Music magazine photography

Effective

This image is effective as it has a natural, non-contrived look. It’s lighting and colours represent a natural look, and a basic layout (black background, simple clothes, etc). The serious expressions on the band members faces reflect their serious, no-nonsense stance.

Also, the placing of the band members in the photograph is significant, as we can see that Liam is the leader of the band, as he is in front of the other members.

This image is effective as it is simple (blank, sepia tinted background), and uses harsh, dramatic lighting, reflecting the artists seriousness. The sepia tinted feel of the photograph also reflects Neil’s vintage sound, which is helped by the traditional “Western” attire that illustrates his Southern sound further.

This image is effective as the harsh lighting illustrates the band’s gritty, rough sound. The simple layout and attire could also reflect the “back to basics” sound of the band (guitar, bass, vocals, etc.) which differed from the more synth-based music which was predominant at the time (early 1980s/late 1970s).

As with the previous images, this image uses a simple background so as not to distract from the main subject (Paul Weller). The clothes Paul is wearing assert a smart and sophisticated image, and thus reflects Pauls intelligent song writing style, but incidentally could also be an ironic tongue in cheek reference to songs of his, such as the satirical Eton Rifles (“What chance have you got against a tie and a crest”).

This image is effective as it uses popular misconceptions and defies them. The feature of a trumpet in the photograph is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the perceived frequent use on Mark Ronson’s music, and the use of it, in this case, shows that he is breaking from that stereotype (further helped by the captions “No more trumpets” and “No more crap cover versions”), and is going into a new style of music (which would interest Mark Ronson’s fans into reading this particular issue.

This image is effective as it’s unconventional use of makeup makes it eye catching, and effectively ties in with the slogan (“They’ve struck gold again.”). The portrayal of frontman Michael Stipe at the front of the image reflects his important role in the band.The use of having the other two members of the band side to side to the lead creates an almost symmetrical effect, which is aesthetically pleasing.

This image is effective as it is not too crowded/distracting, and the eye is mostly drawn to the intended subject (Robert Smith), and the feature of regular buildings rather than a sophisticated studio setup is reflected by the caption (“Robert Smith bounces the Cure against the walls of absurdity and says hello to hedonism”), and implies a “street-wise” and gritty feel for the bands music at the time.

Smiths’ attire is traditionally punk, and helps to show Smiths’ punk influences (for example, his clothes are very similar to those of Sid Vicious some years earlier) and further gives a feel for the bands sound and stance at this point.

This photograph is effective as it uses perspective and lighting interestingly and, as a result, produces an eye catching cover. The portrayal of Morrissey at the foreground of the photograph helps to establish to the reader his place in the band (leader, co-songwriter, etc.), and the use of colours in the background lighting creates an effective colour scheme. Incidentally, the colours of the fonts used (such as the NME logo) match the colour scheme of the photograph, helping to establish a pleasing aesthetic effect in terms of the cover in general.

Not so effective

This photo is not effective as the lighting is rather dim and has a rather unprofessional feel, you can tell it was not taken in a studio.

This cover is not effective as the lighting is too bright, and the colour grading of the photograph doesn’t create a pleasing effect (the colours are loud and overexposed), and some parts of the image are blurred. The photo generally looks crowded and unprofessional, and doesn’t fit in with the studio style images typically associated with such magazines.