The document discusses the author's experiences learning to use various software programs for their AS Media course, including Blogger, Photoshop, SlideShare, and Powtoon. The author describes initially struggling with Blogger but gradually learning how to use it to create blogs and import different media. They also discuss gaining new photo editing skills in Photoshop like removing backgrounds and merging images. SlideShare is explained as a way to share presentations online, while Powtoon is an animated slideshow creator. The author reflects on gaining experience using their camera and different settings to produce high quality images for assignments.

2. When I started AS Media the first software I was introduced to was blogger.
Before this I had never used it before so it was all very new to me. It took some
getting used to at first, as although it is pretty simple when you’ve gotten used
to it, you feel alien on your first few attempts. My big question at first was ‘how
do I even make a blog?’. It was simple, I made a Google account and then
logged into the blogger website and clicked the ‘new blog’ button. Then I had
trouble with making new posts and posting on to my blog. I learnt how to do all
this and gradually picked it up. I learnt how to import images, videos and slide
shares. From my school magazine blog to my music magazine blog, there is a
huge difference on the complexity of my work. I am now very fond of Blogger
and have been using it to make another blog to post my photography to see. It
has also helped me to keep up with my work and has been used as almost like
a diary to help me keep track, I will most definitely use Blogger in the future.

3. I had used photo shop before AS Media as I took GCSE Photography which required
a lot of use of the software. However from AS Media I have learnt a whole new set of
skills on the software. From erasing backgrounds and placing images on new
backgrounds and changing the saturation and highlights and shadows, to
transforming my images, by changing their heights and widths until they fit onto my
work. I have also learnt how to merge more than one file together, which I had to do
for all three of my products as they all needed images and texts to e placed onto one
background. I have also learnt how to edit images further by using the plaster tool to
cover blemishes and the clone tool to move parts of the image to replace another, for
example if there were gaps in my models hair by cloning a part of her hair that has
no gaps I can then place in within the gaps and sort them out. Photoshop is full of
new tricks and every time you use it you learn something new and there is so many
different ways for each editing tool, and I feel a lot more confident when using it now.

4. Slide-share is a software in which you can paste power points and make them
able to post onto blogger and other online websites. I had never used this
before and once I learnt how to use it, it was a very simple process. I learnt
that I could share my slide shares on to more than one social media and allow
people to see it and view it. Slide-shares are also posted on their website and
people can view them, I have looked at many slide-shares to help me with the
process of making my media product.

5. Powtoon was one of the last software’s I used. It is an online website in which
you can create video/slide shows with characters, objects and backdrops that
make it look like a cartoon. I learnt how to make my own video and how to
manipulate characters in to moving and I used this to do some questions in my
evaluation. I think this is an effective software as it makes a PowerPoint which
should be boring and slow running into something a lot more amusing and
interesting to watch. This has helped me keep my evaluation engaging and
interesting rather than just a lot of text to me read through.

6. For my images in my media products I used a Cannon SLR camera. By using
this camera I was able to produce clear still images with every detail captured.
This allowed my photos to be clear and look professional. I never really took
much notice at the settings on my camera until AS Media, where I had to use
the portrait setting to capture my models in their best light. On location shoots I
had to use the landscape setting to ensure the background was captured. I
tried out a range of depth of fields and tried pictures with and without flash until
I found a style and setting that suited my images best. On my front cover the
camera allowed me to add a mysterious look to the main image to make the
magazine more intriguing.