Selection and Rejection - photography

This is one of the pictures I took of Sarah, my model. Who is student at the Sixth Form College. I used her as my model as this therefore suited my TA Survey.

This picture is on my rejection list. This is because the light makes dark shadows under her eyes which makes her face look dull although it is not at all.

Also, I think that the background looks odd – a black curtain - as the creases are not straight down.

 

 

This is another image I took of Sarah. This is also on my rejection list. This is because the angle I took the picture makes her shoulder stand out and look prominent when it should be her eyes that stand out. Also, the lighting causes shadows on her face around her nose and mouth area, and her cheeks.

This picture I took of Sarah is much better than the others.

Although there is still shadowing I think that the facial expression and her head tilt would be perfect for a college magazine so this is part of my selection list.

However, I am still unsure about the background so if I was to use this image, I would edit it to be plain black.

This image is part of my rejection list as I chose the wrong angle to take this from. I took the image from level with her chin so her eyes are not the main part of the image. Also, the angle of which I took this caused a lot of shadows to appear on her face which makes this image unsuitable for a college magazine.

I really like the positioning of Sarah n the image. Also, the curtained background now seems to look more straight so I prefer this to the others. However, there are shadows on this image too. As a result of this it is on my rejection list.

I love this picture of Sarah. I think that her positioning in the shot is just right for a college magazine. Although there is still shadowing occurring around her mouth, I have to add this to my selection list.

The angle of which I took this picture is not suitable for my college magazine; it causes a lot of shadowing. This is therefore on my rejection list!

 

All the photos above were taken in studio lighting, with two soft boxes and a reflection disk used. The background was just a black curtain in the school drama studio. The next 2 were taken in natural light with a black wall as a background - reflection disks were also used.

 

I prefer this background compared to that of the studio lighting, I also took this picture in natural light which makes the colour of Sarah's skin and hair look a lot better.

This is definitely part of my selection list.

This is my favourite picture out of them all. I like the way that Sarah is looking away - this makes the image look more suitable for a magazine cover as she looks more like a real model, which will make people in the common room want to pick it up. Also, there are little shadows as the reflective disk worked a lot better with natural light. Also, her positioning in the shot is perfect to fit my masthead and stories around. So, this image is definitely going on my selection list!

Photo Shoot 1

My first photo shoot went well - apart from a few lighting issues all the pictures seemed to look okay.

For my next photo shoot I now know where the reflectors need to be depending on what angle I take the picture from! Also, i know that natural lighting is better for a front cover than studio lighting.

College magazine research

 This was the first sixth form magazine cover I looked at - I personally do not like this at all as it has too much of one colour. Also, the models look awkward and they do not fit with the surrounding text.

 I like this magazine cover as it looks like it is based on a celebrity magazine such as OK! or Heat. However, i do not think that this a suitable for a college magazine.

 This magazine cover does not look suitable for a college either, because the model looks too false. Also, the colour scheme, in my opinion does not suit the purpose.

 I like this front cover because it is simple yet effective. In addition, the masthead is good because it contains a pun which could make the magazine suit its audience a lot better.

However, the brick wall idea is stereotypical and to improve this a different background should be used.

Photo Shoot Plan

Who will you use as a model? Think about the look you want... do you want male, female or both?
As my main model I am going to use Sarah who is a student, this therefore supports my TA Survey that I carried out.
I will also use a sport image as a small image which will represent a story within the magazine, for this I will use boys from the Sixth Form college.

Where will you take the photograph? Location?
I think that a black or white plain background will be suitable for Sarah.
For the boys image I will use the School Field.

What costume do you want your model to wear? Think about colour and representation...
Black or White clothes will be suitable and this will make the masthead and surrounding text contrast.
Plain t-shirts and if available, kit shall be worn for my models who will represent Sport.

What make up? Jewellery?
Smoky eye make up as this will make her eyes stand out, especially if I edit the colour into black and white, which is another thing that I am considering.
No make up or jewellery shall be worn by the boys.

Do you need/want any props?
No props shall be used.
A ball/racket.

Drafts for College Magazine

This was my first draft for the front cover of my magazine. I did not add colour as I was still unsure about which colours to use. I then decided that I did not like the layout or masthead so I did another draft for my front cover.

This was my second draft for my College magazine front cover, I preferred this much more as the colour and layout made it look more professional and suitable for the Sixth Form magazine.















This is how I will layout my contents page, it is minimal and not overcrowded which will mean that all parts of the page will contrast with the background and therefore they will be the key parts to the page.
I have shortened the name of the magazine "Vale Mail" to "VM" which takes up less space.
Also, I have used the green envelope as if that it was a logo to make the magazine look more professional and recognisable.

Updated creative ideas

Since I completed my Survey my ideas have changed. I am now thinking:

• To use a wide range of colours, even though certain colours may only be used minimally. The colours I am most likely to use are red, white, black, blue and light blue - although I am still undecided.
• I will write stories about Celebrities, Fashion, Gossip, Real Life Stories and Sport. However, I may not write about Celebrities as they are not college related - I am still undecided.
• Mixed gender sections.
• 2 images should be on the front cover and they will be of student(s).
• That I should include a strap line as this is preferred to no strap line.
• That the fonts I use should be bold yet simple so the text is easily readable from afar. 

WordItOut

I used WordItOut as a Word Cloud of words that all relate to Sixth Form and our age group which will help me with the College Magazine I am going to create as a Preliminary Task!

Fonts, likes and dislikes.

College Magazine - Cambria

College Magazine – Heiti TC Light

College Magazine – Reprise stamp

College Magazine – Reprise rehearsal

College Magazine – Snell Roundhand (Black)

College Magazine - Verdana

College Magazine – Handwriting Dakota

College Magazine – American Typewriter

College Magazine – rosewood std regular

College Magazine – Desdemona

College Magazine - Tahoma

I have experimented with 11 fonts which I may use for my magazine. The ones i like are highlighted in green, and the fonts i dislike are highlighted in red.

TA Analysis - how could I improve?

Target Audience Survey Analysis

Age?

My survey had its strengths and weaknesses. I found that Iasked more 16 year olds than any other age group which means that it could be biased, I also only asked one 19 year old. However in the Sixth Form, the majority of people in the classroom and common room was of that age - to improve this I could have scheduled to do my survey at dinner time was all students, of a range of ages, may have been there to ask.

Gender? 

I asked many girls compared to boys, so this also can cause biased in the answers that I received. For example, if i asked an equal number of boys and girls the Gossip and Sport question would have most definitely had different results. To improve this I could have kept track of the people I asked to make sure that there was an equal number of each gender.

Corrections to SlideShare

Slide 6 & 7                                                                                                          Key:    Age 16

Age 17

Age 18

Age 19

Oops! Slide 6 on the SlideShare powerpoint I just uploaded seems to be wrong and have the wrong graph!

The results for this question are as follows:
Separate: I I I
Mixed: I I I I I

Questionnaire Results

I created a questionnaire to give me an idea about what my target audience would like to see on my college magazine - my preliminary task.
Here are the results:
http://www.slideshare.net/kayleysalter/target-audience-questionnaire-analysis-39010028

Response to the Brief

What were my first impressions about the Brief?

When I first read the brief, I thought that making a college magazine would take a lot of time because there is such a wide range of people who will be reading it although they are all of a similar age. They have different interests and hobbies which can affect the type of things they want to read, this then makes it harder to choose certain topics to put in the magazine.

I have no idea how I will choose.

The AS Brief

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally, candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the mew program.Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style).All images and text used must be original, produced be the candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images per candidate.