Magazine cover concept

Magazine cover concept, a photo by Pat MacInnes on Flickr.

It's always exciting when editors work with you on a concept, especially when it comes to covers that push the envelope.

Traditionally, our fishing mag covers have always featured a man with fish, a man with a net of fish, or on odd occasions, a man playing a fish. However, the new editor of TCF really wanted to create a 'hero' shot that would stand out on the crowded newsstand so we took our lead from an issue of Field & Stream where a hunter was nicely lit holding his hunting equipment. We decided to use a different kind of 'hunter', well-known predator angler Mick Brown.

The studio space at work is 'bijou' to say the least so we had to work around the amount of working area; to camera left are two 24" soft boxes stacked on top of each other to replicate a strip box for soft fill, and you can see the other two lights and what they're achieving.

There's obviously a considerable crop taken place to fit the image on the cover, plus some heavy Photoshopping. However, as a cover that stands out from the crowd I'm really pleased with what we achieved.... sales will tell if we made the right decision, but nonetheless we've produced something we can be proud of.

*Nikon D7000
*Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8
*ISO 100
*1/250th @ f/7.1

Robin

Robin, a photo by Pat MacInnes on Flickr.

Just a quick snap from today's feature with Bob Nudd for UK fishing magazine, Total Coarse Fishing.

This cheeky little robin was doing the usual winter trick - look cute and then steal maggots form your bait tray. I couldn't begrudge him that when he was so willing to model for the camera!

*Nikon D7000
*Nikon 70-200mm VR
*ISO 1600
*1/320th @ f/4