It's a kind of Magix: Photo and video software giveaway

As a fairly new blogger, I've discovered that it can take a lot of work to create an attractive website or blog.  Other, more experienced bloggers can make it look so simple, but I've learnt that their effortless class and style actually involves hard work. 

A major part of this is the use of illustrations.  Of course the words are important - high-quality writing is the most important thing to draw readers in and keep them coming back for more - but it's also important to think about how to illustrate each post, each story.

This has been something I've been trying to think more about.  I'd like to try and make my photographs look at least semi-professional rather than completely, obviously amateur.  And of course, as an increasingly avid and passionate video blogger, I've been looking around to find a professional editing system to help take my videos to 'the next level'.

Enter Magix.

With almost impeccable timing, I was contacted by this company.  Magix produce a variety of computer software all of which can help create an attractive website or blog.  The very lovely people there gave me a free copy of their photo editing and movie making software to try out.

And the great part is, they've also given me two free copies of each programme to give away to four lucky readers!  This is a generous offer worth nearly £300 in total.

With the closure of the popular online photo editing software, Picnik creeping swiftly towards us, the Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7 software couldn't come at a better time.  It's billed as "The powerful integrated solution for creative design" and, from opening up the programme, I don't doubt that claim.  This software offers the following benefits:

• Optimize, edit & design photos 
• Illustrate, draw & paint 
• 3D design tool (e.g. for logos) 
• Create multi-page documents, incl. text layout (e.g. brochures) 
• Complete PDF workflow (import, creation, output) 
• Create animations 
• More than 3,000 professional design templates 

This software is not only brilliant for touching up photographs before they're posted for the world to see, but it's also perfect for creating graphics and illustrations that can be used for things like blog headers.  I'm currently working on one using this software but, unfortunately, it's not ready so I can't give you a sneak peek.

Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7

Meanwhile, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX Plus really is a professional piece of kit.  It offers:

• 99 tracks for picture and sound 
• Full HD support (HDV, AVCHD) 
• Full stereo3D support 
• AVCHD SmartRendering 
• Full support for recordings in 50p 
• High-quality effects, transitions and templates 
• MultiCam editing (with 2 cameras) 
• Secondary color correction 
• Travel route animation 
• Comprehensive dubbing, also with Surround Sound (Dolby®Digital 5.1) 
• Custom menu design with professional templates 
• Universal output options: file, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, YouTube, Facebook, etc. 

I'll be honest with you, I don't know what half of these things mean but, having used the software to create my "A special birthday surprise" video, I can confirm that it is amazing.  There is so much you can do with your video and audio, it really can help make videos look more professional; by being able to place video and audio 'segments' onto different tracks, you can create voiceovers or mix speech with music easily; you can create a myriad of different titles (including 3D); and mixing video segments together is effortless.

MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX Plus

Would you like to win a copy of this software?  As I've mentioned, I have two copies of each programme to give away.  All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to leave me a comment telling me if you would like to win the photo editing software or the movie making software, along with your twitter ID or link to your facebook page (so that I can contact you if you win).  If you would like to be in with a chance of winning both programmes, you only need to leave one comment.

For an extra entry, please tweet the following: "I want to win @Magix_UK photo editing/movie making software courtesy of @Chez_Mummy. You can too at http://www.chezmummy.com/2012/03/its-kind-of-magix-photo-and-video.html".  Please remember to come back here and leave me a second comment to tell me you've tweeted this.  Oh, and don't forget to follow me on twitter if you don't already.

This competition will close at midnight on Thursday 15 March 2012.  The winners will be drawn at random and contacted by the end of the day on Saturday 17 March 2012.

Good luck!

Please note: Magix provided me with one free copy of both the 'Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7' and 'MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX Plus' software for my own personal use, as well as two more copies of each programme as prizes for this giveaway.