House Style in Magazines

Though I will only have one issue of this magazine, it is important to establish a general house style and determine what my outstanding features will be. I aim for my magazine to look reminiscent of a 2000s magazine but modernized. The same editing in the layout but with cleaner lines and more focus on specific hues rather than a large variety of colors. 

I want one of the main house style features to be the feature of the pink/ reddish hues in the color scheme I’ve chosen. Inside the colors most likely will be different because of the styling of the subjects, but what truly matters is the first impression that people get of the magazine upon first viewing.

In class, we reviewed house style for different types of magazines. I focused on “Car and Driver.” Here are my notes of what this magazine’s house style is.

• Big blocky text for title

• Primary colors

• Old western looking font for subheadings

• Text is formatted to not cover any of the car

• Some text goes behind the cars need be

• Mostly ‘action’ shots

 

Photography Lecture— Joshua Shear (FIU) Notes

Exposure Triangle

• Aperture
• Controls amount of light that enters camera
• Fixed in camera, can be controlled by lens
• Specified in terms of f-stop
• Lower numbers mean more light\
• Lower numbers have more depth of field (focus)
• Shutter speed
• Determines how long light is permitted to enter camera
• Shutter speed and exposure time refer to same concept, where faster shutter speed means a shorter exposure time
• ISO
• Low number— less sensitive, needs more light, gives more details
• High number— more sensitive, needs less light, photo can have noise
• Low numbers less noisy
• 200-400 usually best
• Camera usually come with a “native ISO,” a range where the camera will come out well and without noise

Other Aspects of the Camera

• Wheel thing on top is to switch between exposure presets
• Where there’s a camera icon with the word auto (or just the word auto)
• M— manual
• White balance
• Process of removing color casts so objects that appear white in reality appear as white in photo
• Has to take into account the ‘color temperature’ of a light source
• Refers to relative warmth of white light
• Essentially how the camera interprets temperature of the picture
• Usually has some presets for inside light types, sunlight, cloudy days, and staying in the shade
• Depth of Field
• Smaller aperture— greater DOF
• Larger aperture— shallow DOF
• Zone of sharp focus
• Extends in font of and behind subject and gets deeper in both directions as you “stop down” lens

Rules of Composition

• Rule of thirds
• Image separated into 9 equal boxes
• Points of interest fall on intersections of boxes
• Leading lines
• Leads eyes to subject (think about line of sight in yearbook pictures)

What makes a good photo?

• Truth and accuracy
• Storytelling
• Action
• Expressions and emotion
• Sense of place
• Technique
• Patience!
• Don’t be afraid
• Pay attention 
• Not only for pictures but for safety
• Keep. Shooting. A great shot may come up out of nowhere

Tips

• Usually better to move rather than to move subject, especially in photojournalism
• Vary angles to avoid harsh lighting (i.e. straight forward shot at noon outside not as interesting as with angled shot to get shadows)
• Lead room for action shots (helpful for yearbook!!!)
• Choose how much headroom to leave (space between top of head and end of frame)
• It’s okay to use flash outside to create proper lighting and capture subject appropriately
• Set camera to appropriate image size:
• Print 4x6 (3:2) is norm
• Slideshow 16:9 norm for video
• Stills for video should be in landscape (NOT portrait)