Sixth form magazine front cover photography

This was the original photo that I have chosen to use. I have chosen to use this photo to use for my magazine front cover because I feel once cropped it will correctly represent the sixth form as a hard working, yet relaxed environment. I originally took this photo as I thought it was a nice contrast of personalities of different students on opposite ends of the tree trunk, the person on the right (Josh) being the more ideal SHSG student and therefore the person I would focus in on as I have chosen to use this picture. The reason I wouldn't focus on the person on the left of the photo (Emily) is because the connotation for her talking on her phone is that shes cares little for her school work, and more for her social life - which is not how I would like the school to be represented.

Here, I have cropped the original picture to show only Josh, the harder working student. I chose to use only him in the picture for my front cover because the connotation of a student leaning up against the tree is that the school is a fairly laid back environment and relaxed, and the connotation for him reading through a book/folder is that the students who attend the sixth form are hardworking. When cropping this photo I tried to apply the rule of thirds the best I could, with the focus on Josh - who is slightly towards the left.

This is the photo I have chosen to use for my front cover.

In this version of the cropped image I have chosen to enhance the colour. I did this to make the colours in the image more flattering, and a bit brighter - as the natural lighting on the day of photography was quite dim and cold as it was a cloudy day. I am happy with the appearance of the image now, as I feel the more vivid colours give the photo more life and also make it seem happier and slightly warmer. As this was just a small change, the photo still looks natural and unedited, which I like.  

I then added - colour fade 2, boost colour 1, slight increase saturation, slight increase exposure. After this little session of experimentation with the editing tools on iPhoto, at first glance I felt like it'd improved the image further. But when I compared it to the previous version (where all I had done was enhance the colour slightly) I felt this version looked far too serious and too cold for the cover of a light hearted student magazine. I then decided as I preferred the other edited photo, I would use that one instead for my front cover.