Magazine Front Cover Skills Development

Magazine Front Cover

This is the picture I have decided to use for my magazine front cover.

I like this picture and have deceided to use it as it gives an edgy feel to a quite, soft pose as a result of the brick wall behind the model. The model is posing quite softly and does not give a harsh look at the camera and this is emphasised by the slightly slanted position which positions the model to the side slightly so it is not face on. 

I ensured I was not too far away from the model to take the picture, however I was a good distance away to get a nice picture and ensure that I had the appropriate amount of space around the sides and top of the model to insert headlines and subheads when I process the magazine front cover later in photoshop.

I used a slight tilt up to create a powerful effect on the model as he is the main focus of the front cover as well as the article in the magazine; also because of the genre of music that the magazines focuses on, the tilt up creates attitude on the models part and suggests that he 'means business'.

It was quite easy to control my model as he listened to what I wanted him to and he also kind of knew what I wanted from the shot anyway and just improvised which made it really easy and most of the shots worked out well.

I wanted the model to have attitude and make this come across to the audience so I tried to make the model look through his hair, giving an edgy, 'What are you looking at' sort of result; also the side position made the pose look effortless and he looks like a rock star who knows what he wants and when he wants it.

Side Lighting Blog Write Up

Side Lighting

Front lighting is lighting that is full on and comes directly from the front of the object, therefore the object is completey lit up by the source of light.

Side lighting is where the source of light is coming from just one side of the object and therefore, one side is lit up and the other is in shadow.

Side lighting can have a very drastic or dramtaic effect on a picture and can often give a suggestion of innocence of the subject of the photo, or give a complete opposite connotation of evilness, sinister or unpredictable and mysterious object.

Side lighting is very often used to create depth of the subject and creating a deeper meaning or to provide more texture to the object.

Side lighting can be used to accentuate a male models features, such as a defined jawbone for example and give a more masculine effect; whereas it can also soften a female model's feautres, softening the jaw bone and giving them a feminine output often expressing softer cheekbones, jawbones and can give an almost 'floaty' effect on the subject, it can also enhance certain features such as the detail of an eye for example.

This is my front lighting picture. It shows how the source of lighting is coming from straight ahead of where the model is facing. I like this picture however I think there should be more focus on the model as he is the main subject and therefore I think I should have zoomed up or got a bit closer to accentuate this features and give a more personal outlook of the final image.

This is my side lighting picture. The light is coming from the right hand side. It shows how the source of lighting is coming from the side and this is causing shadows on the opposite side as a result. I think I cut off the image at an awkward point and should have either got closer to the subject or moved very slightly further away as he is cut off at the elbows which looks a bit strange.

Shutter Speed Blog Write Up

Shutter Speed

A shutter speed is what is used to determine the amount of time that the shutter is open on the camera and how much light is getting into the lens when the picture is taken.

A camera's shutter speed can be used to gain focus in fast moving object that is the focus of the photo, or it can be used in the opposite way for a dramatic effect in a picture. For example this could be used in media on a car advert, if the back end of the car is blurred it can give the audience a specifc view of the cars performance and reliability or even style.

 Slow shutter speeds can give a blurred effect within the photo that is taken and on the other hand, a faster shutter speed can give a more focused shot on a paricular object, giving an 'unnaturally frozen' effect.

This photo was taken at a rather slow shutter speed, in which a longer time was allowed to pass through the process of the shutter opening and closing, meaning that the model was able to be captured for a longer period of time, allowing the above 'blurred' effect to be created throughtout the image. This gives the impression that the model is running faster than he is in reality.

This is a similar effect, however the action is the only subject which is blurred, the rest of the setting is frozen, which is the result of  a fairly quicker shutter speed.

This shot has a faster shutter speed, and therefore the image is completely frozen and all the objects are static in the image. This is as a result of the shutter opening and closing very quickly, meaning the camera only captures a very short amount of time and therefore, only a very quick amount of the object in the frame, in this case a car being driven.

I wanted to create the effect in the first, top picture, however I only wanted the model to be blurred and not the background. This effect was created as a result of a very slow shutter speed in which there was lots of time for the camera to capture a ceratin amount of movement over a certain amount of time and therefore to solve the problem and only have the subject blurred I would probably have to set the camera to a slightly faster shutter speed to allow less movement to be captured but still enough for the model to be blurred, to give the effect that he was running extremly fast. The model was also quite far away from the shot and this takes the dramatic effect away a little, to solve this I could either re-take the picture at a closer distance or zoom in slightly to capture a closer shot.

I think my overall targets for this aspect of photography would to be concentrate on and experiment with different shutter speeds and to record them accurately to evaluate the different effects on each image and how they can be adjusted with each setting.

Introduction Project

Photographic Storyboard

Final Print Product

Final Print product flat plan write up

The central image of ‘smash’ packet is ‘glowing’ yellow outer glow. Opacity 95%, spread 36%, size 250% range 92% and jitter 95%. The slogans in corners are in capitals for full effect and impact. The Image of the bowl of chips in top right hand corner, linked to storyboard/moving image. The slogan letters in green with yellow stroke. Stroke size 17px for both. Writing in bright green coloured, century gothic font. Word ‘unhealthy’ in italics for emphasis on word. There is a red circle around bowl of chips with line going through, as if to say ‘banned’ or ‘don’t eat. The chips being ‘smashed’ in bottom left hand corner comic like star around it. The smash packet in centre is bright and eye-catching, contrasting to dull chips which are surrounded by red colouring-representing danger. There is a black background to contrast everything else on print and to help audience focus directly on all subjects of the advertisement.

