FRONT COVER PHOTOS

After the planning of my mast head photos, I was able to go out and take the images for my magazine. I was extremely impressed with how they came out. As planned, I took these photos in the bathroom.

This photo of the band is in portrait. Which is the correct layout for every magazine front cover. I am really pleased with this photo in particular as I feel that it would fit within a punk magazine due to the content it showcases. The clothing is rather extravagant with purple stripes, pink. green, red and other colours all present. The array of colours connotes the idea of the punk genre being controversial and different to mainstream music. The clothes they are wearing are normal clothes like jumpers and baseball caps. As explained by Rob, the person I interviewed, the majority of the punk audience wear casual, mainstream clothes with small links to the stereotypical punk clothing. Examples of stereotypical punk clothing would be the black nails in this example. I feel that the subtle contrast of casual and punk clothing in the mise en scene will have a greater impact on the reader as the chance that they would wear similar clothing, increases. After analysing many punk magazines. The clothing is also similar to what a teenager would wear. This is important as my target audience is around this age. I realised that the photos are all in direct gaze so that the reader feels that they have a connection with the artist. Because of this, I decided to use the idea of direct gaze in my photo. I used fill lighting in the form of a DSLR Speed-light so that the lighting would create subtle shadows. The shadows behind the band could connote the music and the controversial ideologies conveyed through the bad language and controversial lyrics. The use of artificial lighting also has the effect of highlighting the three boys. The fact that the middle member of the band is the lead singer also conforms with the majority of front cover photos as usually, the lead singer is in the middle. The audience will be familiar with this format and understand that the person in the middle is the lead. The photo also has a vignette effect around the borders which frames the band with an orb of shadow and draws the attention to the band members. Another positive of the photo is the fact that there is enough space above them to add the mast head. The only real negative of the photo is the fact that there could be a bit more brightness to make the bright colours of the clothing stand out more. Despite this, it can be easily fixed on an editing software such as PhotoShop. Due to all these factors, I have decided to use this photo as my main front cover image. Here are some other photos I took and I will explain why I didn't choose them.

I decided against choosing this photo due to the weak use of proxemics as the band are too far apart. This means that I can include less content on the front cover as they take up more space and it also connotes that they are not as good friends compared with the other picture. Their facial expressions are also much more serious which denotes that they may be uninterested in the article. This idea of them 'not caring' conforms with the punk stereotype and is common in lots of punk magazines however I feel that in this circumstance, it does not have the same effect as the close-knit, happy band in the picture I chose.

I did not choose this as it is in landscape and the person on the right is not looking directly at the camera. This does not have the same effect as the other photos when they were all using a direct gaze because it seems as if he is uninterested.