Front Cover

Adobe Photoshop Experimentation

This is my first attempt at using Adobe Photoshop in relation to a music magazine where I have converged a front cover's features and a double page spread page setup. I have used a landscape magazine page rather than a portrait page to challenge the traditional conventions of all magazines.

I used the original photo of my model blowing glitter. 

I added nude eye shadow, then light pink using the pen tool on Photoshop. I then added black eyeliner also using the pen tool and coloured her eyebrows in, in a less opaque brown coloured pen tool. 

I added more glitter to make it more effective using the pen tool with all different colours. 

Using the shape tool, I put in 3 rectangle boxes as the template for the cover lines and changed the colours using the fill tool. 

I had created my Masthead using the text tool and put it as the highest layer to overlap everything else changing the fill colour to white. 

I had created the main cover line on Fontspace and inserted another image of the main cover line over the main image, having previously increased the background transparency.

I added another three text boxes within the rectangles and wrote my other cover lines changing the font, size and colour. 

Having finished my first attempt at a front cover for my music magazine, I have decided to scrap the front cover I have made and use the photos of my model blowing glitter for my 2 page spread because the front  cover I have made I don't feel is very professional or genre specific to my theme; that being indie.

Photos taken for Front Cover

Looking back at my images from research that inspire the animal masked photos I have chosen to taken, the majority were set in a woodland type environment and I have continued to use this pattern by also taking my photographs in a woodland type area.  

I believe I have used a variety of shots including low angle shots when the two models are physically stood in the tree, sometimes holding the retro radio, sometimes not to convey empowerment upon my audience influencing them to buy the magazine.

However, the low angle shots had variations of lighting due to the natural light used and the way the trees blocked off or allowed light to seep through affecting the way the the camera blocked or allowed the sunlight. 

I have also used medium shots to show the background of the photo-shoot to emphasise the importance of cross convergence of areas I'm aiming my magazine at which would stereo-typically be urbanised regions but the naturalistic setting suggest rural audiences also. The shots also capture the clothing of the figures in my images as my Indie target audience would look for the ideal type of clothing to represent a similar style which I believe I have demonstrated well in the Mise en scene. 

The medium shot has allowed for the retro radio to be the main focus of the shot emphasising the idea that this is a music magazine.  

Constructing Final Front Cover

I have used one of the photos I have taken as the main image and used the smart brush tool to create a reverse-black and white colouring so the animal masked models and background are grayscale and the retro radio is coloured.

Before:

 After:

  
I coloured in the eyes of the animal masks black using the pen tool to make the animal heads look more realistic.

Before:

After: 

I used a font to write the main cover line in relation to the main image which is in capitals and indie styled to suit the theme of the magazine. It is also in different shades of blue to suit the colour scheme and is big to stand out.

Before:

After: 

I have inserted a illusion like moon as my logo following the colours of my theme and using the text tool have given it a title MOON as the masthead of my magazine.

Before:

After:  

I used the text tool to insert the capital writing of the cover lines in the top left and used the shape tool to insert two circles and coloured them red to break up the cover lines. I coloured it all the writing white except for the main cover line sentence which is in red to emphasise it's important and multi purpose as the selling line.

Before:

After: