Print Skills Audit

AS Media Production

Technical Skills Audit Print Production

Name: Scott Carter                       Tutor group: 2.35                Date: 7/04/2011

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	Yes		Used when I took my images for my magazine front cover and double page spread. I used this specifically when taking what I thought would be potential images used for my final product.  As I use these features often, I find that my level of using them is quite high.
Shutter Speed	Yes		I used the shutter speed when I took photos of moving objects for practice. One of the images was a passing lorry, and I had the shutter speed open briefly to get a non blurry image. I have used the shutter speed often resulting in me having a good level of using it.
Aperture control	Yes		This was used during the learning process of the camera. I placed an ornamental house/clock onto a desk and from a distance (used the zoom to get closer), I controlled the aperture in different ways which resulted in an image where only the house/clock was in focus, with the background blurred, and the other with complete clearness foreground and background. I haven’t used this often so I would say I have only used this to a basic level.
ISO Control	Yes		I found that some of my images we too dark when doing my pose picture and therefore used the ISO control to lighten it. I haven’t used this often so I would say I have only used this to a basic level.
A tripod	Yes		The tripod was mainly used when I took my photos for my unit 3 project. I found that using it enabled me to have a better, clearer picture. I have used a tripod many times and therefore find my level of using this is extremely high.
External flash	Yes		Most of the time when I took my pictures, using the external flash has enabled me to create brighter, crisper pictures. Because of this, I find the level of using this to be high as I understand how to use it and the frequent times I use it.
Self timer facility		No
Light meter	Yes		I have used the light meter infrequently, and have used it to determine aperture settings. The knowledge of using it is very basic as I avoided using the light meter often.
Composition grids		No

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
Have you ever used Photoshop ever before?	Yes		Photoshop has been used by me throughout this entire course. I have used many tools on the software and have created products with it. Now that I have come to end of the course, I feel as though I have used Photoshop for years and I can use it to nearly its full potential.
Text control	Yes		I control my text all the time as this allows me to be able to change fonts, size and colour and can position it anywhere as well as adding effects on it. Controlling text is very simple and I feel I can use it a high level.
Filters	Yes		I found that adding filters to my created shapes, texts or placed images. I wouldn’t say I used these to an advance level, however, I found I could create basic and interesting effects.
Brushes	Yes		I have used brushes when I began learning how to use Photoshop, however, I never found myself using them for any of my work or final products so therefore my level of using them is very minimal.
Layers	Yes		I used layers every time I used Photoshop. Using layers allowed me to have more control on a specific thing at a time without affecting any other work done in Photoshop. The act that I now know how to merge layers also, I think I can u them to a high level.
Opacity control	Yes		I have not controlled the opacity too much when creating projects, however, when I did use it, it was for darkening or lighting purposes only.
Shape creation	Yes		I used this when creating my final products. The shapes I created represented banners or paint splatter affects. To create these effects with a shape, I liquefied them. I found this very easy to do as the shape tool was easy to find in the tool section to left of the Photoshop document.
Brightness and contrast control		No
Gradients	Yes		I never used gradients for my final product, but I used them for practice purposes. The gradients were used initially for my background when I created my practice magazine front cover. As I rarely use this tool, I would say I could use it a basic level.
Load selection features	Yes		Once again, I never used this for my final products, but I used this many times when doing my practice magazine and double page spreads. I would suggest that I could use load selection features at a very basic level.
Feathering	Yes		I found that feathering part of images was vital as it smoothed edgy lines. I never used this for my final product as there was no reason to and as I have only used on occasion, I feel that my ability of using it is basic.
Colour curves adjustment		No
Resolution setting control		No
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool	Yes		These features have been used by me frequently throughout the whole course. I feel that using them (lasso especially) can be time consuming, but worth it as I have managed to cut out backgrounds or certain objects whilst making it look professional. I find these tools easy to use and can use hen at an alright level.
Cropping tool	Yes		I never used this for my final product, but I still found it useful when I was learning how to use Photoshop. This tool allowed me to get rid of unnecessary parts of an image by simply clicking on the image and dragging it over the part in which I wanted rid of.
Clone tool	Yes		When I placed my main image in Photoshop (placed at the bottom – left to right covered), I realised that if I stretched my image to reach the top of page, the image would then become very stretched and not to real size so I used the clone tool to click on the background, and then coloured in the rest of the exposed document so it filled the entire sheet. I have not used the clone tool often, but find it quite simple to use, but the lack of using it means I only to how to use it at a basic level.
Retouch tool	Yes		The retouch tool was used to remove blemishes and other marks found on my main images. I only know how to use this at a basic level as I only used it for my main image twice when doing my Unit 3 project.