Preliminary Task

 

I am planning on having more photos on my front cover than text. This is because the most likely people to read my magazine are going to be the students themself. The reason why I chose to have more photos than text is because students are more likely to get attracted to images as they are easier and more eye-catching for them rather than a big block of text.

Yesterday I went round school to take potential photos for my school magazine cover. I had a rough idea of the type of images that I wanted to use so I was able to get most of the pictures the way I pictured and planned them in my head. However some of the photos that I took were not thought through a lot and because of this you are able to tell by the quality of the photo. Below I have posted all of the photos that I took;

 

The first photo that I took was of a student using a computer; I thought that this image would work well on my front cover as it is realistic. I like this photo as it is simple and easy to understand what the student is doing and therefore obvious to the reader that there is going to be an article about information technology inside. As the image is very simple it will also be easier for me to make up a story for my cover line.

The next photo that I took was of another student in the common room. I am not planning on using this image on my magazine cover as I don’t think that it represents the school very well. The reasons why I think this is because;

· the student isn’t dressed very smartly which goes against the dress code of St Marks's

· in the background there is another student wearing a grey hoodie which also doesn’t create a very good image for the school

· There are pieces of paper scattered over the floor in the background which makes the school look untidy and may influences younger student to litter around the school as the sixth formers do it and are seen as the role models for the younger pupils

· I also think that the lighting is not very good as you can hardly see the student’s facial features due to the bright light reflecting onto her.

 
 

This image is of a smartly dressed teacher working at her desk. I like this photo as it is very realistic due to her surroundings such as the computer and all of the folders on her desk filled with paper work. The teacher is also smiling which helps to suggest that the staff at St Marks are all friendly and helpful and therefore creates a good image for the school.

I took this photo of the St Mark's logo as I planned on inserting the logo onto my magazine cover. I will add this photo onto my cover page as I wanted to make sure that all of the images seen on my magazine were mine rather than getting the logo from the internet. I am planning on cutting around the outline of the logo so that you are unable to seen the wall in the background as it will help to make my magazine more realistic.

I took this action shot of a member of staff at reception taking a phone call. I wanted to get this image as it would help to show that the staff are helpful and there to take down any notices and quires that students/parents have. However I  don’t want to use this image on my magazine as I don’t think the picture is close enough for everyone to see what see is doing, especially as she is holding the phone to the ear furthest away from the camera. Another reason why I am not planning on using this image is because you can slightly see my reflection in the photo as I took the photo through a glass window. This makes the photo not look a very good quality and it also doesn’t look planned and very well though through.
 

I took this photo of a student in the food tech department of the school. I am planning on using this image as I think it looks like a real action shot as she is wearing an apron and is also using cooking equipment. I also think that this photo is good to have on the front of the school magazine because it shows that there are a variety of fun subjects and the student is also smiling which helps to suggest this. The only thing that I dislike about this photo is that there are no other students in the background cooking and therefore may not look as realistic, however I am planning on cropping the background out of this photo so that people only focus on the main purpose of the picture.

 

This is my favourite picture that I took yesterday. I like this photo as it looks like a real action shot and also creates a good reputation for the school. I think this because there is a sixth form student taking part in paired reading with a year 7 student. This may help to show that all students are helpful and friendly. I also like the colours of this picture as they are bright and also the colours of St Mark's logo and uniform. As this is my favourite image I am going to use this as my main picture to appear on my magazine cover.