Technology Skills Week - Overview

During this week I have expanded my skills in order to build my knowledge and confidence in creating a piece of photography.

Creativity is referred to when something new is created e.g. artwork. During this week, I believe that creativity has been expressed through the use of experimentation which have adapted into ideas.

It could then be investigated that theory and knowledge could induce creativity, as creativity usually produces good results.

After broadening my skills with Photoshop, I personally feel that newer and more interesting ideas have adapted, due to the fact that I am seeing what I am capable of doing with Photoshop, as well as what the software is also able to generate in terms of technique.

The need of creativity as a starting point to developing technical skills was apparent through the different stages of the process.

The Technical Skills I developed during this week

SLR Cameras:

• Taking Photographs using Autofocus
• Importing Pictures onto user area using SD cards

Photoshop:

• Using Lasso Tool
• Using Pallet Tool Bar

During the start of the course, creativity was hard to expand upon due to my personal lack of imagination. However, as the course has developed, I have learnt a wide range of techniques in order to overcome this creative block. These methods will have helped in the development of my print production work - and with the use of experimentation and skills development, this will allow me to push my ideas further.

Technology Skills Week - SLR Camera skills development

Last year I used a SLR Camera in order to take photographs for my magazine cover, using the standard auto-focus mode on the camera.

This year I have began to branch toward using the different technology's built into the camera in order to get more entropic and suitable photograph styles which I plan to use later for my actual print production work.

Photos I have taken include the manipulation of certain shots including the use of focus pull. I practised using this in order to get familiar with the technique when it comes to take my final photographs.

Creativity Overview

This week I concentrated on being creative.

Creativity is a mental process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the existing ideas or concepts.

Looking into creativity, there are several following ideas and suggestions to help optimize this. This may include taking a walk, or taking your mind of an idea altogether by drawing something. There are also several theories into why some people suffer from being creative.

Sir Ken Robinson belives that creativity is taught out of people through education due to the students always being taught to be write. As a result students may feel unable to explore new areas (be creative) due to the fear of this being wrong, thus not gaining any credit for it.

Looking below you will see the storyboard I created, showing the music video and shortened music.

Using various Youtube Clips I was able to get a good overview of how and what a animated storyboard should look like.

What's Going On - Storyboard

First use of Technological Development learnt

Using the internet i was able to use sources from adobe website in order to find out how to adjust the eye colour of someone in my photo.

I learnt how to use the Clipping and Magnetic Lasso tool, as well as what shortcuts to hold

(e.g. Shift, Alt) in order to use them ap

propriately.

This is beneficial as not only do in now know how to adjust eye colour, but also know how to use this tool on any part of the picture I am working on.

In this process I also learnt how to use the Colouring Pallet.

This is important as I was able to expand my knowledge further on colour adjustment methods. I now know how to use Saturation as well as Gray scale effects in order to tweak the colour already

chosen from the colour palette. This will be useful in the future as it will allow me to make detailed improvements which will improve my work.

Below is the Original image:

I took this photo using the Auto focus tool on the SLR Camera.

During this I

learnt how to take multiple shots, which i then managed later using the built in Photo Viewer option on the camera.

This meant i was able to delete unwanted photos in order to make space on the SD card for better images.

I also learnt how to transfer photos on the SLR Cameras SD card, onto the computer. This will save me time when it comes to my Print work as i will now be able to spe

nd more time editing.

Below is a the Experimental image I created using the Adobe Resources.com with the added colouring effects to the eyes.

I will then use this technique to create more relevant effects for my Print work:

Green colouration effects:

Red colouration effects:

Technology Skills

During this week I am going to try and increase my skill set by using various techniques:

These skill sets include:

• Learning how to Pull Focus on SLR cameras in order to achieve my shot of Will Tyler (Lead Actor).

In order to achieve this, I will be taking test shots in order to get familiar with entropic photographs.

I will learn how to do this by experimenting as well as looking at the Internet for tutorials on how to achieve this effect to its maximum potential. However, if these methods prove unsuccessful in all of the following, I will seek advice.

I will be booking a SLR camera and upload my test shots in order to show how I have improved from the start compared with my final Print Production work.

• How to add effects on Premier Pro - (Fading Clips, Adding effects, adjusting the colour/exposure/contrast of shots/ adding title effects)

In order to get familiar with Premier Pro, I will need to get some tester footage to get the effect I require for the video. By doing this, I will be increasing my knowledge of the program and thus increasing my expertise in this particular field.

• Using Photoshop to achieve the effects desired on my taken photos for Print Production Work:

I have used the following links to gather research information on these areas of Photoshop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNcKCTbchmQ&feature=related - this will be a similar approach I will be taking except thatI will be using these techniques to create a scarecrow rather than a zombie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQxRoq7Je8 I will use this tutorial in order to edit the effect of Will Tylers eyes to make them look lifeless.

These specific skills will help me toward creating my Print Production work, as these are the techniques I plan to incorporate.

Ideas...

Significant objects may connote more meaning than a cluttered photograph. Therefore for one my photographs I will incorporate the use of absence and relevance in order to help grab the audiences attention.

Objects may include:

• CD Player - Connotations of Music
• Single broken guitar string - Connotations of Rebelliousness/Rock

Ideas...

The incorporation of focus pull on certain photographs in my Print production will allow the veiwers attention to be drawn to the object. I will be testing this in the future with the use of the SLR cameras until i eventually decide to use this on Will Tyler (actor) on the front cover of my Digital Pack