Induction Evaluation

Completed magazine cover.

In planning my magazine cover, I had to decide what target audience I would be aiming for. I decided on a female audience, aged from around 14 to 20, with interests in fashion and general teenage 'indie' lifestyle. After planning out the basic ideas for my magazine on paper, I began the production process of my magazine cover.

The first step of doing this was taking the main photograph that would be featured as the background of the front cover. This was important as it would be what would catch the attention of my audience.

To do this, I took a DSLR camera outside with my model and took a selection of practice photographs before doing the actual shoot. These appeared blurred, and so I changed the setting of the camera to manual focus and adjusted my stance to the T stance (which enables a photographer to be balanced and avoid the camera shaking). I then adjusted the focus more carefully, and the next photographs came out a lot clearer.

Because the photograph was for the cover of a magazine, which is portrait, I used that mode. This made it easier to fit in the head and shoulder shot of my model that is typical of a magazine. I attempted to use the rule of thirds, with the eyes of my model being above the top line. However, I didn't do this correctly as some of the photographs are unbalanced. The one I used for my final front cover seems to be reasonably balanced, despite being less focused on the head and shoulders like I intended.

The setting was outside, and so I had to be careful that the natural light we were using was to the side of my model so that the lighting had the best effect. If I had taken the photograph with the light directly behind my model, she would have been silhouetted. If the light had been behind myself, the photograph would be likely to appear too bright.

For future improvement, I need to develop my people skills so that I can direct my model better, and also improve on my use of the rule of thirds and manual focus so that the images are well balanced and clear.

Once I had uploaded the images to the computer, I chose the photograph that was most suitable for a magazine cover, and then opened it in Photoshop. The first thing I had to do was adjust the image size so that it would fit the A4 size of my magazine. I did this by pressing the Command and T keys, and then holding down the shift key as I edited the size. This would prevent the image from stretching, and maintain the quality of the photograph. As I didn't use any effects on the background photograph, the next thing I did was add the text. To do this I used the text tool, and chose a font that I believed would suit the intended audience of my magazine. I chose the title, and then wrote down some other ideas for the articles referred to on the cover. These include references to thrift shopping, psychedelic clothing and green tea, all of which would suit the interests of my target audience and appeal to them. I also chose a gender stereotyped colour scheme for the text including the colours pink and purple that matched the colours in the background photograph. To make the text stand out more, I edited the leading and kerning and then used the choke tool on the FX menu to create a shadowed border effect on the edges of the text.

To create a button sell, I first created a new layer. Then I used the marquee selection tool to create a circle, holding down the shift key so that it was well proportioned. After creating the circle, I used the multi gradient, paint bucket tool to fill the circle with an colour that matched my theme. I then applied the text.

After making a few finishing touches, such as resizing the text and changing the opacity of the choke effect on the text, I saved the image on Photoshop and then as a jpeg. image.

On the next photoshoot we did, I experimented with more photographing techniques such as framed photographs and ones with lines that drew the viewer's eye towards the focal point. I also experimented with different lighting angles (sidelit, backlit and lit from the front) as well as both high and low photography angles. I believe I used the rule of thirds and the eye line more successfully in taking these photographs.