Imitation Bon Appetit magazine cover made to practice photography-based layout
This magazine cover was made for a 300 level Photography course. The assignment was to imitate a magazine of our choice as best we could using our own props, photos, PhotoShop and Illustrator. I chose to imitate an autumnal Bon Appetit cover composed mainly of blues and oranges. I staged, photographed, edited, and laid out each part of the composition to create a visually cohesive and eye-catching baking spread.
To imitate the modern, single subject-focused style of Bon Appetit magazine, I tried to create a photo composition that not only highlighted my subject, but gave visual emphasis to each element of the dish and left plenty of space for text effects. This way, I would have lots of interesting organic shapes to play with when it came to text layout. The result was a spread that is easily understandable while maintaining a sense of compositional order.
This piece was challenge for me, as I’m used to working with more illustration or text-heavy compositions. It was interesting to try to imitate a well-establish style without any of the professional equipment of a photography studio.
(Left) This was the original Bon Appetit cover I wanted to imitate for the assignment. I was really drawn to the complementary colors and playful layout.
(2nd from left) In my original photo, I wanted to imitate the layout of the original cover with my own twist. I liked how the main ingredients were laid out, so I tried to mix organic shapes and textures with sharp solids.
(2nd from right) As much as I tried to replicate the model cover, I also needed to work with elements that fit in my composition. For example, I kept the orange diamond and shine lines, but changed to layout to be more rightward-heavy.
(Right) Looking back on my 2022 cover, I wanted to work more on color balancing, text placement, and creating an overall more moody and muted composition.
