Edited Photos

Original Photos

These are my original unedited images of my model for the front cover, contents page and double page spread.
I tried to take them at different angles to give the reader more of a perspective of the guitar as that is what I want the audience to see straight away. I took all long shots of my model, but two from a facing angle and the other from a birds eye view of the artist. I did use a flash through all my images as it was at night, plus it brought out all the facial details of the model and highlighted the colour and shape of the guitar. Initially I was worried that the flash would be reflected off the guitar, because of its surface but luckily it was at the right angle to not bounce the flash off, bringing a positive aspect of this experience.
I took all these photos on my phone, which I was very confident to use as it has an 8 mega pixel camera and has facial recognition. As I do not possess an actual camera, I had to adapt to the next best thing that could do the same job and produce relatively good images for my magazine.
My original idea for the photos was take them outside on a sunny day, while the model was sitting on stone steps with her back facing the sun, that way I could officially follow the set trend from other Country Western music magazines. However I underestimated the time I had to take the photos, and did not think clearly of the season I was currently in. As these photos were taken during the winter, it got dark fairly quickly and as it was rarely sunny, this eliminated the idea of the images being taken outside.
In a short space of time I had to adapt to the situation and come up with a plan B, where it would still look like a magazine cover and withhold the idea of a Country music magazine. The only logical conclusion I came to was to capture the images inside in a large open space and made my model move around in different positions around the area.
My next steps for them images is to crop the photos so they only include the necessary space and add a different effect into all the images. I wont airbrush the artist as it will make the images look fake, but I will add in a sharpener to make sure all the details of the model, the guitar especially is more toned and defined, to essentially gain the audiences attention. 


In conclusion I would not change any of my images, take them in another angle or change the site they were taken, as they have turned out better than I thought they would. Since the mishap with the season and I had to change my location, I've gained positive feedback from all the people who have seen the officially edited images. 

Front cover evaluation

My first problem with my magazine is that it could be perceived as a rock magazine instead of a Country Western magazine, because of the font I had chosen for the sell lines I included around the page. Originally I got my inspiration from Carrie Underwood; she sings country songs but includes her own style of smashing things up and sings quite angry songs, that's where I got my inspiration from where I include a stereotypical image for a Country Western music magazine of a girl with a guitar, but incorporated my own style into the cover using unusual fonts.
When I started to research the Country Western music, I realised that they slowly developed over time being less folk music and more loud, outstanding and intimidating yet still keeping the past trends of guitars and cowboy hats, guitars and fashion. That is what I try to portray through my magazine, that it would still be recognised as a Country music magazine but it would still make people wonder what the genre of it could be. In a way this could increase my readership because the audience would want to know what is involved in the magazine and what kind of music is being advertised.
I personally am very optimistic with how my front cover turned out, because it does not look too cluttered or organised just like I said it would in my questionnaire results, but also it still witholds my perception of a Country Western music magazine with my own indiviudal style.
On the other hand the changes I would make for my final front cover would be for my quote "try till the end, never give up Emily Jayne Smith", I will change the colour of the font as it is nearly the same colour as the background image and could be quite hard to read for the audience, and I will also change the type of font involved for this quote as I do not like how it is turned out it looks too much like the font for films when it states on the screen; "The End".
In conclusion this is my second draft of my front cover, and once I make the changes I have mentioned my front cover will finally be completed. However I am enthusiatic how this specific front cover has turned out, and will only make the changes I have already mentioned otherwise it will begin to look too cluttered and might loose the music genre altogether.