My Student Magazine Photography

As part of our course we had to create a student magazine using only our own original imagery that we had taken ourselves. I used a portion of one of my coursework lessons to take some pictures of my boyfriend on my digital camera and taken the rest myself in my own time. Using previous photography knowledge on angles, lines and how we can make the photo attractive, I tried to capture some artistic looking shots. Here are some examples of my work:

The Contents Page:

Here is my boyfriend posing for me to photograph for my student magazine. This is I have edited just using the photo gallery on my laptop at home and then I edited it further on an apple Mac using Adobe Photoshop CS6. I tried a high angle shot and the use of lines in the backdrop from what I learnt in the class photography lesson. I think the lines in the background have worked quite well and I am pleased how the photograph came out.
This was one of the first photographs I took and is my favourite out of the ones I took on the day.
It didn't require a lot of editing and only took about 5/7 minutes to do in total. It was really fast and simple and Photoshop was easy to work with.

Here is my photoshopped version of the above photograph. I airbrushed his skin slightly to remove the redness and dark circles using the patch tool and then adjusted things such as the exposure, contrast, hue etc. (general things) to make the colours and how the overall look of the photograph stand out and really come to life. I though it looked more creative and really captured the feel of my student magazine, with the essence of the type of reader shown here.















The Main Cover (and Contents Page):

For my main cover image I also wanted to have an 'on the cover' section using a different photograph but the same model for this and play around with the editing so it had the feel of my model in it? I was really lucky as I hadn't asked Bee what I wanted her to wear as her style is something that made me want to use her for my magazine and I thought leaving it to her would be more creatively interesting for me, to edit my magazine around the colour schemes she chose to wear. However, I did start the main bulk of the work before I took her photograph and used black, white and red as my colour scheme. I was going to use dark blues, blacks and greens to keep in with modern fashion but after looking to the style of 'NOTION' magazine I changed my mind at the last minute. Fortunately for me on the day I arranged to take Bee's photograph she wore a red shirt and a black leather jacket. which was PERFECT to fit my cover and my chosen colour scheme.

Here is the first photo I took of my cover star. I asked my friend Bee to pose for me as she is also studying AS Media Studies. Although she was really nervous I managed to get the shots I wanted. They looked really natural and full of personality which is why I chose her to be my cover star.
I used my boyfriend's laptop to edit the photographs I took on my fujifilm digital camera, which meant I could edit them to look completely different but only using very basic effect changes such us highlighting, shadowing, contrast, brightness, saturation, tint and colouring.
I used her edgy style to stimulate the editing, to make it look modern, funky almost like the instagram app popular with my age demographic for my student magazine. I wanted the style of photography to suit the readers and connect with them as something they would find visually stimulating.
I really liked this side profile of hers however this one her eyes are slightly squinting so I took some others and see if I got a better shot.

This was the second photograph I took and I wanted to play around with the editing and try or different looks. I like how changing the saturation so it's almost black and white gave it a totally different effect. I'm not sure the background works as well, even though I originally wanted plain white, having seen how just editing the colours etc could make the background more interesting - I don't know about this one just because of how I edited it. I do like the pose however because it's similar to the profile from before just on the other side.
I just made the saturation too low so her face doesn't have enough contrast with the background. I think the outfit looks really good as it really shows off her style.

 

This third image I took was more close up than my previous photographs, which made me tied between this one and the one below. I liked the way her hair and outfit looked, and it really showed off her amazing  skin and teeth. I liked that it was more noticeable that she was wearing a backpack as it gave her more of a 'student look' as it showed she was likely to be carrying revision books.
I didn't edit this one too much, just the contrast for the background, the saturation for the boldness of the colour and the exposure/highlighting to make each strand of her stand out better.










Learning from previous mistakes, I realised I needed room for my masthead and cover lines  and although I may have liked the above pictures, logically there wouldn't be enough room to fit all the other bits of text in. So for this photograph I really tried to make room for everything I wanted to fit on my student magazine. Knowing I wanted columns I knew I had to provide for those. I really liked this funky, fresh and happy pose that showed Bee having fun. It had a slightly quirkyness about it that stayed true to her spirit I wanted to capture but still fitted my magazine look. Having her hair to one side really showed off how beautiful her hair is and the fact she's wearing a backpack, which promotes an educational side, as well as looking stylish. Her smiling sends out a positive message to readers, whilst showing off her amazing teeth. I chose this image because as soon as I took it I knew I was going to use it, so it seemed right, natural and the perfect choice. I'm glad I chose this image as when it came to creating my magazine it fitted really well and I didn't have any adjustment problems. I edit this one in the same way as the one before, but I wanted the red to really stand out so I did less to this photograph to make it seem as natural as possible.

