Weekly Journal 19/12/14

I have started to create my first draft pieces for my contents and front pages; I have created a general house style of where my masthead, sell line, pugs, bar code and other font cover features would be placed but I will add detail to it later.

I feel that I could take a few better shots for my front cover because upon further inspection, I see that the top half of my model is a little blurry. I have also had an extremely hard time removing the background from the hooded fur area so for the next time we take pictures, I will make sure my model does not wear any furry clothing. 

The problem with the clothing however is that the weather and temperature is very cold so we need to consider warmth when choosing our costumes.

Weekly Journal 12/12/14

This week is all about practising out photography skills; we are taking quite a few shots with a few different cameras for our magazines. This week I was focusing on finding the perfect front cover image so I am testing a few different shots in different scenery.   

Unfortunately, I was unable to get the DSLR camera I was hoping for so I had borrowed a Bridge Camera (Sony Cybershot DSCH300B) from one of the other students. I took many photos but deleted most due to aspects such as bad lighting, poor angles, image quality, correct facial expressions, mise-en-scene etc.

Originally, I planned to shoot in  Camden Lock since its very diverse in scenery; one section can look totally different to another - this was great for me since I could switch up the style of the location without having to actually go to another location. The problem was that Camden Lock was a very popular tourist attraction and its most likely always crowded; we tried getting the best shots possible but the crowded area meant that the shots were disturbed and there were always problems such as lighting because people would walk in front of our light source or ruined backgrounds because people were in the way. Even the slightest problems would completely ruin the shot such as someone's shadow on the floor. Our main dilemma was that we could either:
- Go to another location and take photos at the last minute: This meant that the results would be a lot quicker since we wouldn't have to waste time waiting for people to get out of the way but the problem was that we didn't know where to go; I have carefully planned exactly where the shot would be taken place, what angle, what pose etc.. but this would not be possible in another location since we don't have enough time.
- Wait for the crowd to get smaller: This would mean that my planning would not go to waste and as soon as the crowd left, we would know exactly what to do. The problem was that we didn't know how long we would have to wait but also because we had a short amount of time. Since its Winter time, the sun sets pretty early and its gets dark fairly quick; this is a major problem since we needed a heavily lit location because our camera was not able to perform well under poorly lit conditions. We did have a flash available but the quality would be reduced and the lighting would not feel natural and well rounded.

Due to this we decided it would be best to go to another location and find interesting scenes on the way; we ended up going to Eversholt Street where there was an unoccupied park and Bloomsbury where there was an estate (which would match my hip-hop style very well).

Newer Shots

A few practise shots

These shots are not the final ones, they're just the practice shots we have taken to see how well the location suits us. As you can see, the lighting is not ideal and due to this, the images come out grainy; the images appear dark and I don't think these are editable. 

When we take the fully professional shots, we will not be using this location because of the low lighting; I am thinking of choosing a newer location, maybe in another part of Camden.

The costumes used are going to be similar to the ones in the final product. The model with the grey tracksuit is wearing a very stereotypical costume, one we with to utilise in our real photos.

Even though, these photos will not be used, they still appeal to our target audience. The reason for this is because even though they're no fully professional, they still show the stereotypical connotations of a rap magazine.

These images were not successful because of the location and the costumes, we did not wear the costumes intended because this was not a fully planned shoot. The location itself represents the connotations of a raper's life however, the lighting is not suitable.

Photoshoot Practise

Today we went out to practise our photography skills; we went to our locations and took pictures whilst considering these aspects:

- Camera Angles

- Lighting

- Composition

- Colour Correction

We will go back another day to the same spots and take better pictures, this week I used my Phone Camera but next time I plan on using a DSLR, I plan on borrowing one from my friend.

I will be looking at the images taken today and evaluate the different aspects like shot types and angles. I will use this information to make my real photo shoot better.

This was done as a plan for the images for the front cover and contents page.

Weekly Journal 03/12/14

I have got my front cover photoshoot plan on. It's got the different details such as the location, model, time and date of when the photoshoot will take place. I have even looked at the potential costumes and what type they're going to be. I have also looked at the different camera angles, I want something like a medium shot from a low angle - this shows dominance.

I also updated my contents page analysis. I have added more annotations and linked it to another contents page from the same company to compare it. I have noticed that VIBE have a distinctive style which they carry onto each of their contents pages. This is something that I plan on doing myself.

Contents Page Analysis

Front Cover Photo-Shoot Plan

Front Cover Photo