Mock-Up.

Tests

 Although in previous blog posts I have experimented in regards to front pages etc, I decided to further develop my idea, by using the test shoots and producing some mock-up pages using the edited versions of them! By doing this it allowed me to review my test shots properly in regards to what I can do better, and also by using my own images as opposed to someone else's I can use my colour scheme without needing to add a lot of effects!

 The mage you can see above is three screenshots put in to one! You can see I used this image first, then layered on my text. The first issue I came across was because the light varies so much, when I went on to change the blending option on the text to 'colour dodge' it was unable to do this! To get around this I opened up a blank document and created my text on there as it allowed me to successfully use the colour dodge option and add stroke. After dragging this in, I decided to change the stroke colour to white as I feel it made it slightly easier to read and made it stand out more, as the text is almost transparent! After this I added the lighting bolts and added '17' to the bottom right, that being the year of issue! This in comparison to my experimentation is very different. In my initial mock up cover the colours are slightly lighter than I hoped (due to using images that are not my own) however I also decided to add more text to the cover, showing what is inside the magazine as well as a barcode. 

 Although I think adding text of what the magazine includes is useful for the audience, I believe it drew attention from the image and left little space on the cover, making it look slightly crowded and unprofessional, so I therefor made the decision to just include the image, name and date!

Secondly I went on to produce this cover, this included a different use of colours (green/pink) as opposed to (red/blue) as I wanted to see what this would look like on the cover! I altered the text at first to make it bold and filled in with a slight 'hue' around it, however i decided this looked too bulky, and this was without that addition of the lightning bolts! I went through the exact same process as explained above, I just believe that by producing multiple mocks it allows me to review them overtime, picking out what works and what doesn't!

This was the last cover I decided to create, again it uses a different colour light as well as different angle. I chose the three shots that used different angles and colours as it gave me enough variety to decipher what I want to do for my real thing! Again this copy does the same process, I just changed the positioning of the title to make it slightly lower, this being that when it is printed the text doesn't bleed of the pages!

 I think upon reviewing these three covers I like the first one best. I think this is because of the lights and angle. By having a slight side profile it adds more interest, in my opinion, to the cover. In addition to this the red source of light adds some colour and vibrancy to the magazine, almost linking then to the name of the magazine which is interesting. The last cover i mocked up is my least favourite as having it so face on makes it very ordinary and flat looking, as because I have decided against additional text to the cover, I consequently think the cover photo should be really interesting and unique!

After producing front pages I decided to refer back to my flat lay in which I lay a large image across two pages, and add a quote or phrase 'scattered'. This was difficult because I wanted the colours to be inverted when they over lapped the image, however it didn't turn out the way in which I had hoped. Next time I think I will separate the words into different layers, and getting rid of the fill and having the stroke colours to be inverted, this is something I will later decide as it all depends on the colour image I use, as well as the background base colour. The background colour is a dusty, grey, pink because I wanted to leave space on the page, as I have seen in other magazines as I really like that layout. I don't think the colour works particularly well, however I didn't want to go too dark, or too light, and I also wanted it to somewhat blend in to the picture and the type of lights used there!

 As previously discussed, in my test shoot I didn't take any portraits with a white backdrop and normal lighting, therefore I used all the dramatic image I had to make this mock up work. My final product will not have only dark images with a strong source of light!

 Lastly I wanted to create a double page spread. Upon doing my test shoots I really liked changing the shutter speed so that it captures movement as when using these lights I think it looks really interesting. So I used one of those images I took and layered another one on top with the shutter speed normal. I found at first they didn't blend at all and it made it look very blocky, as previous to this screen shot I chose images that had different colour lights, this however did not work and straight away didn't give the look I wanted to achieve. After positioning these images I selected the image on top, went to Blending Options > Overlay. This meant the two images lapped over each other enough to show they are separate but I though it also linked them together nicely. Lastly I added stroke to the image to give it a borderland I really liked the outcome of it! Next time I will need to be wiser with my positioning, as I don't want the images too far left or right, or too high or low!