The above photograph I took straight after as I wanted to try and find the perfect one for my contents page. I was really inspired by COMPANY magazine's pages where they show who's worked on the issues as it has a real young, cool and new vibe about it. So when taking this I really thought about how I could play around with the tint, saturation, exposure, highlighting, constrast and a few other techniques to give it that same edge. I liked the previous pose, but wanted it to look more caught off chance, and as Bee was really nervous I thought using the same pose on a different side would give her a comfortable way of doing it. I really liked the way this was edited so I used this for the Editor's Note because I felt having her almost repeat the pose came across as if I'd found a star who had their own natural habits that everyone else has, making her seem more realistic to for my magazine and not someone who has randomly posed for me.

This photograph was trying to recapture the feel of the first photograph, by having a profile shot, however Bee moved when I took the picture and this is how it came out. I actually prefer this version as it shows her in action but at the same time has a beautiful stillness about it? The main reason I wanted to re-shoot this picture was because in the first one her eyes were slightly squinted, and I wanted her to look as beautiful as possible, so I had to retake this to make her eyes wider. This was achieved by having her not smile, so her eyes didn't crease. I used the same editing techniques I have been using throughout my photographs by just playing with all the different elements until I found somehting I thought had a nice quality, worked, looked good for the photo or I liked! I really like how the necklace falls in this photograph and her hair (the main reason I chose her and the height of her) looks captivating here. It's natural and looks down-to-earth, which was exactly what I wanted for my student magazine.

All together I'm really impressed with my photographs and my editing I think worked really well for my chosen style of magazine. I didn't have to take as many pictures as I did, as the first couple would have worked fine, but being a perfectionist I wanted to take more, enjoy the photographing experience and get the best shot I could.

Class Task

As part of our coursework lesson we made comparison's between two music magazine covers and how the layout and photography has a different effect on the reader.

• The layout of this 2010 Vanity Fair 'Style Issue' has cover star Lady Gaga off centred on the right side of the cover.
• She has a triangle shaped position, giving her three main lines from her body.
• It is taken from a low angle giving her pose a superiority to the reader. It makes her look admirable, because you have to look up to her - which connects to her style of music (which talks about empowerment and being the best you can be).
• She has a large fan following, which is shown through her photograph and the coverline to the left of her right arm which says "the WORLD'S NO.1 POP STAR".
• The cover lines have a column look about them which features straight lines going down the left and right third of the cover. They are composed around the outside of the focal points, which really makes her stand out. They are also the only cover lines that appear over her photograph.
• The extravagant outfit she wears gives connotations of being regal or having a powerful hierarchy status from the mise-en-scene of the image.
• The simple grey black background is plain, which contrasts to her detailed and intricate outfit. 
• This clear use of left third has used the two cover lines on the left to stand out against Lady Gaga. It stands her out as a solo artist which represents her individuality within the music industry.

Over all the cover looks glossy and expensive and with money being something associated with Lady Gaga it gives off a contemporary and modern appeal to those interested in pop music but might be from middle/upper class. It doesn't look teen related, very much for an adult audience and gives the effect of being classy and full of images from how big the cover star is. 

• The Source doesn't clearly display who the main cover star is. It shows a head shot/close up of an artist pointing a gun to himself with the main cover line say 'Suicide is not an option'. This is mysterious as to what it means. 
• The red and white colour scheme works well to stand out against the picture, the vest co-ordinates with the font colour. The choice of red and white relates to the fact it's US based. The connotations of vests tell us it's hip-hop based and the genre is for a specific audience.
• The cover looks aggressive with tattoos on the cover star, red to connotate danger or anger and the violence associated with the gun telling us it's not aimed at females. And rap is more for a male target audience.
• The layout is  simple and spaced out like Vanity Fair's but in a different design. It has more of a working class look because of the stigma attached to rap and hip-hop 
• The use of left and right third look very conventional with font's all co-ordinating. It shows it's a long running magazine that has it's own following.
• The use of the same size used for fonts except for the main cover line on the left third shows which cover line is most important and relates to the main image.

