Blog Write Up 03/03/14

Before producing my article, I made sure to learn different language techniques to make the article appropriate for its purpose and audience. I learned how to use colloquial language such as contractions and slang and how to produce an opening paragraph in order to encourage the audience to read on and discover what the rest of the article has to say. Plus, how to use a semantic field in my article, which is a group of words grouped by a specific subject, in order to keep it interesting and not over use the same words to describe the same subject.

Over the last week I have learned how to setup an InDesign page, including creating columns, the size and number of the pages and how to add text boxes to organize my page. I placed my text into my project and worked with the leading, font size and indenting to make it look organized and fill the space appropriately. I also learned how to incorporate drop caps into my work to illustrate the start of the article. I also learned how to add shapes into the outside of the project to give the page a borderline that will draw the audience into the center of the page. The layout I produced gives space for the photographs I will take in the next week so that they can be inserted into the project easily after they have been edited. Also, I made sure the layout organized the text into 4 columns (of varying length) and making sure to leave room for the breakout box I plan to include.

In terms of photography, I learned various skills that will help me produce my photographs exactly how I want them to come out. I learned how to use equipment such as reflectors, soft boxes, honeycombs etc. Plus, I learned how to use the equipment to produce different types of lighting such as broad lighting and butterfly lighting. Also, I discovered how/when to use different backdrops and how different colours can produce different connotations and cause different effects of the model. After learning all this I produced a plan as to how I would like my studio to be setup for my photographs, focusing on what backdrops I will use, lighting set ups and how the model will be positioned. For editing the photographs, I learned how to use different effects and tools to edit a photograph to my liking. Using tools such as dodge and burn and heal brush and using auto colour and other colour adjusters such as colour balance and hue/saturation to adjust the colours and the overall aesthetic of the image.