UNCP Photojournalism

Digital image quality

2011-12-15T11:04:00.002-05:00

When we talk about the quality of a digital image we usually are thinking of two things:
• the total number of pixels that compose the image
• the number and accuracy of the colors in the image

The number of pixels is expressed in two ways:
• the dimensions. For example, an image might be said to be 1024 x 768 pixels
• the total number pixels in the image. For example, an image might be said to be a 1.5 megapixel image.

An image file with more pixels will produce a higher quality image and will make larger prints better than an image with fewer pixels.

The second quality measure is the total number of colors recorded in the image file. We call this the bit depth of the image. It's the number of colors possible in a digital file.

Sometimes the number of colors is referred to as bits per color channel. Most image files have three channels - red, green and blue. This results in three times the bits per channel.

• 8 bits per color channel or 24-bit total color = 16.7 million colors
• 8-bit color = 256 colors
• 4-bit color = 16 colors
• 1-bit color = 2 colors

Digital cameras

2011-05-22T09:37:00.005-04:00

Our digital cameras allow us to concentrate on the content of the photo while the camera does most of the technical work. We can see and edit our photos instantly.

Once there was only print media and then, not long ago, we could display our digital photos on traditional websites. Today we add to that 21st century media technologies such as blogs, wikis, Twitter streams, Flickr images, podcasts, YouTube videos, social networks, virtual worlds and machinima.

Here's a web page where you can learn more about New Media technologies:
http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/NewMediaCommunicationTechnologies.html

And a collection of New Media buzzwords in a glossary:
http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/NewMediaBuzzwords.html

Flickr is all about digital still photography. Here's the Flickr photostream for the Photojournalism & Photojournalists group, which has thousands of members:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/p-p/

The Flickr blog:
http://blog.flickr.net/en

Photobucket is another image-sharing website:
http://photobucket.com/

Photobucket's photojournalism collection:
http://photobucket.com/images/photojournalism/

An example of a photography blog known as The Digital Journalist:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/

And an example of a wiki. This one is called Photography Wiki:
http://photography.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Here's a list of Twitter photographers:
http://wefollow.com/twitter/photography

And a directory of photography news on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/photographynews

The official Facebook page of photojournalism:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PhotoJournalism/31072184215

The New York Times "Lens Blog" is a photo viewer of images, which some might say represent the best photojournalism in the world. It's a visual journalism archive:
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/

A collection of digital still portrait photography and photojournalism on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9HQygVbfGM

See also the Photography, Photojournalism, Video and Machinima headings on my Resources for Courses page:
http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/ResourcesForCourses.html

The thing about depth Of field

2010-04-27T11:53:00.011-04:00

Depth of field is a big deal because it directly affects the composition, acceptability, desirability, and general artistry of your images.

Depth of field refers to the parts of the scene in focus in front of and behind the subject.

Sometimes you want the depth of field to be so shallow that the background is entirely blurred with no definition at all.

That directs a viewer’s attention where you want it.

Background vs. foreground

Out-of-focus backgrounds are not only acceptable, but often desirable.

However, out-of-focus foregrounds can be unattractive and even distracting.

For an out-of-focus foreground to look right, it should be just a blur of color.

Four factors when you shoot:

1. Lens focal length. The longer the focal length, the less depth of field in the image. On the other hand, as the focal length shortens, depth of field increases. Long telephotos have very shallow depth of field.

2. Lens aperture. As the lens closes down to a small opening, depth of field increases toward the maximum the lens can provide. When you choose to use large lens apertures, you lose depth of field.

3. Distance to the subject. When you move in close to a subject, such as when doing close-up or macro photography, or when you want to fill the frame with a small object, depth of field decreases. On the other hand, as you back away from the subject, depth of field increases.

4. In close-up or macro photography, placing the camera so its back is parallel to the subject, increases depth of field. When the camera back is slanted to the plane of the subject, depth of field is reduced.

There is a shot where you don't have to worry about depth of field. Everything will be in focus at any lens aperture when the elements in the scene are far away. Large lens apertures give you shallow depth of field. However, a wide-angle lens has tremendous depth of field so more of the picture comes into focus.

As usual, a tripod helps

When you close the lens down to use a small aperture, less light enters the camera. The lightmeter must compensate for the light loss to maintain a correct exposure. The shutter speed becomes longer. A tripod steadies the camera, reducing the possibility of blurring images of stationary objects.