Overall the cover looks quite cheap compared to Vanity Fair. This is because hip-hop is associated with the streets and starting in places that aren't glamorous  The main cover star looks well off despite how simply he's dressed. I think this magazine isn't as appealing to those who like other music genre because of how it's used font and design to attract it's target demographic. Vanity Fair you could pick up for the first time and casually read it despite knowing nothing about the history or anything it features, whereas this cover looks like it's aimed at those who know a lot about who's in it, what the magazine's about and are regular readers.

Coursework: Photography

In class we looked at two covers and how the main images in the cover showed photographic technqiues to appeal to certain audiences and fit genre conventions.

We used two examples to compare how the rule of thirds had been used both similarly and differently to give opposite effects:

The first third features
the mast head, and the left third features the cover lines, which leaves the right side a centre intersections to focus on cover star Eva Longoria. Her eyes are looking down the camera lens, as if she is looking at us. Making her face the centered focal point, working well for the magazine cover with a pleasing look for the audience. It has a coy submissive look, which gives her as a woman a flirty but passive appeal, that suits her girly persona and fits the genre of magazine.
Her face looks soft and welcoming, which gives her an empathetic connection that a female magazine needs.
The left third's white font is hard to read, due to the light/pale background. Contrasting to the cover line just off the focal points that are centred to Eva's face - linking the cover line to her.

The NME cover uses cover star Morrissey's eyes as a focal point, with his aggressive facial expression using the eyes to look down into the camera lens.
He is slightly peering down the lens which has the slight effect of a low angle shot.
The left third like 'allure' is busy with cover lines.
Also like 'allure' just off the focal point near his mouth is a cove line. However using a rotate the line "BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN' in capitals is made to look as if it's coming out of his mouth, giving an angry shouting impression.

The ripped paper effect next to his face, just out of the focal point, reaffirms that violent thug like impression of the magazine.

Preliminary Task: Brief

 'Initial Ideas' - Here are some of my ideas presented in different ways:

Here is my initial Ideas Plan that show the basic thoughts on what I want for my Student Magazine Cover. I used Inspiration 8 IE to create my diagram and edited the font, colours and added an image to add interest to the design. 

My Proposal: My ideas have been inspired from Nicola Roberts after 'google imaging' "Nicola Roberts Magazine Covers"

Her current and 'out there' approach to pop culture isn't over powering but connects to the contemporary culture of students today. Her take on fashion, makeup and hair was something that gave me style ideas for the cover star, plugs for cover lines and how I could pitch it to students.
For the Bullett cover the name jumped out to me like Notion did - simple and memorable and sounds current. Below are two inspirations that I have based my ideas on as example covers:

• My magazine is specifically aiming at College Students. I will show that I am aiming at a specific audience using a clear sense of genre and ideology. Using the Main Image to show the age (16 - 24) and the font to show that they are young. Block fonts and connotations of electronica music/DJ's theme (like a large house party) will appeal to a more modern, younger, trendy demographic. The simple layout and use of colour schemes will look appealing for students to read on-the-go and not feel they are being bombarded with information.
• My magazine will be an up-to-date theme of music, fashion, what's going on in the local areas (film, music, shopping - student sales, discounts and food etc) to appeal to their interests and what's 'relevant' to their everyday lives. It shall include some short reviews, minor celebrity interviews (internet famous people) and articles on technology they are used to using such as: social networking, technology and applications. I do not want it to have an overly 'college' base and more be about the age group with some important (and sometimes shocking) health articles that are aimed at them or their relations. It shouldn't feel student specific, but have aspects of educational basis from things like: motivational quotes from celebrities and entrepreneurs who have excelled in life and pose as good examples and role models to aspiring students in various subject fields. I want it to feature current and up-and-coming stars, photographers, rising artists (all areas) new exhibitions and galleries, undiscovered talents and facts about various employment industries.
• My ideas for cover lines are all going to be plugging what's inside the issue, I did have the idea of one largely centered to do with the cover star, but since seeing two interesting and catchy covers for two different magazines; I've wanted to explore the sleek design, I was inspired by Notion magazine and Bullett magazine.They will be mainly music, sexual health and star related and feature rhetorical questions to make the readers think and want to read the articles etc to answer their own personal questions. I want the cover to really connect to each reader by making the topics and themes unisex. So there is no gender target audience. (See picture examples above) these links have the style and 'arty' edge I want to aim for my magazine with a video to show visually what I mean: http://bullettmedia.com/about/ http://vimeo.com/45979203
• For my title I have decided to call it: Inside because it's short sharp and relates to everything 'inside' a students world: music, food, fashion - the whole world of a teenager. It's not a complicated name to remember and has a direct link to inside a teenagers brain. The following names I all rejected because as far as I am aware they are already magazine titles: In, Out, Motion, Living, Up, Lowdown, Count, Live, L, S, C, U, I
• I would want to use big block fonts, quite a lot of bold. Sans serif fonts to connect to a younger audience and for main feature pages that appeared every issue, using specialist designed fonts to look 'cool'. Some examples I found on the internet are below:

