Would you like to see your image on the cover of your favorite magazine? Who wouldn't, but what does it take to get you there?

Editors of digital magazines are always on the lookout for great pictures to use on the cover of the mag, but it is not just a stunning image or idea that will get your picture on the cover.

Your image needs to be relevant to the digital nature of the magazine and perhaps this is one time where you can afford to be a little over the top or certainly a little less subtle. After all the Editors want to encourage sales of their magazine to digital enthusiasts and want to let them know by the cover shot that the mag is a creative digital photography magazine.

Look back at previous copies of your favourite magazine and study the sort of image used to get some ideas. An important part of a cover picture is that it must be in the correct format. The best picture in the world in landscape format is not likely to make a cover picture.

You will also need to bear in mind the "teasers". These are the little 2-3 line adverts down each side of the cover that tell readers what is included in the issue and you will see that the cover picture needs to leave space for them.

Cover pictures have to be good quality so it is not likely that the Editor will consider an image with a resolution under 200 pixels per inch and he would probably prefer 300. Having said that it is the image that counts and faced with a stunning image in the right format there is every chance that a lower resolution image could be chosen.

Where do you start to put together something to wow the Editor. Why not make yourself a template using your chosen software and build a mock up of your idea for a cover shot.

We used Photoshop and created a new blank canvas 11.75ins by 8.25ins, which is about the size of the magazine. Make the resolution at least 200 pixels per inch or 300 if you can. Try using your flatbed scanner to scan the logo from the top of an old copy of a magazine and copy and paste it into your template.

Use the move tools to move it into place and the edit-transform tools to get the right size.

You now have your template and can begin trying your images into the shape to see how it looks, but don't forget the space down each side for the "teasers".

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Unless you have a blinding idea to start with you may find that your idea and your image evolves as you progress just as ours did. Our image started with a shot of the Bertie Bassett hot air balloon as it was being inflated ready for launch. Although it was a well exposed and saturated image Bertie's face was looking away as you can see below, which lost a lot of impact.

However, we did have a close up of Bertie's face in another shot.

Using the tools of Photoshop we removed both of these images from their respective backgrounds and replaced Bertie's head.

Many of the tutorials cover the way you would create a transparency and cut out subjects like Bertie Bassett. Click here for a good tutorial that covers this subject.

This manipulation with Bertie Bassett had the advantage that it made this shot of Bertie rather unique as he is usually looking forward. Bertie's image was copied within the layers palette and using the Photoshop filters his image was converted to a line drawing. This line drawing was tidied up quite a bit using a layer mask and a separate layer was used to repair any parts that were not well defined.

The white parts of the line drawing where selected and removed and our original Bertie and his line drawing where then combined using layer masks to give the impression that he was being drawn and painted. Layers and layer masks are covered in many tutorials on this web site.

Using our Nikon Coolpix 990 camera we photographed a hand holding an artists brush and after removing all the unwanted background detail copied this into a new layer. It then needed to be sized and turned using the transform tools until it fitted into the composition. A slight drop shadow added to the effect along with the colour that was added to the paint brush.

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It occurred to us at this stage that we could make one or two more changes to Bertie to fit in with our cover picture. Using a selection we cloned out Bertie's eyes and created some new ones on separate layers. We could then arrange to have Bertie looking down at the hand that was painting him. We also realized that we could remove the cane that he holds in his hand and replace it with a rolled up copy of DPFX. After photographing the magazine, making sure it was a recent issue, we removed it from the background and using those layer masks again placed the magazine in Bertie's hand.

Some other props were also photographed and imported into the image like a pencil and a pencil sharpener and drop shadows were added to these to just to give some depth to the image.

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We also used one or two other balloons and a basket from other pictures and experimented with some different backgrounds. At the final count around 20 layers where used to construct the image.

Don't get intimidated by our 20 layered image. Most of our layers contained shadows, individual balloons and other bits and pieces, so it sounds far more complex than it actually was.

Get your own template made and try and impress your favourite magazine Editor with your ideas. Who knows yours may be the one he chooses. When you send your masterpiece to the Editor try and include a layered example. This will allow the magazine layout staff to make some size adjustments if the image requires it. It is also a good idea to include some thumbnails of your image so that they can be brought up on screen and viewed quickly and try to include a good quality hard copy print.

Make it as easy as possible for your work to be seen and you will increase your chance of a cover shot. Finally, if you wrap your parcel up with 5 miles of tape, don't be too surprised if the cover shot is chosen even before they get yours open.