When you move in very close to small objects in macro photography, depth of field becomes limited by the shooting distance between the subject and lens. Small apertures often are used in close-up photography to recover that loss in depth of field. That forces the use slow shutter speeds. Use a tripod when doing macro photography. Otherwise, the photos will be blurred or else have very shallow depth of field.

The same is true when using a long telephoto lens. Any movement will be magnified in the lens and a tripod would stabilize the camera and lens for a sharp image.

Water droplet reflections

2010-03-30T11:06:00.005-04:00

Adding water can make your flower images seem mysterious and more attractive. Here's how to grab the reflections in water droplets.

Shooting after a rain shower provides natural raindrops. On the other hand, you can create your own raindrops with a spray bottle of water.

Spraying water

After a rain, go out and look for raindrops or, if no rain, use the spray bottle of water.

If you continually spray a flower, water will accumulate in certain places to form large drops. This may give you more control because you can spray from different angles if you want a raindrop in a certain area.

Some photographers use glycerin in an eyedropper to place their droplets where they want. Glycerin is sticky, so your droplet will hold on better, but it's also more difficult to move. Don't get your camera sticky!

Shoot outside on a day with no wind.

Steady tripod

Place a tripod low to the ground.

Shoot in macro with a narrow depth-of-field. Use a macro lens or macro setup with a telephoto lens with extenders.

Put the camera on the tripod with the macro lens focused on your raindrop or water droplet.

Use something you devise to hold the flower or flowers firmly in place.

Move in close

Move your view in so close that you see the flower reflected in the raindrop or water droplet.

Focus on the reflection inside the raindrop, not the contours of the raindrop.

If you accidentally bump the flower and knock the raindrop off, spray on some new droplets.

See the reflection

Make sure you are able to see through the droplet so a reflection appears. You won't want to merely photograph the surface of the raindrop. Instead, shoot through it.

Pick a raindrop or water droplet with minimum glare. Avoid highlights which will reduce the vividness of the reflection.

With the camera mounted firmly on the tripod, compose a picture with S or C curves so the image seems to flow.

Focus the macro lens on the center of the water droplet, where the flower reflection appears.

A blurry background will provide a pleasant image of the in-focus droplet and reflection.

CNN's offbeat images

2008-12-03T21:44:00.010-05:00

The Cable News Network publishes on its website photos that CNN's editors find fun or amazing.

There's a set of half a dozen to a dozen new pix each week under the label Offbeat Images.

Here is a page of links to various week's "fun photos from around the world." CNN Offbeat Images

You'll notice these usually don't represent the best technical photogaphy or the finest artistic photography. Rather, they are photojournalism.

[What is photojournalism?]

Dump the date

2008-11-23T12:42:00.007-05:00

I'll bet you've seen a wonderful photo ruined by a date and time stamp. There may be some professionals in different fields who need time and date embedded in a picture, but not a photojournalist striving for the very best shot.

Here's an under-appreciated fact: there's no need to mar your photo because the digital image file contains metadata with the date and time of the shot, along with a wealth of other information such as exposure data, the lens you used, and more. You can read the metadata on your computer.

So, turn off the date-time stamp.

However, what if later you discover you've created a photo with the camera's date stamp feature turned on? Here are some ways to get rid of it from a photo.

Crop the photo

The easiest way to eliminate the date stamp is to use your photo editor's crop tool. The date stamp is almost always positioned in the lower right corner of the image, where a little surgery with Adobe Photoshop Elements or any other photo editing software might not affect the rest of the photo very much.

Click the Crop tool and make sure the Aspect Ratio is set to No Restriction in the Options palette. Next, click and drag a crop box in the photo until the date stamp is gone.

Keep track of the date and time data. You can add the date the photo was taken to your image file's metadata. Windows Live Photo Gallery is one of a number of programs that can do that for you.

Find your newly cropped photo in Photo Gallery. Right-click the file and choose Change Time Taken. Now adjust the date to match the original date stamp, and click OK.

Rubber stamp over it

You might not always want to crop your photo to eliminate the date stamp. Instead, you could use your photo editor's Rubber Stamp or Clone tool to paint it out.

If there is a regular, non-patterned background behind the date this kind of surgery will be easy. If the background has a pattern, you will have to be very careful.

