I found this project really exciting and challenging at the same time, performing the photoshoot was really well done and up to a high standard. This was my first ever InDesign project so having workshops with Nina about InDesign was so useful and clearly effective in my editorial shoot. Furthermore, having workshops with a professional fashion photographer Katja Mejer also taught me how to retouch photographs with great expertise by using masking, curves and levels which I will talk more in depth later. 

I took inspiration from the King Kong Magazine issue with Billie Eilish, I adored the layout compositions with filled out pages and the one and half page spread with boxed photos next to it. It gave my spread a contemporary and majestic/clean look. All-together I have made three double page spreads with two of the pages sharing one image across them. This gives my editorial spread a variety of composition styles meaning that it won’t all look the same. For this photoshoot I categorised each edited shot into three sections: Angel, Transformation and Evil. Throughout my magazine spread, you can see that there is a theme of having the model in a white dress, looking really innocent and then it gradually changes to her being underneath white drapes and under pink drapes where it is a process of her „Virgin Mary” transforming into a rebel and a more violent person; the Mary we all knew is not a different person. The overall concept behind the narrative of my group is to show our audience how the traditional, unique and marvellous Virgin Mary get transformed within fashion to a criminal, a rebel and into a violent persona. Each shot that I have presented shows Virgin Mary in these three categories. 

Using softwares such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom allowed me to explore so many adjustments to retouch my shots. Firstly what I done is using the spot healing tool I have removed any unnecessary spots such as spots, dust, hair, marks on the background and any unwanted creases on the clothes. This made my models skin more smooth and clear. Using the clone tool I have selected and cloned parts of the pages that were flying in the air and I have multiplied them to give an effect as if there were a lot of them in the shot. By having the curve adjustment it gave me the choice to play around with RGB colours such as blue, red and green. I used a lot of the blue curve tool to enhance the blue colour in the photoshoot to match the theme of Mary and Heaven. Using levels really improved the way shadows. Under eyes and really dark areas in the shots were brightened up and the photographs became more clean and more clear. Having the levels adjustment also really helped me controlling the whites and blacks throughout the post production process. The whites became really vibrant and the blacks had a true depth of colour making them strong and not grey. Using the selecting tool I have selected the red dress and veils and using the curve tool I have made the colour more dominant and more stronger so that when I print my magazine the red is not faded but is in good quality. 

Using Lightroom really helped me understand how significant colour balance is. Using the marque tool under the colour balance section I adjusted the skin tones and colours to make them look more natural and in some shots more whiter, especially in the “evil” shots as the pale white skin tone matches the theme more than if it had a more natural tone. Furthermore, Adobe Lightroom allowed me to use the clarity tool to make my photos sharper, more dehazed and less grainy. The lighting in the studio have done an excellent job at keeping my subject lit at all time meaning that I didn’t had to do much adjusting with the brightness and exposure. 

Editorial layout explanation

Starting with two page filled shots the magazine is presented with clear, beautiful and mysterious Virgin Mary from two different angles. I purposely wanted my backdrop to be black because It would be much more easier to add text on top of the photograph. The left image was taken from a close distance and shows the model in a white veil showing purity and calmness. The right photo was taken a little further back than the previous, I covered the left side of my lens with a book to make my subject fade away slightly having this heavenly and magical look. The left photo has my model showing no eye contact with the audience to show the absolute timidness of Mary and through out the shoot she gets more and more confident. The right shot has my model looking at the lens slightly to interact with my audience, to give them a gaze from the Queen of the Heaven. I included The main credits on the first page and then throughout my magazine spread you will see only the major features. I included the photographer which was me, the Model which was Grace Elliot, the Hair and make up artist, assistants, clothes that the model is wearing, the headpiece and the drapes.

My second and third double page consists of boxed photographs including one photo going onto the other page to make it look more modern and looking back in King Kong Magazine that happens in some spreads such is this one above. It tells the reader that this photo is worth to be on one and a half page as it tells a story. In my sense, the photo is of my model with a pink veil transforming into an evil person so therefore the process of transformation is being illustrated by having the photo started at one page and ending on the next. Lastly I got an idea from King Kong of having a smaller photograph in the corner of a bigger image. They also connect together as they are both in the red dress and they represent Virgin Mary rebelling and telling the world that she is different from what people always saw her as.

This is the only photograph that goes over the two pages. It gives the audience such a mysterious sense and theme. Why is Virgin Mary having a bullet sitting on top of her gentle lips? Bullets really connect to the style of crime and violence; in a sense this gives the impression of dominance of the „guilty” characterisation which is what I wanted this shot to present. The black empty space allowed me to insert text such as the name of the magazine, the name of the photoshoot „Malicious Madonna”, the issue number, the page number and a quote which is also appeared on other pages of my spread. I used quotes from trusted websites which made it more reliable to put it out there. The quotes I chose are from saint religious people taken from the Bible, I made this decision because after I finished setting all my images on each page, I figured that something was missing and because of King Kong and their short but manful quotes or text I decided to include some myself. Each quote is backed up by the person who stated it so that my audience does not think I made the quote up. Moreover it was really difficult to find the perfect font to match the King Kong Magazine style however after some time researching I found out that „Arial Regular” was the best font to use. Inside my chosen magazine the title of each photoshoot is slightly at an angle so I tried to get the same effect as well as having the issue number straight in the middle of the page. Lastly this page is boxed within a photo from the internet that I will document the url address at the end. The bullet photo is connecting to the aspect of having a bullet in her mouth, also the whole image put together does not look tacky which makes me feel proud about the way it looks and it gives the page depth which attracts the eye of the audience. 

Last but not least the last page is as important as all the others, the head close up shot face is behind a quote about evil doings which connects with the whole devilish look I’ve portrayed. The titles and credits are in the corners so that there is some empty space as otherwise it would be all squeezed in, it will look too complex and unproportional. The boxed look is taken from the King Kong magazine look from issue 6 about Ed Atkins. It explicitly illustrates a face headshot however because I don’t want to do the same thing but remake it, I made the model shut one eye to enhance the idea of being more absurd and edgy. Retouching this photograph was difficult because of the mesh veil layer on top of the head. I had to zoom in really closely to smother the face away from little spots, unwanted bits of hair and creased fined lines on the neck. 

Reflection

One thing I learnt from this project is definitely how to retouch photographs really effectively and professionally, this is because of the very useful software workshops I had attended to. Before the Styling Identity unit I honestly didn’t even know what InDesign was used for and now I could proudly say I can put together an editorial magazine spread. Another thing I have learnt is to be inspired by older versions of magazines rather than referencing from the latest models. As the newest issues have the latest trends, we tend to forget about the authenticity of material that have been used. Finally I have learnt how to use studio equipment effectively because of the help of teachers I understand fully how lights are meant to set up, what setting I need to use for the specific needs I want, and lastly how important it Is to shoot as many shots as I can even though if it is to take the same shots numerous times, attest two of them will always be at the finest quality. 

There has been some imperfections and I definitely would like to improve for the background to be more visible in my shots, my team took a long time to research the perfect material and tone and in most of the photos the backdrop is not shown very clearly. In the future I would make sure that the lighting is set to a stronger ratio for the backdrop as it would give a more effective look. The blue soft velour background would link to the soft texture of the model’s face, however having the photos with a black background gave my foreground a better focus meaning that my subject became a wonderful focus point for my audience. 

Bibliography

Image of bullets:

Photos of magazines were taken by me. (Primary Source)