Test Shots for the Contents Page

The purpose of doing these Test Shots for my Contents page was to experiment with images and get an idea of how I would place things on the contents page (get an idea of layout). I chose to use a male model because I feel that by using a male, it will help set the genre of my magazine and also make it appeal to both men and women (which is what I want). I think that if I use another image of a female on the contents page, the magazine will come across more pop like and my target audience won't be reached.
I chose to dress the model in hip hop style clothes, especially noticing the hoody, and the shoes. I also wanted to include a guitar. This was because I had looked at many magazines for inspiration and a lot of them tended to include a guitar. Also, an idea that sprung to mind was to create a 3D kind effect. If you look back at my contents page mock ups and also on my pitch, there is a contents page where an artist is throwing a record which overlaps onto the 'Contents' cover line. I really like this idea so I'm considering, for my final shots, to create the same effect, however replacing the record with a guitar.

I took 100-120 photos all together and narrowed them down to the ones I have on here...
Beginning with the first shot, I really like the black and white colour scheme, and also I like the pose and the angle. I think this image portrays a love for music and gives off feelings of inspiration. It fits in with my genre because it has the 'cool' effect.
I like the pose of the second shot, and the way the model is stood. However I don't like how the guitar is positioned. I dislike like how it points and I feel like the image doesn't come together because the end of the guitar is almost coming forward and I feel like it needs to be brought back into the image so that the model is the main focus rather than the guitar.
To begin with, I did like the third shot's angle. However after analysing it I don't think it works. The image is too complicated but also seems boring. I don't think it would work on my contents page.
I like the fourth shot, once again, partly because it's black and white. I think the black and white colour scheme makes it more professional and as a whole, looks better. If I was to do this again, I'd position the guitar slightly up towards the middle part of the picture, so that it isn't just hanging at the bottom.
I like this fifth pose because of the leaning forward positioning. I think this reflects the genre and has an attitude effect to it.
The sixth and seventh pose are slightly similar. However I prefer the seventh pose more than the sixth BUT I prefer the colour scheme on the sixth rather than the seventh. I think this pose would look good on the contents page. However my minds still set on using the 3D effect that I want.
The rest of the poses definitely portray my music genre and I think they go really well and would look good. I feel like I've got the clothing of the model just about ideal along with the poses. With the final image, I just wanted to try out a different angle, and brought the main focus on the shoes. However I don't plan to use an image like this on my contents.

Overall, doing these test shots gave me a general idea of what sort of images I want to use on the contents page and how I would use them on the layout. It's made me more confident with my genre as I managed to create the look that I feel is perfect for my magazine. I have compared some of the test shots with my contents magazine mock ups and I've got an idea of where they would go on the page. I feel that these kind of test shots I've taken would work better on the first and third contents page.