Open the image file in a photo editor, such as Photoshop Elements. Choose the Rubber Stamp or Clone tool. Set the size of the clone brush to about 30 pixels, or increase the brush size for larger photos. Alt-Click an area very close to the date stamp. Then just paint the date away until all you can see is the background.

Freeze the action

2008-11-23T12:31:00.005-05:00

No matter how cute the baby, furry animal or wind-blown scene is you're photographing, be sure to freeze the action, or the only thing people will notice is that it's blurry.

Practice techniques for taking steady photos, such as using a tripod or stable support as often as you can.

It even will help to earn how to use the aperture priority or shutter priority control on your camera to freeze the action with a fast shutter speed.

In low light conditions, you can increase the ISO setting of the camera to force faster shutter speeds.

Also see these posts below:
Sharp night shots without a tripod
Panning for that speedy look

Keep it level

2008-11-23T12:23:00.003-05:00

Sometimes we're so busy framing and exposing the perfect image, we forget to hold the camera straight.

Our brains filter and correct the data our eyes see and may not warn us that a scene in the viewfinder isn't level.

What to do? Pay attention to keeping a photo level.

However, if you do take a crooked photo, don't fret. You can straighten it easily with a leveling tool found in almost any photo editing program, such as Photoshop Elements.

Watch the light

2008-11-23T12:12:00.009-05:00

The beauty of the automatic digital camera is you don't have to think about exposure settings -- the quantity and quality of light around your subject. The camera does that for you.

Getting the proper exposure is important, of course, so keep in mind that sometimes you can't rely entirely on your camera to get it right.

Here's a trick to avoid shooting in very contrasty lighting.

If you can see both direct sunlight and shadow in your viewfinder, you'll are likely to obtain a lower-quality exposure. The way around the problem is to try reframing the shot to get more-even lighting in the scene. Not necessarily more light, but more-even lighting.

The hours in the middle of the day are not as good for outdoor photography because of the overhead light is strong and harsh. Try to shoot earlier or later.

If there's strong sunlight in the background of your image, the camera will probably overcompensate and underexpose the subject.

Also see the post below:
Love those overcast days

Focus on your subject

2008-11-23T11:17:00.004-05:00

Consider your subject. There should be some specific element in a photo that you want to emphasize to show off, to call attention to. For instance, a person, an animal, a flower, a building.

Rule of Thirds
Imagine dividing your photo into a grid, like a tic-tac-toe board, with two vertical and two horizontal lines.

Position your subject in the camera's viewfinder frame where two of those lines intersect.

Arrange the scene you see in the camera's viewfinder so that your subject is at the intersection of two of those "third lines" in your photo. That means not dead center or at an edge of the frame.

Using this Rule of Thirds, you will get the most visual impact.

Of course, you'll also want the subject in sharp focus. If the subject is sharply defined, it would be okay -- and sometimes even a good idea -- for the rest of the photo to be out of focus so the eyes of people who see your photo will be drawn to the subject.

Battery charge

2006-10-13T08:38:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check the charge on your camera battery.

Panning for that speedy look

2006-02-19T15:14:00.000-05:00

Panning is a technique you can use to create a blurred background – depicting movement – while keeping your subject sharp. This works for a moving car, person, animal or other object. Here’s how to go about it:

Pre-focus on a spot directly in front of you where your subject will be when you start the exposure. You could have someone stand there, or place an object there, so your camera can focus on that spot.
Stand firmly with the camera to your eye and twist the upper part of your body slightly in the direction from which the subject will come.
Begin following the subject as soon as it appears in your camera’s viewfinder.
When the subject reaches the spot you focused on, trip the shutter and continue following the subject in one smooth movement.
The background should be of uneven tones and the path of motion should be as parallel as possible.
Use the slowest possible shutter speed at the highest possible f-stop. A shutter speed around 1/15 to 1/30 of a second may work best.

Try some shots of a jogger, a cyclist and a car. Which turned out best?

Sharp night shots without a tripod

2006-02-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

You just can't get a sharp photo at night without something to support the camera. Photos become blurry or streaked when the shutter stays open long enough to ensure sufficient light enters the camera to make a picture. While the shutter is open, your hands move a little. You may tremble or the wind may blow the camera. Pictures made under such unsteady conditions turn out jittery or blurry. The hand movement causes streaks of light and fuzzy images.

