Photo development- Front cover;

Here is the image I am going to use on my front cover:

I shot this image using the same artist, 'Tyra' for my front cover to suggest the beginning of the USP used through-out my three creations. Firstly, from my previous research into Hiphop magazines, I became aware of a typical feature used in front cover images- they are almost always shot alongside an object of some sort; I felt that this was appealing for consumers and sometimes suggested elements of the Hiphop genre, e.g Jay Z shot with a cigar in his mouth- cigar's can be associated with gangsters associated in the Hiphop culture/scene. I was going to shoot my artist, promoting the launch of her new perfume 'Midnight' however when it came to actually shooting the image, I changed my mind and wanted to incorporate musicality instead of cosmetics to reinforce the genre of my magazine. In the end, I took an image of my artist wearing headphones; I felt that this connoted musicality as well as the Hiphop genre- when researching Hiphop magazine, The Source, one of the issue's front cover displays an image of an artist wearing headphones and I was inspired to incorporate headphones in my image due to the musical effect and Hiphop link which had been created.  I placed headphones on my artist, fitting them neatly around her neck. I positioned her hair to the side, which allowed the image to add emphasise on the headphones as you can see them more, however didn't make them look too large still keeping her big curly blonde hair still as a focus of her style and look.

After positioning the headphones around her, I then wanted to incorporate something which would foreshadow the text idea I aim to use, 'Tyra's Domination'. I decided to write 'Shh..' on her finger to support and back up this domination having been inspired by the images to the right of Hiphop artist Rihanna. (I have changed this pose which Rihanna is holding to a pose which actually reinforces the 'Shh..') The fact that the head phones are round her neck suggests that she isn't listening to anything and the use of 'Shh..' supports this silence effect further. However, through the 'Shh..' I wanted to suggest that she is telling other artists to 'Shh..' and that it is her time to dominate the industry. The direct mode of address suggests confidence and attitude which reinforces this domination even more. I directed her to pout her lips to a shape which would suggest she is actually saying 'Shh..' to make this more realistic.

I did not want to take a full body-length shot as I wanted to really emphasise the headphones and 'Shh' as I feel that it is a big part of the image and I believe that it needs to be focused on to get the intended message across to the consumer effectively. I shot the image showing almost all of her torso to display the design and style oft the top. I chose a strapless top for her to wear including colours of orange and blue with a printed pattern to suggest current fashion and sexual tones due to the no straps. I kept the bracelets she was wearing on her to suggest the artist's own sense of style and I felt that it contributed to the substance the image would lack without them. I am happy with the shot I have taken for my front cover, it suggests all the connotations which I wanted it to hold- confidence, attitude and dominance however I have a lot of editing to do on the image to eventually gain the style and look I want for my front cover.

Here is an image of the photo after I did the appropriate editing techniques to it;

I cropped the left, right and bottom of the image so it would be easier for me to fill in the background white; I also did this to gain a larger focus on her face. As she is to appear and fill in the whole entire space of my front cover, I also cropped it to gain straight edges on all four sides as the edges on my front cover will be straight too. I then filled in the background white as I do not aim to use a background colour for my front cover, I want the artist to fill the entire space so I felt that white was the safest option. After this, I increased the brightness and contrast to gain a sharpe and striking effect. When thinking of the colour scheme of the image, I had to take into consideration that the title design was yellow and grey therefore I thought a green and yellow colour tone effect through the image would be perfect; not only would it compliment the title design but also gives a 'quirky' style and appears different from all the images and colour schemes I have used in the contents page and double page spread. I then drew around the right headphone in black on Photoshop for it to stand out as much as the left one did and I also darkened her pupils for them to stand out and compliment the black in her head phones. I was thinking about going over the 'Shh..' in black too, however when I tried this it looked messy and added on therefore I have kept the original writing of it to gain a realistic tattoo effect.