Author Topic: Spaceflight Magazine  (Read 204969 times)

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #320 on: 07/14/2022 02:38 pm »
I haven't been impressed with their covers for about a year or so. For awhile they had some really great covers. But a lot of the recent ones have been dark. I guess a lot of the recent covers for Ad Astra magazine have also been dark, but I think that the image choices for Ad Astra have been better.
« Last Edit: 07/14/2022 05:29 pm by Blackstar »

Offline jacqmans

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #321 on: 07/14/2022 06:09 pm »
I see that they have not updated their website for 2022. Have they completely stopped sending out pdfs to subscribers?

No members can download the issues. The August issue i just downloaded.
Jacques :-)

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #322 on: 08/11/2022 10:04 am »
A first look at the September 2022 cover.

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #323 on: 08/11/2022 06:36 pm »
They're still doing dark covers. I think that's a bad idea, unless the images are really good.

Offline saturnapollo

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #324 on: 08/11/2022 07:03 pm »
From a photographic perspective I suspect they have the levels at the printing process set way too far towards the dark end of the histogram. At least for this issue.

Here is the original artwork. As you can see from the lunar shadows the sun is quite high up.

Keith
« Last Edit: 08/11/2022 07:20 pm by saturnapollo »

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #325 on: 08/11/2022 08:26 pm »
From a photographic perspective I suspect they have the levels at the printing process set way too far towards the dark end of the histogram. At least for this issue.


That might be true, but I was referring to their color choices overall. They've been picking a lot of images of dark things--black space, the lunar surface, etc. A lot of artwork and space shots. There's a difference between that and photos of rocket launches or spacecraft in clean rooms. The latter are going to be brighter, with more orange, yellow, light blue, white, etc.

It's something my own organization has faced for a long time. We have produced a lot of covers that were dark. I have made an effort to pick brighter covers for the reports I'm involved in. It's rather startling when we put them all out on a table at a conference--mine are bright and stand out against all the blacks, blues, purples and greens.

About 5 years ago Spaceflight got a new layout director and printer and the quality of the layout, printing, and the covers improved dramatically.

Offline saturnapollo

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #326 on: 08/11/2022 08:42 pm »
I see what you mean. I picked you up wrongly.

However it certainly doesn't help if they do pick a darker scene, they then print it even darker. You can see there is quite a big difference between the original and what they printed.

Maybe it is a new house style.

Keith

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #327 on: 08/11/2022 11:23 pm »
I see what you mean. I picked you up wrongly.

However it certainly doesn't help if they do pick a darker scene, they then print it even darker. You can see there is quite a big difference between the original and what they printed.

That can definitely be a problem. It requires a good printer and people who pay attention to quality control at the printer. (Even good quality control is negated if the printing machine is lower quality to save cost.)

Just today somebody gave me a copy of a report I did 10 years ago on the astronaut corps and I noticed that it was actually part of a bad print run. I had put the flames from a shuttle launch on the cover of a report. But whoever did the initial print run did not pay attention, and the yellow flames had a greenish tint. They sent us a couple hundred copies printed that way. We objected and they re-did the print run at their expense.

But when it comes to the basic composition--what image to use and how to use it--that requires somebody who is paying attention and somebody who has an eye for it. I've dealt with people who don't know a good image from a bad one. I know somebody who once selected a nighttime shot of some people testing out EVA equipment in the desert. The whole image is really dark and it's difficult to understand what it shows. The person who made that selection had no idea that it was a lousy image.

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #328 on: 08/12/2022 01:59 pm »
It's probably worth bearing in mind that the cover image I uploaded yesterday will not be as dark in real-life. Since the BIS ceased to update their webshop, I've had to grab the Spaceflight cover images from Newsstand, an online magazine retailer here in the UK. They receive dozens of new mags every day and I don't know whether they scan the covers or just take a quick pic with a mobile phone. Images on their website are often under-exposed. Take a look at the latest issue of 'Heritage Railway':

https://www.newsstand.co.uk/166-railways-magazines/2824-subscribe-to-heritage-railway-magazine-subscription.aspx

I can assure you that the actual magazine cover is nowhere near as dark as it appears here! I suspect the same is true of Spaceflight. That said, Blackstar's point of picking brighter covers is a good one!

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #329 on: 08/12/2022 02:46 pm »
I can assure you that the actual magazine cover is nowhere near as dark as it appears here!

I haven't seen a physical copy of the magazine in a couple of years now (look up-thread for my explanation why). The printing quality was great, however. Thick cover stock, good color.

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #330 on: 08/24/2022 08:49 am »
Here is another image of the September 2022 cover, this time grabbed from the 'Unique Magazines' website. As I suspected, the earlier image (taken from the Newsstand website) was under-exposed. This one is more representative of the actual magazine cover!

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #331 on: 08/24/2022 02:27 pm »
Thank you. That does look better. I still think they need to go with more colorful photos--launch photos, daytime on Earth photos. But that's just me, vampires may prefer the dark.

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #332 on: 09/08/2022 07:12 pm »
A first look at the October 2022 cover. I took this image from the 'Unique Magazines' website as (once again) the one on the Newsstand site was under exposed!

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #333 on: 10/13/2022 11:31 am »
A first look at the November 2022 cover. Hopefully, this one will be a bit better received!

Offline LtCmdr

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #334 on: 11/03/2022 09:22 am »
Sharing a few photos of my recent visit to the BIS HQ at South Lambeth Road in Southern London
.
 ;)

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #335 on: 11/03/2022 01:23 pm »
Sharing a few photos of my recent visit to the BIS HQ at South Lambeth Road in Southern London
.
 ;)

That building is probably worth a huge amount of money--or at least it was a few years ago, when there was a lot of new construction in that area. They have an impressive library of space books.

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #336 on: 11/17/2022 11:00 am »
A first look at the December 2022 cover:

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #337 on: 12/08/2022 07:28 pm »
A first look at the January 2023 cover:

Online Blackstar

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #338 on: 12/10/2022 01:04 pm »
Thank you for continuing to post these. They have not updated their website for the magazine in a year:

https://bis-space.com/shop/product-category/magazines/spaceflight/

I've mentioned this before numerous times, but the last time I saw a physical copy of the magazine it was beautifully produced. It was good quality paper, nice layout (not fancy, but still pretty good). It felt like a high-quality publication. I think the one area they have fallen down in terms of presentation is their covers. They really haven't had a good cover in a few years. Everything is dark and not terribly interesting. There are so many great space photos that they could have used. Where are the photos of the dramatic launches? Where are the JWST photos? If you want to stand out, you have to use bright, vibrant colors. But they keep going with black space photos and so the covers always just disappear into darkness.

Offline aurora899

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Re: Spaceflight Magazine
« Reply #339 on: 12/10/2022 01:10 pm »
Yes, I don't know what's happened to the website. As you say, it hasn't been updated in over a year now. You're right about the covers - the only decent one was November 2022, the Chinese rocket launch!

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