Your long-exposure pictures will turn out better if you take the camera out of your hands and use some kind of support to steady it. A tripod is ideal, but what if you don't have one? Here are some substitutes:

a ledge
a step
a windowsill
a car roof
a car fender
a car window frame
a curb
a chair back
a wall
a sandbag
an extra firm pillow
a book bag
a camera bag

Once the camera is supported firmly, you need to find a a way to trigger the shutter without pushing down on the release button. Your pressing finger could cause the camera to wiggle.

An easy answer is to use the camera's self-timer. Fire it and the camera will stop jiggling during the ten seconds it waits to shoot.

Some cameras also will accept a remote shutter release cable or a radio-controlled shutter release.

If all else fails, import your undesirably jittery or blurry photos into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements or similar software and slightly increase clarity by applying an unsharp mask or sharpen filter.

Tracking the wild huckleberry

2006-02-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

Spring is about here. Now is the time to begin to follow the return to life of a plant, shrub or tree in a series of photos recording new growth over time. Find a dogwood, redbud, azalea, rhododendron, forsythia, magnolia, barberry, hawthorn, huckleberry, viburnum, or any other plant, shrub or tree that buds and flowers, and shoot it everyday from bare to blossom. Place your photo sequence in a PowerPoint slide show that will run like a time-lapse movie. Or use Photoshop Elements or other image editing software to display your plant's progress in a grid of photos.

Love those overcast days

2006-02-12T07:58:00.000-05:00

Bright sunlight can make a landscape look good, but you'll have better luck on an overcast day when you want to shoot portraits outdoors. The light is diffused and will flatter your subject. Also, the light won't change much from minute to minute so the camera won't have to be changed a lot.

What is photojournalism?

2006-01-29T08:50:00.001-05:00

Journalism is the work of gathering, writing, editing and disseminating news stories via mass media.

Photojournalism is journalism that presents news stories primarily through the use of images, photos, pictures.

Photojournalists emphasize recording and communicating current events by documenting occurrences and the world around them. Drama and emotion, suspense and excitement, beauty and ugliness are part of photojournalists' daily agenda as they create images that become part of history.

How is it different? Photojournalism differs from fine-art photography, which concentrates on self-expression through photography. Fine-art photographers explore photography as art. They engage in historic studies, criticism and gallery exhibitions. They seek technical proficiency to further the aesthetic and social concerns of visual communication.

Photojournalists also differ from photographic and imaging technologists who use traditional and digital imaging tools to create highly perfected conventional and non-conventional photographic images.

The photojournalist's work falls someplace between the works of the artist and the technologist. While the artist and technologist take the time necessary to perfect the qualities they seek in their images, the photojournalist often has to forego technical and artistic perfection and shoot quickly as worldly events are brief, ephemeral, episodic, fleeting, impermanent, momentary, passing, short-lived, temporary, transitory and volatile.

The recording of a photo that successfully tells a story about a person, place or event, rather than the technical or artistic merit of the image, is the measure of photojournalism work.

Photojournalism documents life in a universal way that transcends cultural and language bounds.

Photojournalism at UNCP

2006-01-19T08:45:00.005-05:00

Welcome to this blog established for the courses JRN-3200, PRE-3200 and other photography and photojournalism courses in the Department of Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

This blog is a place where students and faculty share information about storytelling with a camera – who, what, where, when, why and how. Everyone, not just students, is welcome to share the variety of photo tips and techniques here.

What's it about?
It's about using digital photography for mass communication.

Photojournalism is the gathering, packaging and dissemination of news and information stories primarily through the use of photography, images, pictures.

Photojournalists today use digital cameras to record and store moving and non-moving images as a series of individual photo frames.

Basic photography and concepts of photojournalism are introduced through a wide variety of shooting assignments.

Digital photography employs a digital camera to record and store images in electronic memory rather than on film. Digital images can be moved directly from the camera into a computer and, if appropriate, processed with image manipulation software – a digital darkroom.

Mass communication conveys information to a dispersed audience through a transmitting device, or medium.

Anyway, everyone is welcome to share the information here.

How to reach the professor:

Anthony Curtis, Ph.D.
247 Old Main
(910) 521-6616
acurtis@uncp.edu