accurate s that I didn’t have two shapes of different sizes when they needed to be the same.
Retouch tool	x		I have used the retouch tool just slightly to make some of my models look sharper and more defined, also to make them look more camera friendly.
Other skills

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	Before my media lessons I had never used InDesign before
Margin and column guide creation	x		For my final product I had to use margins and columns so I used the guide for this as it helped me make them as accurately as possible and because they made it a lot simpler than it could have been. You can see this as my article uses different columns in the layout of it
Inserting an image ID	x		For my final product I inserted two images into it both of which were from Photoshop, the first was the front cover that I had created which I inserted into a blank space and the other was the photo that I took for my DPS and had edited in Photoshop which was placed on the second page of my DPS.
Resizing images in ID	x		For my final product the image that I had place on the second page of the DPS which I had inserted from Photoshop had to be slightly resized so the model and centre of attention were positing directly in the middle and so that it fit the whole page.
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation	x		I didn’t rotate any text however I did have to resize it for the headline and for some of the quote inserts as I wanted them to stand out from everything else
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		x	I haven’t used text manipulation before.
Text flow creation	x		In my final product text flow creation helped with making it easier and more accessible to transfer text to different boxes when there wasn’t enough room in the box to fit it all in.
Using transparent imagery in ID	x		I had used this but only slightly in a previous draft of my DPS I had a transparent button on one of my pieces of work, it is similar to how it is done in Photoshop
Shape/line creation In design	x		I used this like the transparent imagery only slightly in a previous draft of my DPS and it was just to create a box, which had text in, but I also used it in my final product behind the text of the title of my article.
Exporting to PDF from In-design	x		I had done this twice for my final product once for the front cover and the second was for an image I had took and was using for the second page of my DPS.
Text Wrap	x		This was my main tool that I used for my article to get it to fit in the columns while also avoiding some of the quote inserts so that they didn’t overlap.
Other Skills (drop cap)	x		I had inserted a drop cap at the beginning of my article where they are supposed to go, by doing this I made my product look more professional and to a higher standard.

Number of new skills achieved:  I have learnt 31 new skills since my initial skills assessment

(Compare with your initial skills assessment)