Magazine Cover Images

Portraits and Self-Portraits

Fashion Photography

1. In the computer, the model's lips were made bigger, her eyes were made bigger and moved on her face, her neck is made thinner and longer, and her face is made skinnier.
2. The model's body is changed by making her legs longer, her feet shorter, her stomach smaller, her neck longer, and her body in general more thin.
3. The model in this video is pretty much changed in every aspect possible; it's actually quite impressive, but at the same time it's frightening. Her legs, butt, stomach, arms, and everything else on her body that we can see was made skinnier and she looks like a completely different person. It's to the point where if you didn't see the before picture, you would think the edited version is how she's always looked.
4. In my opinion, I do not think changing someone's appearance like this is ethical because it is fake and you don't really know what to trust. Also, it really is a big cause of the false idea of beauty that a lot of people have in this day and age.
5. I do not think that there are any situations in which manipulation like this is less bad or worse than other situations, because it's always advertising some type of thing and false advertisement is also immoral.
6. The only types of changes I think would be okay are slight changes that make the overall photo more pleasing, without changing the appearance of the actual person.
7. Fashion photography seems like it's just focused around people and the clothes they wear, and what "beauty" is supposed to be like. This image of beauty is often wrong because of the manipulation we saw in these videos. Photojournalism, on the other hand, is more truthful and the area of exploration is more wide, meaning you can really put anything out there that you find interesting.
8. Every type of photography is just capturing any moment and whether the photo is manipulated or not is up to the photographer.
9. We are being shown these videos for the knowledge of what can be done in the photography world in a negative light, so we learn what not to do.
10. None of these videos are about guys because in the modeling industry, girls are focused on so much more and they feel the pressure to be or look a certain way. The false ideas of beauty are stressed so much more on women, also. The video of the girl completely being slimmed down to where she doesn't even look like herself would most likely not happen to a man.

Magazines Part II

Early Magazine Covers

Most early magazine covers included the title, publication information, and just information like that, like it was a book. When they included pictures they were just minor pictures to add a little interesting factor. Some included headlines to interest viewers like today, but surprisingly some magazines didn't even have a cover.

The Poster Cover

In the late 1800s this type of magazine cover was very popular and many talented illustrators emerged. The pictures on the cover were the kind of picture you would hang on your wall and they communicated such a message that all the words that magazine covers have today just weren't necessary. The picture communicated more of a general mood, rather than the actual articles in the magazine.This kind of cover remained successful among different magazine companies.

Pictures Married to Type

In this kind of magazine cover, text and headlines become more popular. The big thing about this type of cover is making the text and the picture on the cover work together in a symbiotic relationship. How do you make the text compliment the picture and the picture compliment the text? It has to do with depth and how you layer the text and pictures. Cover lines were once made to be very quiet and they didn't want them to stand out much, but they grew more daring with cover lines over time.

In the Forest of Words

Magazines started out very simple and quiet with just a title and some text. The attention of magazine covers then shifted towards pictures and there was very little text that went alongside these magnificent photos. As text increased and more focus was put on headlines, the text got bigger and got more focus. It happened more recent, but a lot of magazine covers now have very large headlines overlaying the picture, which is surprising since the picture used to be the most important thing.

My Favorite Cover

The New York Times Magazine, September 14, 2014, The Culture Issue

Photographer: Victoria Diehl
Designer: Raul Aguilla
"For the cover of the magazine’s annual Culture issue, the artist Victoria Diehl rendered Lena Dunham in the style of an ancient Greek bust. This juxtaposition of the modern and the classical highlights the issue’s underlying theme: the waning of the patriarchy in art and culture, and the rise of other kinds of voices. Modern typography inspired by old-style calligraphic letterforms completes the design."

I chose this cover as my favorite because, unlike the other covers, it does not consist of a man holding  a football or just a person smiling. This actually involves a lot of creativity and it's different. I really like that the New York Times Magazine chose this to represent their culture issue, since art and sculpture have a lot of culture. According to the description of the cover, the theme is the rise of women in art and culture and of course this is always a big topic in the world today. Putting Dunham's head on this old statue really sends that message because chances are that the sculpture originally was of a man's head.

Best Covers

1. The Advocate: Formal
2. Wired: Informal
3. OUT: Informal
4. Harper's Bazaar: Informal
5. ESPN: Informal
6. New York: Formal
7. The Atlantic: Informal
8. Bloomberg Businessweek: Environmental
9. FamilyFun: Environmental
10. The New York Times Magazine: Environmental
11. Harper's Bazaar: Formal
12. Vanity Fair: Formal
13. Variety: Formal
14. New York: Informal
15. Men's Health: Informal
16. Bloomberg Businessweek: Formal
17. Golf Digest: Environmental
18. Kinfolk: Environmental

Magazine Tips

• Pick a color/design that pops out to the viewer.
• Reach out to people's emotions.
• Make something unique about your magazine and keep doing that to make your magazine recognizable. 
• Include enough information, deals, and other things to make the magazine worth the money.
• Make it clean and simple.

Purple, Cold, Electric

cold

 electric

 purple