Original Image-

I chose to use this image for my magazine cover because it represents the presentable students at the sixth form, they are both smartly dressed and look tidy and welcoming, The smile on their faces show they are enthusiastic about the school and towards learning there, and also this could denote a positive work ethic attracting the readers to the Sixth form. I chose to use an eye level camera angle as it creates an involved feel to the picture, as if the reader is with them and smiling with them. I used a plain background as it keeps all the attention on to the two models and there is no distraction to the main focus in the picture. Lastly, I chose to use brick as this translated well in the photograph and will look nice on the school magazine front cover.

For this image I used Photoshop to change the lighting. I clicked enhance > adjust lighting > levels to create a nice balance of lights and darks in the picture. I chose to do this because it enhances the original photographs colours and looks nicer to the eye, for example, Sophie’s jeans are really dark making them look more presentable and smart. Both of their faces are brightened and so it is a clear picture of them and their facial expressions (smiles) are even more noticeable adding to the effect of the photograph. The picture overall looks brighter and more defined than the original, and make attract the readers to the magazine and could stand out even more.

I tried this image because I was experimenting with the overall colour of the photo. I clicked enhance > Adjust colour > Adjust hue/saturation and I tested how the saturation could effect the picture. I think this version of the original has too much of an orange tone to it so the colours all blend into each other, decreasing the boldness of the two models. For example, the brick wall is nearly the same colour as the models’ skin and everything within the photo looks slightly orange. Like this, the photo isn’t as nice too look at and wouldn’t really attract attention to itself. The models’ facial expressions are not as clear and therefore the photo does not hold the desired impact on the reader.

This version of the original photograph has been changed on Photoshop using Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Shadow and Highlights. This version looks quite nice to glance at but it seems to be more suitable for a social networking site or a profile picture. When looking closely, the models faces aren’t really easy to look at and clear, the colours are all quite similar to the rest of the body, so the faces do not really seem bold and interesting. The picture seems quite faded and although it is quite light, it seems to almost have a grey tone over it, and therefore is not suitable for my front cover as the reader should be able to see the faces straight away without having to look hard to see them. Although it makes them look nice, it isn’t clear and obvious like it should be.

I chose to try the font ‘Skinny Jean Solid’ and use the colour black and font size of 72 pt. I chose to try this because it seemed quite formal and bold, although the actual letters are quite thin, when enlarged, it looks quite nice and almost smart. What I don’t like about this font is that because the letters are thin and because of the brick wall, the colour black doesn’t seem to look right, it doesn’t stand out. Also, although it is a clear font , it seems generally hard to read. Due to this, I am not using it for my magazine front cover.