Photojournalism tips from a pro

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In “7 Photojournalism Tips” (above), you’ll see beautiful images made by Reuters photojournalist Damir Sagolj as he tells us, in a voiceover, his advice.

Some of this you’ve heard before, but it will be well worth your time to watch the video.

It’s not the camera. It’s you.

If you want proof, see the shots Jim Richardson took with an iPhone 5s in Scotland.

“Little by little we come around to taking the pictures the camera can do well.” — Jim Richardson,  who shoots for National Geographic Magazine

See Richardson’s Instagram feed.

WordPress photo gallery example

To create a photo gallery in a WordPress blog post, use the Add Media button while you in the post editor. An overlay will open. In the upper left corner of the overlay, click “Create Gallery.”

Here’s a gallery (it is NOT a photo story):

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

First you upload your images via the WordPress “Add Media” overlay. Then you create the gallery. Under GALLERY SETTINGS, choose “Link To: None” and “Type: Slideshow.”

You can see these photos and five more in this Dropbox photo album.

Here are instructions for Dropbox: How to Create and Share a Dropbox Photo Album

Blog post 13: Photo stories

The National Press Photographers Association has a monthly contest for its members. Looking at the winners in the “Feature/Multiple Picture” category is a great way to learn more about telling a story visually.

This is one of those assignments where you will select one item and write about it. Please dig around and try to find a photo story that really appeals to YOU. I won’t ask you you to post your selected story in advance, but please make an effort to choose one that no one else has written about.

To view the winners and choose one story:

1. First go to the 2013 winners page and select any link there (R1, R2, etc., stand for regions of North America).
2. From the region page, select any month.
3. On the month page, open the link for “Feature/Multiple Picture.” Only this category contains photo stories.
4. Choose a photo story to write about.

Photo 1: Practice photographing people indoors

IMPORTANT: All photos submitted for this assignment must be shot between Wednesday morning (Sept. 25) and Monday (Sept. 30) at midnight. Photos must NOT be edited in any way before uploading EXCEPT resizing.

The ability to deliver good images from a variety of real-life situations — this is useful in many journalism jobs.

Almost every digital camera has a variety of settings that will enable you to capture good, clear, usable shots indoors. Learning how to use these settings to get the best results will require you to PRACTICE with your camera.

Blog post 11: Your camera

In this post you have creative freedom to write about your relationship with your camera.

Include a photo of your camera in the post, and make sure the photo is as wide as the text of your post. No tiny pictures!

Make it personal. Write for an audience of professional journalists. Write in your own voice, as a student.

Blog post 10: Reading assignment

In this blog post, publish your notes from Kobré, chapter 1 (and page vi), and chapter 15. Your notes must appear in the form of two (2) numbered lists, one for each chapter. Write a brief statement above each list to explain or summarize that list.

The goal is for you to highlight or capture the ideas or information that resonated most strongly with you, in a format that other people might find interesting to read.

The list is not meant to represent everything in the chapter. It should represent what was most meaningful to YOU. Thus each student’s list will be different.

Please approach the reading with an open mind, with an attitude that there is much of use to be learned from this book. That’s why I assigned it — I think it’s well written and has wonderful examples.

Photojournalism materials

Here is the PowerPoint I showed in class about Better Photos for Journalism Stories (shooting tips). Useful for review before you go out to shoot the next time. It’s a PDF, so you can see my talking notes.

Here is the Web page from the week 6 class meeting: Links for Week 6. From that page, you can access the notes about using Adobe Photoshop for photojournalism, and the notes about how to make screen captures, and the link to my favorite screen-grab software (SnapzProX).

Remember, the screen-capture tools are also useful for determining the width and height of an image on a website, such as your own blog.

If you have any questions about photo shooting or photo editing, please post them here, as a reply to this post.

You’re also welcome to share any good links you’ve found that are relevant to photo shooting or photo editing.

A good example of “beyond radio” content

Check out this story at NPR and notice how it much it differs from the audio transcript:

9 Powerful Moments in the Day of a Viral Web Editor at BuzzFeed

Photos and radio are great companions!

And please note, everyone: A transcript is NOT the same as a script. Those two words are NOT interchangeable!