My favourite font is the 'A LOVE OF THUNDER' as I think it looks most appealing and most appropriate for standing out and grabbing a young audience. 

• My ideas for taglines I hadn't originally thought of but after internet research, I brainstormed some ideas: 

I haven't decided yet on which one I think will work best for my student magazine, until I have finished the design of the front cover. Once that has been completed I shall select which one jumps out to me as more appropriate.

• It will be published every three months, as the seasons change and the new college terms do. It doesn't over power the students with things to read (as they will have lots of coursework and exam revision to read anyway) and it allows significant change to occur that would lead to original and new articles etc. It would be available throughout the academic term until the next issue. The cover may have some iconography of seasons to reflect the change in weather and up-coming holidays etc, but the change will mainly be told through the articles and fashion shown in the imagery. Health and music will show what time of the year the magazine issue is as this socially changes with what things we concern ourselves with (e.g. in spring it's about hay-fever and medication, in summer skin cancer warnings (checking moles and sun lotion, hats and glasses etc.) and winter it's more for colds, flu and 'bugs'.) Music changes with what 'sounds' is more appropriate to listen to.
• My front cover will have a young cover star to promote the target age, if I had a team to work with I would use a photographer to take some posed location shots or studio shots and edit the effects to give it a modern look. I will be using a digital camera myself to take the photos for the cover. It will be a medium shot - I will aim from the knees up, to get most of the body in the photograph. I do not want the photograph to look to 'fake' as I want a down-to-earth and realistic looking model.
• Going from when in the year it would be published, if the first issue was from September to December (Autumn Term), the second issue was January to April (Spring Term), the third issue April to July (Summer Term) would mean it would be published three times a year.
• The cover dimensions would be 210 x 148 mm or 8.3 x 5.8 inches for an A5 magazine. I think an A5 magazine would be a more appropriate for a student magazine as it will be cheaper to mass produce due to the smaller sizing and being smaller means it's lighter and easier for students to carry around and fit into their crammed bags. It's a nicer size to handle and not having large A4 makes it less daunting or patronising to read as it's handy and travel friendly. However if I was unable to have A5, the A4 dimensions would be 297 x 210 mm or 11.7 x 8.3 inches.
• I would use lots of smaller images and some lighter shades of colour for the contents page. 

'Flat Plans' - Ideas and Inspirations for my Front Cover and Contents Page:

 Here is my first idea for my front page, presented as a flat plan which I create on an Apple Mac's 'Word Document'. I used shapes to create the black boxes and changed the font to the text.

Below is some inspirations for my contents page from existing music magazines I found on the internet: 

I like the layering and arrangement of the pages. The crowded but neat look is very appealing to a young audience as it reflects how they are and what they are into. Young people are into collages and building up collections of memories and I think these two examples show this.  I think the font choices are really well selected and it looks well co-ordinated with the rest of the text. The mixed size of images and 'busy' photography that's not studio posed gives it a teenager vibe.

  

Below is my Flat Plan for my contents page where I have used the above inspirations for the layering effect and the use of red, white and black as a colour scheme. I have used a purple triangle to look 'hipster' and the blue will be the main colour used the image. The light lime green background is not to over shadow the main design features that I have 'created' on Microsoft Word using shapes and Text Boxes.