Photography Comparison

The Vanity Fair cover focuses on the main image of Lady Gaga,  an artist known for her individual style and pop music. This front cover uses the third rule of photography, positioning her body on the right centre third line which gives the reader something to focus on. Her face is also on the upper third line, which means that her face (mouth primarily) is a focal point on an intersect point. Her face is the point of interest, and our eyes are attracted to the eyes in pictures generally, however this is reinforced in this image as her face is at the intersect point.
The top half of her body is straight going down the right third of the page, which leaves a space for the left third of cover lines, and she is positioned sat on the ground, which allows her to move her legs at a different angle. This gives the effect of her body being the shape of a right angle, as her legs fill the bottom left third of the cover. Her arms are also being used to emphasise her shape and importance on the page, as they are also straight lines. They give her a larger, dominating shape, as the lines and angles of her arms and legs give her a larger space on the cover.

The background of the image is grey, as is the floor we see her sitting on. Lady Gaga has been styled in a black, which stands out against the pale background. The black clothing contrasts with the light of her face and hair. Her face is the focal point, and although quite small, her hair has been placed to fall around her face, which attracts attention to her face as it is lighter than the background and clothing. Her hair styled as it is creates the effect that her face is bigger, so that our eyes are more quickly drawn to the brighter area of the page. The light has been positioned so that it falls directly onto her face to give this and her hair a glowing effect contrasting with the dull background.
The photographer has also taken the photo from a lower angle, giving her a dominating sense, seeming more powerful as she looks down on the photographer. We can see this from the angle her eyes are looking at us from in the direct address, and this could be being done to show her importance, and that even though we can see that she is sat on the floor, she is still more important/powerful.

This is the front cover for The Source magazine and in contrast to the previous magazine direct address is not a feature. The cover image shows the man with his eyes shut, and his face scrunched up. Unlike Lady Gaga, his body is not shown, his face fills the page and goes down to just past his shoulders. The image is situated in the middle of the page, the middle third, which is not a formality of magazine covers however, the rule of thirds is used also along the features of his face, particularly his eyes, which still makes them a point of interest as this point of the page (2/3 of the way up) is where our eyes generally focus at.
The light in this image is used to make his face appear brighter and also add attention to the gun he is holding, through the light falling on it making it brighter, which contrasts with the dark skin that its against, attracting the readers eyes to it as it is a key feature of the image.The light is also shown to be falling from above, which linked with the image and imagery of death seen on the page, could be a connotation of heaven or death as this is often referred to as 'light above'. The background for this image is also grey. however seems to be less of a set as the Vanity Fair one clearly was, but a brick wall which connotes the urbanisation of the musician and the magazine as a whole, and also adds more attention to the main image of his face from standing out against a dull background.
The angle of the camera appears to be straight on, however the person on the cover seems uninterested, and this could be the effect that the photographer is trying to present.