Evaluation - Final Image (Sue)

Whilst initially contemplating methods of figuring out what my unique magazine photograph was going to be, it was previously recommended by Sue earlier in the unit that we begin to amass particular images that we love and admire so I took that onboard and applied to the research of several magazines. I then began to research several varieties of magazine from different genre such as sophisticated, urban, sport, etc. I had ultimately decided to pursue the more sophisticated variety of magazines which included the distinct style of GQ Magazine

After researching GQ Magazine, I had came across a particular photograph of Taylor Lautner (on moodboard) which had inspired me due to it's use of black & white colouring and soft lighting demonstrated in the photograph. The class, sophistication, and sharpness had taken me by storm and had inspired me to use it as a photograph I could emulate into my own version. I began to consider the mood, framing, composition, style, editing, audience appeal, etc, and took it into account to build up my vision of what my final image would look like. Whilst editing I was unsure on how I could improve the photography considering the lack of appropriate filters that were available on the online editing software, Pixlr, which Sue had introduced to the class earlier in the year, As I was editing I had noticed that in the original photograph, there was a vignette on the side of the face facing away from the camera, so I decided not to hamper too much with the brightness in-case the vignette would be ruined. Whilst experimenting with the black & white colouring, I thought that adding a slight amount of colour would make it seem slightly more unique.

In terms of the audience appeal, the magazine is renowned for its elegant and finesse approach to it's interpretation of modern fashion amongst predominantly men. During the research, I began to further conceive my idea in order to finalise how my visualization for the final image would be conveyed, and then I had recognized that given the calibre of magazine I had chosen in GQ, anything less than professional standard would be unacceptable, so just prior to the photo-shoot, I had acquired the help of someone who was comfortable with the DLSR cameras and knew how to make the most out of the resources around him in the studio, and that man was Anton Lewis.

Given the feedback that I had received during the presentation of my final image, the general vibe from the comments that were given illustrated that the appeal was universal. Additionally, my fellow students were unable to think of a flaw and I was appreciative of that because it spoke volumes of the professionalism and standard of the photograph. Perhaps ways to improve it would have been to take a broader variety of different types of shots such as close-ups, wide-shots and maybe employ the rule of thirds and split them into separate images. Things to improve upon would have been trimming my beard into neat, sharp stubble, because in the photograph, the facial hair looks slightly wild, and wild isn't associated with GQ magazine, so not trimming it is something I strongly regret. Ultimately, I was considerably pleased with my productivity on the project and thoroughly enjoyed the project as a whole.