All my practical experiences up until now!

My first practical lesson was on Photoshop.

We learnt how to get around Photoshop and the basics such as saving a picture and opening it on Photoshop to edit.

Matt my Media practical teacher showed us some of the tools one at a time in the projecter screen then let us have a go. I learnt a lot better like that becaue it is in steps and i find it easier to understand.

My next practical lesson was on taking still photos. My class split into two groups and we went off taking pictures bearing in mind about hotspots and head space etc. Below are some of our good images.

The image to the Left is the image i use to create my horror poster. You can really see the difference in the before and after.

The next practical lesson that followed was experimenting with the pictures we had taken.

Matt showed us a few more tools such as the stamp tool etc. and then he let us pick an image a edit it. After we made our horror poster using everything we had learnt in our Photoshop classes.

I was then taught how to use the video cameras. Matt would demonstrate one step at a time then let us have a go. I learnt how to put the camera on the tripod and how to secure it. I learnt how to Bubble the tripod so that the camera is level. You have to bubble the tripod every time you move the camera to a different place otherwise it could not be balanced. Also how to change the friction for when you want to pan the camera or tilt it and how to put the battery in and out.I then learnt what all the different symbols and abreviations meant on the camera screen. For example how many frames a second (24) and the time in seconds, minutes and hours. This is all in the top right of the screen. I also learnt about the brightness, what symbol to use eg. the light bulb or the sun and about how may dBs to have and not have.

I was then taught how to zoom using the three different zoom buttons and how to focus.

Learning step by step was good because i always understood what he was asking us to do because it was taugh nice and slow and not rushed.

Our listening skills were then challenged at the end of the lesson as we had a race to see who could put the camera back right after Matt had tinkered with them all.

My lesson after that was using the cameras. I learnt to always have 30 seconds of colour bars at the beginning so that the camera can get up to speed and to always shot everything in a WS then a MS and then in CU.

My group was not to successful but we did get credit for setting up the camera correctly, even if we didn't shoot it properly.

I did learn a lot from it and when i do my next practical i'm sure it will go better.