The use of Photoshop with my draft photographs

I use this technique to help make the photograph look much more sharper and crisper.
I did this by going to filter>other>high pass then put in the level of sharpness you want. I tend to go for something around 2.5 because you don't want the image to look overly sharp.

 Here are the layers for the image used above.

 Before and after editing on photoshop, here I have made the image black and white for a more serious look and added a contrast and brightness layer.

I also use this tool sometimes to help make the skin tone on the models used look more even which in turn makes it easier to add layers and contrasting the image making it look more professional.

Draft Photographs For My Music Magazine

  

 


These are my draft images, these pictures helped me get ideas for my final music magazine photoshoot. I will make sure that for my final images I will have a strong source of mis en scene the symbolizes music instantly.
In addition to this since my music magazine is going to be aimed at an older audience as in teenagers and older as it's going to contain serious music and artists I will make sure the models used look serious.

Digital Photograph Version Of Draft Music Magazine.

This was my first draft of my digital download draft of my music magazine. But I wasn't font of the title, as I initially thought 'Moda' meant music in a foreign language but it turned out it meant 'Fashion' when I did some more research into it. So I changed it to something a bit more fitting for a classical, indie, rock music magazine. 

This is my final version of my digital download draft. 'Un-orthodox' means rebel and not obeying the normal rules.
So I thought it was quite fitting as I want the genre of my music magazine to be Classical/Indie/Rock because it's not a normal mixture of music. It's a bit different.
The aim type of audience will be mostly teenagers and older. People whom are serious about music and the artists.

This digital download draft contains the style model of NME and Q, they most tend to highlight with another colour underneath sub-headings. I really like this look, it makes it more eye catching and stands out to passers by.

Here is my photoshop page with my digital downloaded version of my draft magazine open in psd format. Containing all the layers on the right. In addition to this I was in the middle of editing the font at the top of the page from italic to bold, to make it look more professional.

Research into Music Magazine Styles

 

 

Conventions Of A Music Magazine

Within house styles they also use a strict layout for the structure of the magazine. They have to keep this consistent to result in having a very official looking magazine. To keep the front cover of this music magazine serious they have kept the layout of the pictures and texts very plain and simple. So that the main subjects that are on the page is the musical artist, in this case Matt Bellamy along with the band name in a big, bold font so that it is very clear to fans that their favourite band is in the magazine and the name of the magazine itself would also make people buy it if they're a loyal customer and buy every edition.
           The colour scheme and layout to this brand of music magazine is always quite classy and understated, it isn't too busy.

On the right is the classic Q Magazine Masthead, but on the left is a different slant on the masthead used on the issue I'm using for my example. The Masthead of this magazine has a distinctive bold, capital font of the letter 'Q' This is to enforce that the name of this magazine is recognisable straight away. Also this is to ensure that it is different to all the competition and other music magazine that are out containing similar genres of music. They want this one to stand out from the rest, and the crisp white against the red certainly does the job.

The main photograph used for the front cover has vivid mis en scene. What with the guitar in his hands. If you were unaware of the band or type of music they played the fact that there is a guitar involved strongly hints towards to more rockier genre of music. Also the fact that his face looks serious and angry could also persuade people into thinking that the music genre is rock. The masthead smashing into pieces is also highly eye catching.

This is the main cover headline. Because the font is in white it stands out contrasted with the dark grey background and the black clothes. The band name 'MUSE' is all in capitals because the bands logo is all in capitals and bold. So it is their own trademark signature which will interest their fan base and people that just enjoy their music.

This music magazine also contains the buzz word 'Plus'. This is to try and persuade the possible buyer that you are getting a decent amount of magazine material for your money. In addition the colour of the word 'Font' is in the classic house style Q shade of red to keep the consistency of the scheme.

This is the barcode of the music magazine in my example which also contains just above the barcode details about the magazine like the issue number and the price. This is a generic convention of a magazine.

Other than the main article there is also this section on the front cover. Showing you an extra band name, which so happens to be one of the worlds most famous bands of all time. This may appeal to a Beatles fan that may not be interested in MUSE but due to 'The Beatles' being on the front page they might buy the magazine just for that part.
        This technique is to basically show the buyer quickly what else you will be able to read if you purchase this magazine.

This is the tag line of Q magazine, it is on all of it's issues. It is a very bold statement, which would interest a lot of first time music magazine buyers. It will make buyers think, well if it is on the front page and on all issues there must be some if not all truth behind it.

Construction Of Prelim Task

This is my front page of my school magazine. In my opinion I think that I could have made my style model more obvious to the eye. With clearer fonts underneath the 'top stuff' section on the far left side of the page.
      I feel that the photograph that I took was composed to a good standard due to the fact that I did think about where the camera was aiming at and the angel of which the models were standing whilst taking the picture. Although I like and am happy with the photograph I decided to use for my front page I believe that it could have been a more accurate medium close up shot. Mis en scene in my photograph isn't as clear as I would've liked it to be. Due to the students being in sixth form and not wearing a uniform that you can tell straight away. The only thing you can see that makes you assume that this is a school magazine is the sixth form passes around their necks.

This is my contents page for my school magazine. I used the style model of NME's contents page with the highlighting of the page numbers. I carried on with the same fonts and colour scheme as the front page so I did have a slight style going. This also includes the logo by each side of the word contents that is also on my front page.
       I used another medium close up photograph on the top right that includes depth of field. The main focus in on Elaine, in the blue shirt. Whereas Sophie (left) and Anna (right) are slightly out of focus but not too out of focus that you can't see them clearly. There are still clear enough to see details. For instance their sixth form passes around their necks are shown more clearly here than on the front page.
      To make the contents page more official looking I could've added more details and small pictures within the black light yellow background. It looks quite empty and basically a bit boring.