Colour Explosion - Harrods

Colour Explosion

Harrods Magazine June/July 2014 

This image really reminds me of the Holi Festival Of Colour held in Berlin, Dresden, Hannover and Munich. The festival is all about colour, movement and explosion of colour. I really like this front cover, it really related back to my idea of mixing the smog idea and the bright colours.

When I came across this front cover of Harrods Magazine June/July 2014 I feel in love with it. I think the cover is so cleverly designed that is is defiantly going to stand out over other magazines. The main aim for magazine front covers is to stand out so the consumer will pick it up over any other magazine, I really think Harrods have done this with this front cover.

This image is promoting the makeup that Harrods sell, on the inside it has examples of how to use vibrant-coloured cosmetics.

What makes this cover stand out?

I think what they have done in this image is extremely cleaver because they are advertising makeup sold by Harrods in a way that isn't obvious, they haven't just got a model wearing the makeup they sell because you want the consumer to be intrigued with the image on the front and get them to read on which involves buying the magazine. 

They have also made it a June/July issue because they are focusing on festivals. June/July is just before all the festivals start which is the perfect time to advertise this type of makeup. 

Looking at the image they have used a few photography tricks to draw in the consumers eyes, for example they have used a defined, harsh edge of the side on face to attract the eyes to the middle of the page, this is called leading lines. Using this leading line they have made the main focus of this image right in the middle of the image, which leads to the title of the magazine and the slogan which says "A Shade More Daring". This works really well because the reader will be lead straight to the point of what the magazine might have in store for the consumer.

The magazine cover have used contrast with colours extremely well by having a black background they have made the image almost look slightly 3D by really making the colour reach out and grab your attention.

The Lighting of this image I think has been lit using soft boxes as the light isn't really strong or harsh it has a soft bright look to the image. I think the image has been back lit and thats why it stands out  from the background, I also think it was lit from slightly above the model as you can see a slight shadow under the chin and under the eyebrow. I can see a slight shine of light on the chin and just under the eye so I think they must have had a light in the right corner slightly behind her.

The image has been shot straight on to show more of a direct, straight to the point image, the photographer has used a fast shutter speed to capture the movement which is frozen in the image. 

After analysing this magazine cover I now know that all the small details behind an advert is so important and all this needs to be planned out before I start shooting. This will give me the best images because I will go into the shoot knowing exactly what I want to achieve.