Editing my photos

Here are the beginnings of my photo editing on photoshop: I decided to convert this photo into black and white to create a more ambient mood and to disguise the bad lighting, I think this is a successful photograph and I could possibly use it for my front cover.

Photographs from a recent gig I attended are now uploaded onto my blog; the image below is one from a number of photos I took, visit the photography blog to view them all.

My Photographs

I have created a blog via Tumblr, which there is a link to here, on this all of the photographs which I take will be able to be viewed.

photoshop

The photos which I take will need to be edited via photoshop to present a final image which looks professional and appealing. As 

i am not familiar with the photoshop program I decided to play around with the photo below..

After experimenting with the effects on photoshop, I cropped the photo and changed the colours to black and white. I then increased the brightness and dropped the shadows. This has helped me to know what I need to do to achieve successful photographs suitable for a music magazine.

Development

I have been thinking further into the name of my music magazine, I realise this is an important aspect of the overall magazine therefore I have developed my ideas and created this mind map in order to help me see the progression of my ideas.

photos for the front cover

I decided to take a number of test shots to experiment with composition on my front cover: I wanted to use these photos for practice front covers, one of them being the simple version and the other being the more busy front cover with a lot more graphics and text. Although these photos are not the brightest, for the photos I use on my final front cover will be brighter and this will give me an opportunity to experiment with photoshop and edit my photos.

In this first photo i intended to leave space at the top for a mast head; I also wanted to leave white space at the bottom, underneath the subject to place a graphic of the only text being shown on the front cover. Unfortunately I was unable to do this as we did not have the facilities of a studio to achieve this outcome although I intend to use the studio for my final shoot. Below is an example of a photo I took which left space at the bottom to leave space for the text i'd like put in, you can tell that it is not successful.

In this third photo I really like how the subject is looking directly into the camera, interacting with the audience. This has helped me decide that I want the subject(s) to look into the camera as it results in a more effective outcome and I feel it connects more directly to the audience. I now know that all my photos for the front cover will have to be portrait. 

flat plan for the front cover

When thinking about the formation of my front cover I realised I could go two ways, which ios either the 'less is more' approch, as this is a common idea for Q magazine's front covers. Or fill the front cover with lots of text and a very appealing and different image, basically a busy front cover with lots going on.
       As I am torn between the two, and I can't decide which would be more effective and appealing I have decided to create two seperate drafts of a front cover and gather some consumer feedback.
      So far I have created two flat plans for both front covers I intend to create. They can be seen below.

1. This is the flat plan for a simple yet effective front cover with the minimal amount of text, and a main photograph.

2. This is the second flat plan. which is for the front cover with a lot more going on, such as cover stories, pugs and photographs.

Who is it aimed at?

I think Q is aimed at a variety of readers, with a variety of ages, interests etc but they all share a common ground; the love and appreciation of music.
The analysis of the photos below support this:

1.

The image above is a double page spread, consisting mainly of an image - a photograph of the bad Friendly Fires. a quarter of the double page spread is filled with text. Considering the main aspects of this page is a photograph which has been taken in a comedic and interesting way, this connotes to an audience of those who firstly like the band Friendly Fires, and secondly an audience who is not interested in reading too much text; yet simply enjoys the artistic qualities inside the magazine.

2.

This double page spread is different compared to the first one, graphics and the text appear to be an important part, along with the mid- close up shot of the singer it relates to, Lily Allen. There is almost double to writing on this page as opposed to the first which has notably less. It is more structured, and has a notable composition. All three parts of this double page spread are equally important. I would say this is aimed at those who like to read about bands and artists, hear from their point of view: this is made apparent to the reader with the large writing in a quirky yet cool graphics edit, which contains speak marks, so we know that Lily Allen has been quoted. It is aimed at an audience of many ages, particularly young people as that is who her music reaches out too, and those who like to know about the artists as well as thier music.

3.

This final double page spread from Q magazine is largely different from the previous two, much of the pages are covered in text, it is clear that this is a detailed article which is all about the indie-rock band Razorlight: appealing to an audience who are into rock music. The article contains Razorlight talking about their third album, which would be aimed at maybe adult readers who are dedicated fans of this band, and follow thier music on a regular basis, also people who may want to find something new to listen to. It draws the audience in to buy the magazine, but it is also a form of advertising for this band.