Final front cover and evaluation.

Photography

For my front cover I used manual focus as I thought this would be a easier and time efficient way to make sure my images are all fully focused and not blurry. I have learnt that the zoom ring on the camera is useful when taking photos as it allows you to get closer to your subject, which saves the photographer from moving about all the time. The focus is also very important as it ensures that the photo will be clear and crisp but it can also make the picture blurry depending on how much it is turned. The T-stance is a good way to keep balance in order to take steady and accurate photos as it will make it impossible to lose balance and fall. Portrait mode is better for posters and magazine covers etc as it can give a medium long shot making the subject very focused and big. Landscape mode is suitable for taking pictures of the horizon and views as it allows capturing a wide space. If I have taken my image landscape when it should have been portrait then this could cause problems as I would have to spend time to crop it on Photoshop. Also the quality may not be as good as an uncropped picture.
A problem is that the pictures have focal blur resulting the image to be out of focus. Taking my time to adjust the focal ring of my camera until it is completely focused would prevent this. Also putting my camera into automatic focus mode instead of doing it manually can save time. Using a tripod will definitely ensure the picture to come out clear and not blurry. There are different types of lighting and I mainly used front lighting. This makes the face look very bright which allows the picture to be bright and clear. Back lighting will make the background look very bright but the subject will look dark and in shadow, this isn’t a good lighting to use when the subject wants to be the main focus. Side lighting gives the image a vignette effect. This is a useful lighting to use to achieve a mysterious look. I used the rule of thirds on some of the pictures that I took for my front cover but in the end I decided to use a full body image that I have taken so that we can see the gesture of the model more clearly. If the eye line is too low then there will be a lot of empty space at the top of the picture which does not look nice, also if the eye line is too high then the subject will not be in the main focus point and part of the head may be cut off. The background I used was a white paper backdrop which caused no problems as it gave the image a clean and crisp effect. I would need to develop my people skills so that I can control my subjects better as there was not much communication in the process of the photo-shoot. They were not completely sure of what to do but with actions and hand moments I managed to guide them into the position I wanted but it would definitely save more time if I communicated with them and told them what position to be in. My lack of people skill had an adverse effect on my image as some of the positions I wanted them to be in were not achieved due to the lack of communication.

Photoshop

I used a lot of tools to edit and create my images and DPS. One of the main ones are the ‘Layer’ tool as this ensured I have a separate work space every time I want to start a new thing and it won’t interfere with my other layers and they are all separated. Also it is a good way to not ruing the original picture in case I make a mistake. I also used the ‘Spot healing tool’ to get rid of any imperfections like spots and wrinkles. The ‘Text’ tool was used a lot when I created my front cover as I needed it to write the side lines and the headlines. It allowed me to change the font and the size of my writing. I could add effects on it like drop shadow. I was fairly difficult to use but I needed a basic understanding of the tools on Photoshop so it wasn’t that difficult once you have knowledge of the basics of Photoshop. My text was well controlled as it was all on a separate layer and all in the font that I wanted. I added effects on the main image on my front cover to give the blurry and drunken look but I left the face clear. I did this by creating a duplicate layer and rotating the image on the first layer a little bit as well as putting the opacity to 70% on the second layer. I then rubbed out the face bit on the second layer only so it reveals a clear face from the image from the first layer. I added drop shadows on my header by clicking on the layer that the text it on and clicking effects at the bottom. I downloaded some childish fonts as I thought it was suitable for my target audience but I chose a font on Photoshop in the end because I wanted a classier look. I used the 3 colour rule, black, white, and maroon. I used maroon because it is a unisex colour as it is suitable for both genders. I used black and white as they contract against each other perfectly making the words stand out more. If I did my front cover again, I would improve on making the background whiter as I just left it with a white backdrop even though it looked a bit yellow in the image. I would also like to use a font that I have downloaded to add more creativity to my front cover. The strengths of my front cover are that the image is bright and it stands out. It suits the content of the magazine perfectly. It has catching sell lines with attractive fonts.