Personal Evaluation Write Up

Personal evaluations write up

Since beginning the project of having to re-brand a struggling product, I have learnt a lot involving media and technology. From simply taking pictures to creating different techniques and effects in photo shop. There are many skills I have developed whilst doing the project, some of these are:

·         Using lighting to create the ideal effect when taking a picture. I had to move the group and props around accordingly in order to create the appropriate lighting effect in the shot; I could do this before but not to this scale and making it close to perfect.

·         I learnt a lot of new skills in photo shop, and although I struggled in some aspects, from this I managed to gain more knowledge of the program that I will remember and be able to use and develop in further projects. Some of the things I learnt was, how to cut things out easier and crop them, how to change the size of particular pictures, without them becoming less effective and damaging their quality. I found out how to add inner and outer glows to images, and how to add strokes for effective viewing and presentation.  I also learnt how to make new shapes and use the custom shape tool.

Although I developed new skills, I also still have some weaknesses that I need to improve on for future assignments, some of the things I am still unsure on are more higher level things in photo shop, I struggled lots in photo shop, and still am unsure on some of the things I can do and how to do them, which is why I stuck to very basic things in the print advert. I also need to improve basic things to do with layering etc.

Within my skills audit some of the skills I have used in within this assignment are things such as, the manual focus features on the camera, I used this in various shots to ensure I made the desired effect. I used the external flash when the lighting was a little bit darker than we would have liked. Within Photoshop, I used text control, I moved the text around, changed its colour, changed its size and rotated it, throughout the project I was entering and deleting layers, I discovered how to make new shapes and how to use the custom shape tool. I also used the magnetic tool and the simple cut out tool to cut and crop particular parts of the print.

The work I am blogging, shows my skills progression as I can update my skills audit, to show what I could do before, and after each project and what skills and techniques I have used and gained along the way. Also
it will be easier to compare where and what I have improved on by having all my work in one place.

I have a few weaknesses in my work that could be improved in future projects and ideas, these are things such as, taking more pictures, we were limited as a group as to which pictures we could use as we didn’t take enough of them, we need to work as a team in the future to ensure that we all know our roles in order to have enough time to take pictures and organise them better. Another weakness we had was not having many realistic and affordable ideas, we should have thought more on a more basic level as it was our first assignment as a team rather than diving into the deep end and trying to think of an amazing idea, but one that was unrealistic to do in the environment we had to create the print and storyboard. Finally I think we should have planned out what we were going to do a bit better, we ran out of time to do various things in class as a result of not knowing what everyone was doing and when they were supposed to be doing it, to improve this in future, we should plan what we are each going to do from near the beginning as soon as we know what the task is.

If I had the chance to do this project again I would definitely ensure that we made a decision on an idea quicker, this time we considered other ones, and eventually went back to an original idea and therefore wasted some time. Also I would like to make sure each team member knew what they were doing and we needed to explain and plan in more detail our idea and how we were going to produce it before we went out and took the shots etc.

To gain a more professional standard I would have needed a lot more intermediate knowledge on cameras and Photoshop, I would need to know various aspects of a camera and how it can affect shots, adverts and prints. Also for Photoshop I would need to know how to develop a higher standard piece of work by using more of the tools and gadgets provided in order to do so.

The target audience for this product before we re-branded it was probably around 25-50 year olds of any gender, socioeconomic group BC1, mainstreamer who was maybe full nest 1 or 2 or retired. People who are young could use it as well as older people who just need to create a quicker alternative to mashing potatoes.

After we re-branded the Smash we decided to aim the product at ages 16-19 years old, such as students who don’t have the time or money perhaps to make a homemade meal. We also chose to aim it at socioeconomic group ABC1 in further education, heterosexual and full nest 3 and either a mainstreamer or aspirer.

Elements of the project that engage the audience’s attention include the colours, in the print I used a black background to contrast against the brighter colours in the foreground, this is easy on the younger audiences eye and the colours are associated more with younger target markets as they are quite harsh but also bright and eye-catching.  In the photographic storyboard it is much clearer who we were trying to aim the advert and product to as a result of the atmosphere, environment and models. Many of the pictures show the typical college lifestyle with the buildings in the background of shots, common rooms full of students and the models themselves are what would be classed as stereotypical students, dressed in preppy, fashion statement clothes of a younger generation, this in itself would attract the eye of a younger audience.

A particular element that didn’t work so well in our project was putting the photographic storyboard together, as a result of not taking enough variety of photos and not knowing exactly what our plans were for the storyboard, i struggled to put together certain parts of the storyboard without using the same image twice. We definitely needed to take more photos, so situations like this didn’t occur.

If we were to do the project again I would like to have more time so I could plan out properly what the print advert was going to look like and so that I had the chance to think properly about what I would use/do to add effects and other elements to the design.

I think that most aspects of my project are tailored to meet the demands of the target audiences, simple things such as the font style, colour and size are included in this, it is modern at the same time as being easy to read. One thing that maybe could have been improved in terms of this is that I didn’t add many images, and this may prevent some of the required target audience to look at the print and take notice of it.

The project that I have just completed shows in a way, my understanding of audience segmentation systems as I have had to tailor to specific needs of a certain target audience. My brief had a specific target audience, in which I had to decide how I was going to provide a print design and photographic storyboard to suit their needs and expectations.

Initial Skills Audit

Initial Skills Audit