Magazine EvaluationFor this photography project the program I used was Photoshop. I chose “PlayStation” a gaming magazine which featured the sporting celebrity Wayne Rooney and made a nice, neat recreation.

ToolsUsing Photoshop made it quick and easy to complete my recreation as I was familiar with this program due to previous assignments. These were the main effective tools that I used:

Gradient

Quick selection tool

The gradient tool allowed me to colour my page with a swipe of a mouse.

Just a simple small swipe down of the mouse at the bottom of the page filled my page back

Text

New SkillsThe only main new skill that I learned is the further editing within the text section. Since learning these new skills my text more adaptable and can be edited in many more ways.

The “quick selection tool” allowed me to cut out a piece from the original magazine and stick it onto my re-creation.

This was easier to use than trying to re-create my own barcode, this also helped make my magazine looked very similar to the original magazine.

My magazine featured a lot of text such as the title, inside stories and plugs.

I used the Text tool to type the required words and numbers and continued further editing to correct the width, boldness and size.

This tool is used to alter the spacing between letters making them squashed together of far apart

Changes the width of the letter, thicker or thinner.

Text is able to be made shorter or taller when using this tool.

This simply enables you to change the size of the text or each letter.

StrengthsI believe that the strengths to my re-creation magazine are the overall colouring, positioning of magazine features and the main magazine image. My main character image is in an almost identical stance and position on the cover and the text around the main image and title, are also very accurately placed. I am also confident that my front cover is neatly presented with no blurred images and is an overall similar re-creation front cover.

WeaknessesUnfortunately I will admit that my magazine front cover does have some faults and weaknesses. One of the main faults would be that the fonts of the coverlines are not exact. I participated in a lot of trial and error to find the closest font style, shape and size but never made it to the exact final result. Another fault that is present when the two magazines are side by side is the brightness of the colouring. The reds, whites and blacks on the original cover are very vibrant and bright, whereas on my cover, they look dull. This is probably due to the professional photography used on the original magazine to show clear colour on the celebrity character, but the dull text and background colours are down to me. Perhaps more experience and trial and improvement are needed in order to create brighter and sharper colours.

Am I Pleased?At the end of this project and looking back on my re-creation and all the preparation towards it, yes, I am very pleased with my efforts. I have used all the skills to the best of my ability and looking at the two magazine covers side by side really shows how far I have come especially when using Photoshop, which I am still very new to. There is an equal balance of strengths to weaknesses, but as I have said that just comes down to practice and experience.

Does it look like the original cover?Admittedly my cover does feature some weaknesses but also some very promising features and therefore, I believe it looks very similar to the original cover. The fonts are very similar and the colours are exactly the same. The features like the barcode, age rating symbol and plugs are correctly displayed around the cover. Finally, the main celebrity image is wearing similar sportswear, holding the exact same prop with the same facial expression and stance and altogether, located in the centre of the cover.

What would I change?If I was to do the project again, I would perhaps take more time on the final editing on Photoshop thus allowing me to be more precise with positioning and sizing of all the features and making the end product more professional. If I really wanted to push myself, I would probably pick a harder magazine cover to re-create to challenge my skills and force myself to learn new and more advanced skills.