Cover Photo Editing

Eudaimonia: human flourishing  

In Eudaimonia Magazine, improving the mental and physical well-being of consumers is the main goal. Through clothing and beauty articles, Eudaimonia Magazine shares the ins and outs of modern fashion.

Eudaimonia Magazine was created through Canva,  a graphic design software, and Picsart, an online photo editor. The cover of this magazine features a variation of the cover line "The Secrets Behind Natural Beauty", with the cover photo directly tying to the article. The article goes in depth into the stereotypes and standards inside the fashion community about the appearance of skin and hair without filters or makeup. Due to the topic of the feature article, the model on the front cover wears no makeup, and will not be digitally touched up. This idea goes against most fashion magazine applications, as the fashion community strives to portray perfection. 

Cover Photo 1:

I began the process of editing this photo with touching up the background. This photo was shot against a blank white wall, so drywall texture is vaguely present. In the app Picsart, I selected the feature "smooth" beneath the Retouch icon. Traditionally, this feature is used on the skin of a person, but in correlation the the feature article, no face touch ups are needed. This was the first photo edited, so "smooth" is the only editing feature applied. Throughout the editing of other photos, more features were played around with. The entire wall was smoothed and the model was left as is. This photo was picked as a cover option due to its expressive face and body, and its placement of the camera, hands, and clothing to show or hide aspects of the model. Eyebags and acne have not been edited away, but stay highlighted on the models face to express natural human state. The eyes make direct contact with the camera, showing direct portrayal of emotions. Much of the core of the body is covered, like a mask, leaving the camera to highlight the skin of the model. The shadow of the model was not removed to create the effect that the model "stands out", against the background. Overall, the photograph barely looks edited, which is the goal with the idea of the feature article in minds.

 Cover Photo 2:

The editing of this photo began the same way as the previous, with the application of the feature "smooth." While this was the only editing technique used in Cover Photo 1, the feature "face touch" was discovered under the same icon, Retouch. This feature further smoothed out the texture of the drywall background, making the model the most important part of the page. When photoshoots happen for magazines, photographs are often taken inside a studio with a smooth paper background. The application of this feature ties into that convention. This photo was chosen due to its cast-away expression, contrasting background, and full-face view. The green background contrasts with the warm hair, pale skin-tone, and white blouse, drawing out the model and making her the main focal point. The model looks upwards and to the side, as if she is looking at, or for, something. The upwards angle of the face draws out the shadows beneath the eyes and uneven redness of the lips. In many fashion magazines, the idea that these impurities are being displayed would be absurd, but the feature article of this magazine strives to prove this standard wrong. Unlike the previous photo, the entire face is visible, giving room to show off deeper emotions through body language, and features on the skin.

 

Cover Photo 3:

 

Cover Photo 3 was edited the exact same way as Cover Photo 2, with the applications of the "smooth" and "face touch" feature to reduce background texture. Like the previous two photos, no facial touch ups were needed to portray the message of the feature article. This photo is different from the previous two though, because there is the addition of a bent leg, showing another body part. The bent leg implies the model is on a chair, sitting in a curled up position. Body language is crucial in portraying emotion, and curled positions often induce the sense of vulnerability, also conveyed through the lack of makeup. While makeup does not physically protect a person, the fashion community strives to convince consumers that perfect facial features are the only way to succeed in everyday beauty, so the display of "imperfect" features is out of the ordinary. The model does not offer much contrast to the background, so use of bold and dark fonts is needed when creating a cover to add interest.

Conclusion:

The editing process of these three photos was simple: eliminate background texture. In all photos, makeup and facial touch ups are nonexistent, a concept rarely utilized in the fashion industry. It was difficult to smooth the background without accidentally removing frizz from the hair or texture on the skin, so it took many trials and lots of time. I may go back to Cover Photo 1 and apply "face touch" to the background like done in the other two edits to further remove texture. Overall, little editing was needed to create a final product for these photos.