This is the magazine front cover i have produced. This was in the style of NME.
Photography
Before I started this
project I had very little photography skills. During this project we
used photography skills to create our photos for the magazine. We
used manual focus on the camera. I have learnt that you can zoom in
on the camera so you don’t have to stand really close to the
person. I have also learned that you can focus the camera to get a
clear image which will look more effective. The T-stance helps you to
get a good photo as you are standing in the correct position and you
can get a clear photo as you are not moving around all over. I have
learnt that taking a portrait photo is always better for a magazine
front cover as magazines are portrait, so if you take it the correct
way you have to rotate it. If you take it landscape you will have
difficulty because you may have things in the image you don’t want.
I did take my image landscape when it was meant to be portrait,
however I realized my mistake and I retook the photos portrait. Some
of my images were focused, others were not. To improve this I would
have to take more time taking the photos and make sure the camera is
focused. I learned that if you are taking a photo make sure the light
is behind you so the light is not shining directly on you. They were
well composed but I did however forget about the rule of thirds, I
think I made the eye line slightly to high, but I made her look
directly at the camera so it looks like she is looking at you when
you purchase the magazine. I did not think carefully about the
background because I was originally going to take a photo with a
blank background, however I changed my mind last minute as took a
photo of her behind the gate which makes her look fierce and trapped.
This did not cause any problems because it looked effective. I
handled my subject by telling them what pose to do and where to
stand, my people skills did not effect my image because I already
knew my subject so we could just talk as normal and tell each other
what to do.
These were some of the original images i took, with the plain background. I also took them landscape before i realized i needed to take them portrait.
Photoshop
Some of the tools I
used on photo shop were the text tool, the colour tool, the layer
tool, the shapes tool and the character tool for the text. I found it
difficult at first but once you get used to it, it is quite easy to
use. My text was well controlled because I have used two different
types of writing, so it wasn’t overdone and I have also stuck to
three magazine colours red, purple and white. I did not cut out any
images in my magazine. I added effects on my title such as drop
shadow and filled in part of the title colour. I chose the fonts
‘Hobo std’ and ‘rosewood Std’. I chose these because I think
they look good. I used the colours red, purple and white because I
was going for a gothic type of magazine so I used quite dark colours.
To improve my front cover I would make the subject of my magazine
wear more black to match the magazine style more, I would also have
more uses of colour. The strengths of the magazine front cover were
that it was a close up photo that was unique because it was taken
behind a gate and it also had different styles of writing on the
magazine which makes it look more interesting. I have chosen to put
the magazine in a T shape as it is a typical magazine convention and
I have chosen to make the image and the masthead in the foreground of
the magazine so it stands out.
