Front Cover and Evaluation

Magazine cover evaluation

For my images, I used manual focus, therefore, the camera would not be deciding what my images would consequently look like. Also, I was able to learn more about the ‘MF’ and ‘AF’ features on the camera. The zoom and focus rings on the lens of the camera somewhat work together - the more you zoom in to the subject, the more out-of-focus the subject becomes.
When taking an image, we were required to position ourselves in the ‘T’ stance. The meant that our right foot would be 90 degrees to the right, while our left foot would be going straight forward. This allows the photographer to move freely without shaking the camera or losing the subject.
For our assignment, we had to take images that were portrait. Portrait images are better to fit onto A4 sheets and for close-up shots of the face, whereas, landscape images are better fitted onto A3 sheets, and are great for taking images of multiple subjects.
My images were in complete focus which makes the eyes become immediately drawn to the subject that is in focus. This means that whatever is in focus, will be the main feature in what ever the image will be used to represent. My image, however, would have been of greater aesthetic quality if I had managed to more of the background in the image itself.
There are three types of lighting that I learned of during this unit. These being - frontal lighting, side lighting, and back lighting. For my image, I used back lighting, but this didn’t necessarily mean that the subjects face could not be seen because the sun was being dimmed by an overcast of clouds.
 For my images, I placed my subject in a position where his eyes were 1/3 of the way down from the viewfinder and the effect it has gives the impression that my subject was of high superiority and was above all else. This positioning also allows us to see the entire face in the image. With regards to the rule of thirds, my subjects eyes were in the top 3rd of the image with the nose is the centre of the grid and finally, the mouth in the bottom 3rd.

I thought very carefully about the background in my image. I wanted something that didn’t look gorgeous or beautiful. Instead, I was looking for something that was more repulsive and original which is why for my background I chose a dirty, mossy staircase.
It was hard trying to tell my subject what I wanted them to do with their facial expressions and bodily language because half of the time, they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, although, after I asked for a angry but not too angry look, I got a great image.

For my cover, I mainly used text and shapes to create an authentic look. The shape tools allowed me to place offers and exclusive details in shapes making them far more noticeable. I also used the lasso tool which allows me to select a certain part of the image and can do different things with this said part of the image. For example, I could make the background of my image black and white, while the subject is in full colour.
The thing I found hardest when using Photoshop was actually moving the layers around on my piece. Photoshop was merging and rasterzing and so on which was of great inconvenience. However, the easiest tool to use was the text tool, because this things is simply placing and editing pieces of text. The transformation tool is also simple and effective.
With the transformation tool, my text was easy to place, move and rotate. The colour of my text was also easily changeable.
On my front cover, I did use drop shadows on my masthead,  this gave a look that wasn’t as plain and boring. It made the masthead also look as though it was jumping out at us with the centre of the text being red, then getting darker around the edges creating a 3D look.
Due to the small choice of fonts in Photoshop, I had to download some fonts from ‘Dafont’ which has a greater and more ‘up-to-date’ variety of fonts. I chose a thick font which would makes it the boldest thing on my page. I then coloured in the spaces in the letters ‘A’ , ‘R’ , and ‘O’ (masthead only).
This gave my masthead a more original look. To download them, I had to click download and then extract the files to my drive. From there, I had to copy and paste the font files to the font file in my drive which then installed them, ready for use in Photoshop.
For my cover, I used red, black and white. White was rarely used but was still effective when used. The black and red gave a modern touch to the cover and it also when with the effects that I had used on my masthead. The colour-co-ordination on my cover works well with the effects that have been used.
On my cover, however, if I could improve, I would place more text pieces that would draw the audience further into buying the magazine. Currently, I don’t believe I have placed enough text on my cover, on the other hand, this makes the audience wonder more about what’s in store - an unrevealing magazine can be an effective one.
I personally think that my strengths on my cover would be the positioning of my image that I took, and the colour-co-ordination - everything seems to fit perfectly together which makes the cover more attractive for the audience.