Since beginning to create my music magazine I have learnt many helpful new skills and production techniques.

Production techniques: I have learnt that in order for a photoshoot to run smoothly, it is important to plan out every detail including equipment, costume, hair, makeup and who is bringing what using a production meeting agenda. I think I was successful in planning out my shoots as my models and I knew exactly what we were bringing. For example, for my second shoot I knew it was essential to bring flowers as they added to the country-folk and feminine image of my artist. Something I could’ve been more organised on is planning my shots and the poses for my models. This would have made the shoot even smoother as the model would be clearer on my direction.

Photography: From my photoshoots I was able to produce some images I was really happy with. Particularly from the first shoot. I learnt from my second shoot that it’s important to capture as many images as possible, with a variety of poses in order to have lots of good ones to choose from. On my second shoot I felt I wasn’t as successful at this as it was difficult to capture a huge amount of photos on location. Taking a few hundred photos enables you to find the perfect shot.

Photoshop: I have learnt to cut out an image using the magic wand tool, which is more difficult than I thought. I found a hat was really useful to cover the hair and make it easier to cut out. Some other tools that I learnt to use were the dodge and burn tool. These helped to brighten and darken my images wherever I wanted. This was helpful when editing my double page spread photo as I was able to draw attention to the flowers.

I have also learnt to put any filters and effects on the photo in photoshop before exporting it to Indesign. Here is the first draft of my front cover for which I used the image that I cut out and edited in photoshop:

Indesign: On Indesign I have learnt to use the frame tool which is really helpful when placing and resizing images. Another tool on Indesign that I used to experiment with was the text effects tool. This enabled me to edit my text to best fit the country genre. For example, the masthead is a very important piece of text on my front cover so I added a drop shadow to it to make it stand out: