Heavy Editing

Having finished my article, I finally had the chance to go back and look at my cover and table of contents. ...I may have gotten a little carried away with my previous post "Layout and Article Update". As I had stated at the end of that post, I had been having doubts about my cover page. I like the idea behind the image (of Tiffany's hair, pose, and the camera angle conveying a sense of power), but I was having problems with the image itself. The day I took the pictures I had to use three point lighting because we shot at night, but the lamps I had available were difficult to position. Therefore, some pictures came out darker than others (the cover picture was one of them) and I didn't notice this until I started editing because during the shoot I preoccupied with finishing before Tiffany had to leave. I know, lesson for next time, but for now: I have to work with what I have. Since the image I had chosen was too dark, when I edited it on Canva to make it brighter, either the color was leached out of it or the background turned into a muddy color, which wasn't going to cut it for me. Additionally, I loved the picture that was part of my table of contents but it was to dark (however, this one could be fixed 😃). In fact, I loved the picture so much that I ended up considering it for my cover page....which ended up like this (ignore the fact that it still says "Spring 2017", it should be changed to "April 2017"):

This is pretty different from my first cover but it is definitely better because:

1. The colors are perfect: neutral, but still light, bright, and feminine (without having to be "pink and frilly")
2. The title looks better off to the side, especially with this image, though I'm going to size it better so it doesn't cover part of Tiffany's face
3. The composition is honestly stunning. The shadow effect is still there, but it is created through a greenish tone that complements her top; The image is placed on the page according to the rule of thirds, making it more visually appealing; her hairstyle and top could seem both casual or a little sophisticated, but definitely not like they were "professionally" styled, which was something that I wanted to stray from for my magazine.
4. In this image Tiffany is looking at the camera, which is better in terms of genre. Although there are some examples of general interest Feminists magazines that feature covers with subjects not looking directly at the camera, there are very few.

**Note: I had decided to add "#Lets Talk Pop Culture" at the bottom because that is what this specific issue of "L'Fém" deals with. Most magazines have a smaller sub title that provides the overarching description of that issue (different from the seller line, which describes the magazine in general). I got the idea of using pop culture from my research on Bust magazine (see previous post), which writes its articles about pop culture, but through a feminist lens, which was the idea that I had for my magazine. However, after posting this picture, I realize that it could really be confused with the selling line, especially since L'Fém will mostly tackle pop culture issues through a Feminist lens, so I am planning to take that off.

Since I used this image for the cover, then I had to find a new image for my table of contents. I wanted another image that had an interesting composition, but that also complemented the style of the cover photo, both editing wise and in tone. Additionally, I was told by my Media Studies teacher that the table of contents is the vision for the entire magazine (so, no pressure or anything) 😆 Here is my (new) table of contents:

This picture was actually taken backwards and I decided to flip it to contrast with the composition of the cover. I thought that this choice for my table of contents was interesting because of the colors of her dress: they colors are pretty "girly" and she's wearing a dress. However, then I thought: one of my cover lines is "The Dress Debate", which could be referring to general criticisms about what women wear, including "girly" clothing. Now that I think of it though...this picture and other pictures like it might be better suited for the two page spread... The article titles are pretty much set, except for the last one because I'm still trying to think of another pop culture story that L'Fém could potentially feature.

Tomorrow I'll work on re-imagining the images for my two page spread.

-Jenn