College magazine

The image above is my magazine cover for a college magazine. I took information from doing research (camera shots, questionnaire and existing magazine covers) and interpreted it into my own magazine. I chose on a mid shot for my image because i felt like you can capture the persons facial expressions as well as their body language. I started off by creating an A4 page and using a gradient for the colour of the background as i found it effective.  I chose grey as i thought it looked simple but at the same time professional. I then opened a new document to get rid of the background of the image. I did this by using the quick selection tool and selecting the background and deleting it. I then created a new layer on the original page and added on the image and placed it in the centre. After this, i added a title (masthead), i used the font 'Tarjan pro' as i felt it looked effective and simple. I chose to do the title in black as i was going to add colour in the other writing. I then placed this in the centre of the page at the top. After this i added a barcode (which i got off google images) and placed it in the bottom right corner. Obviously this was on a new layer. I then continued to add font with different stories around the main image and used white and orange for the colours as i felt it stood out. I put the layers with the writing on in front of there image so it would overlap.

I used the same background for the contents page and the same writing as i wanted it to all match and look the same so it would look proffesional to the reader.

camera shot research

The above pictures are mid shots. I think this type of camera shot is effective as you can still see the persons facial expressions but you can also see their body language which shows a lot about what the person is feeling.

The above pictures are medium close ups. I think this type of camera shot is effective as you can really see the persons facial expressions and how they are feeling etc. Although, you can't see their body language.

The above pictures are close ups. I think this type of camera shots are too close to the actual person. If it was just for a photo shoot then this type of camera shot can be effective but for a magazine cover, these type of pictures are too close.

existing college magazine- analysis

I chose to research existing college magazines as it will influence the college magazine i will create and give me ideas.
The masthead is situated behind the girls head and is in big bold writing. It is called 'COLLEGE' which makes it obvious to the reader that this magazine is a college one which may attract the reader.
The writing around the main image is overlapping it. The writing gives little previews of what will be inside the magazine which will intrigue the reader. This magazine looks professional as it has a barcode.

photoshop challenge

First of all i opened up an A4 document on photoshop. I then made a text box and changed the font to 'century gothic' in font size 24 and changed the colour of the font to red.

After this i changed the page colour (background colour). I did this by clicking the edit tab which is on the toolbar and then clicking fill and changing the drop down to colour. i chose blue as it stands out. We then had to place a picture onto the page. I got a picture of Ashton Irwin off Google images and screen shotted (using cmd, shit and 4 at the same time and dragging over the picture) the picture and placed it onto the page and re-sized it.

Magazine analysis 2





The denotation of the this magazine is a Woman looking happy and smiling directly in to the camera. Some of the writing around the feature article photo supports the picture, whereas some of the writing is nothing to do with the picture. The pictures are mainly pink and purple which shows this magazine is girly.

The feature article photo connotes that the woman (Jessie J) is happy as she is smiling. This relates to the headline where it says "I'm not going to hide anything!". This shows how she is happy and excited about telling everyone things which she has not told before and how she is different to other 'pop stars' as she won't hide anything and others may.

The audience would generally be young teenage girls as this is a music magazine for 'pop stars' and the colours used are pink and purple. These colours are stereotypically girly colours. Also, there are smaller images along the bottom strip of the cover which are boys/men which would attract teenage girls as they would be attracted to them.

The motivation for the reader to buy this magazine would be that The feature article photo stands out as it is on a white background and the headline will intrigue the reader as they will assume they are finding out information about Jessie J that no one else knows.

Magazine analysis 1

The denotation of the magazine cover is a man with his arms crossed staring directly in to the camera. There is black and red writing around him and the mast head has a gradient of black and red. The red is a prominent colour on this cover and portrays feelings such as anger, danger or even passion for 'coming clean' which is mentioned in the head line.

The feature article photo connotes that the man (Eminem) is angry as he is staring directly in to the camera and his arms are crossed. The Headline 'Eminem comes clean' has a double meaning. One of the meanings is that he is coming off drugs and the other meaning is that he is that he is telling everyone about something he has hidden and that he is changing. This refers to the gradient on the mast head. As the colour is changing, it also implies that Eminem is changing with it.

The audience would generally be males as dark colours are used and it is a rap magazine and usually males listen to rap more than girls. although, it would typically be males, the magazine can also appeal to females as Eminem has a vest on and his arms are on show which are muscular and females may be attracted to this.

The motivations for the reader to buy this magazine would be the writing as it over exaggerates the situations. For example 'literally almost dies' is an hyperbole of the actual situation.

skin tutorial

I started off by uploading the original picture of the woman (top picture) to photoshop.

i then used the spot healing tool to cover up her imperfections such as her spots or the ahine on her nose and cheek. After this i used the paintbrush tool to define her eyebrows and used a soft effect so the lines were not too defined. After the eyebrows looked right i lowered the opacity of the colour so they looked slightly more natural.

I then used the smart blur tool to produce a cleaner and smoother image. This effect lost the colour in the womans hair so i then used the rubber tool to erase the blur on her hair, eyelashes and lips to make them more defined. After this I decided she needed more definition on her eyelid so I used a light brown shade and the paintbrush tool to go over her eyelid and used the opacity tool to stop the colour from looking so harsh.

For each step I did, I had to use a different layer so then I could change the opacity of different things without it affecting something else. It is important to do this because it makes it a lot easier to change effects and rub things out.

Cd cover

I started off by collecting 3 pictures. One of the pictures, I used as a background for my CD cover and the other 2 pictures, I used to layer the cover and to use in the foreground.

I then used the magic wand tool to erase the background of both the CD and the horn. this made it easier to put both images onto he background. I used the 'free transform' tool to enable me to move the images around the page and place them anywhere i wanted. This tool also gave me access to rotate the images.

Once the images were where i wanted them on the page, I changed the colours of the background and objects. I did this by duplicating the layers of each object and adding a block colour to the object and then using an effect which will fade out the colour to enable you to see the object. the colour i chose was black which gave out a grey tone once the effect was applied.

After this, i converted the file type to JPEG so i can save it as a picture.

introduction

Dear Moderater, i hope you enjoy my following posts which i will be posting regularly to show my journey in my as media studies course.