Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The photo above on the (left) was taken an existing ‘Fire’ magazine issue and the other photo on the (right) is my finalized magazine cover. There are similarities and contrasts between the two photography’s. When first comparing the two images they are completely different in many ways, however once have a deeper analysisation of the photos, you notice they use some of the same or similar conventions. The camera angle of the model (Katy Perry-singer) is a mid-shot, eye-line match with the audience this allows each individual reader to feel as if they have a personal connection with the artist. For my photography I have used the same camera shot to portray the same purpose as ‘Fire’ magazine. The photo is a close- up with extenuate my models beauty and flawless skin, express my models personality in the photograph. The body language of both mine and ‘Fires’ model reflects a confident, poised woman with a successful lifestyle.

The lighting of the cover photos are slightly different ‘Fire’ magazine has used a strong sharp light in order to enhance the facial features of their model, They have used a photo-shot environment to capture their photo using a plain white backdrop, this use of background has also heighten the colour and quality of the photo. Whereas my photo was taken in a professional environment, therefore I don’t have the right lighting equipment to intensify my photography’s lighting quality. Therefore my cover photo has a darker outlook; however I have still managed to use some amount of lighting on my model to enhance her facial feature, it’s the outer background of my photography that gradually get darker .Although I felt this worked effectively with my dimmer colour scheme than the ‘Fire’ magazine who used bright, optimistic colour schemes like purple.

I felt that ‘Fire’ magazine was aiming to a similar if not the same target audience as I was appealing my magazine too.