Making my front cover

I chose this picture for my front cover because i think it stands out and fits in with the genre of my magazine. I planned to use an image of 3 people on the front cover in a band but i decided to use this image becuase it only features one person, this means it would be easier to capture 

the readers attention as its the main focus of the front cover. I think the angle its taken at also attracts the reader because it draws your attention to the guitar. I have also edited this picture by using the adjustments tool in photoshop and changed the vibrance and saturation of the picture to make the colours stand out. 

I then used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the part of the image that i wanted for my front cover. I did this so i could get the main part of the image and place it on a black background which would make it contrast with the rest of the front cover, if i

 had kept the original image as the background image for the cover it wouldn't have worked as well because of other things going on in the image, so the readers attention wouldn't be all on the main picture of the girl playing the guitar. When using the magnetic lasso tool i also used feathering and changed it to about 5px to make the image's edges less harsher so that the image would blend in well with the background.

To create the title for my homepage, i used a font which was in 

capitals and very bold to draw the readers attention to the magazine. I also used the spatter brush stroke effect on the title to blend the two colours i used together.

I used the outer glow effect on the title to create a white outline around it to make the title stand out and contrast against the black background. I used the black background because i thought lots of colours would contrast against it and images and text would stand out more, this would fit in with the typical codes and conventions of a magazine front cover. I changed the opacity to 100% so that the white line would be bold, i also changed the size and spread of the glow to make the line thicker. 

Here is my final title. I used photoshop brushes to get my title to have a graffiti effect around it. I think this made my title a bit more exiting and could attract the readers attention. I also made sure i did the brushes on different layers to the

 title so i could get the graffiti shapes to be behind the title to blend in.

I used the bevel and emboss tool for the masthead cover story name. This gave the title an edge and made it bolder to stand out on top of the main image. I used the name domination for the band featured on the cover as i think its an appropriate name for a pop/rock group and is a word which would stand out to a reader because its very strong. Underneath the band name i used the rectangle shape tool to create a banner showing what other features are in the magazine. This is another typical code and convention of a magazine front cover.

I also have added a barcode and a price to the front cover as these are one of the main codes and conventions of a front cover. I have also added sub headings filling up the gaps on the front cover showing features inside the magazine, which would also contribute to getting the readers attention as if they see something they are interested in, they will want to read more.