Multimedia Perspective

Melanie Burford, a staff photographer for the Dallas Morning News who was part of a team that won the 2006 Pulitzer prize for breaking news photography, spoke to Akins Journalism students at the TAJE convention over the weekend.

Amoung the major points that she made is the fact that multimedia is one of the most important skills that journalists and particularly photojournalists need to master if they are going to have a chance of being hired in the near future.

Look at what she did with her work for the traditional print newspaper, The Dallas Morning News.

Assignment:
1. Go to the following site
Sugar Hill


2. Watch the slideshow, and answer the following on your blog:
A. What skills in addition to photography did Melanie Burford utilize to produce this slideshow?
B. What was the effect (added power or meaning) of the multimedia effects of the slideshow.

3 . Explore the page including the map, videos and the other features. What is the most interesting multimedia effect? Post your answer on your blog.

Photoshop Basics - Editing photos for publications

Step one- Drag Photos across the network

On your desktop - find the "Journalism Network" Icon and open it
You will see a shortcut to all of the computers in the room. The files for this assignment can be found on the "J3" and "J4" computers.

Open your folder on your computer (You should have made a folder named your name inside of "My Documents" on the computer you use.

You should now have two windows open on your desktop. In the J3 or J4 computer, find the "photojournalism" folder. Drag the "edit shoot" folder into your folder.


Step two - Open and edit photos in Adobe Bridge

Open Adobe Bridge (Shell Icon).
Point bridge to the folder on YOUR computer.
Allow the photos to render. (Wait)
Edit the photos as follows:

• Cut the junk - With unusable photos (out of focus, poorly shot, etc.) selected, Hit "Ctrl + Delete"
• Rate the rest - Rate all of the remaining photos with 1-5 stars by hitting "Ctrl + 1-5". A five star shot is amazing and award winning. A one star shot will probably never be used.
• Label the Best - In the Metadata of the four and five star photos, Enter your name, and "Cross Country" in the description field

Step Three - Open and Crop Photos in PhotoShop

Watch the demonstration in class to learn how to do the following to the BEST photos.

• Rotate the canvas
• Set the crop tool and crop for different uses (Online, Newspaper, Yearbook)
• Adjust color levels
• Set to grayscale and sharpen (for Newspaper)
• Save in different formats

Step Four - Save or "publish" your photos

You will end up with three edited photos.

1. A four or five star color photo set to 8"X10" and 72 dpi, saved as "online_edit" and posted on your blog. (saved as .jpeg)
2. A four or five star color photo set to 8"X10" and 300 dpi, saved as "yearbook_edit" in your folder. (saved as .tiff)
3. A four or five star grayscale photo set to 8"X10" and 170 dpi, saved as "newspaper_edit" in your folder. (saved as .tiff)

Wrapping things up

First - Get caught up
Read over the assignments on this class blog, and make sure you have completed ALL of the assignments (Including emailing your PowerPoint). Finish or perfect anything you need to work on. Late is better than a "0"

Second- Capture your shooting experience
If you haven't shot, shoot TODAY. This is your last chance during class. (I will be out on Wed., so "A" day students can shoot through Friday)

We will start processing next class.

On your blog - Answer the following questions about shooting your first real photojournalism assignment:

1. What challenges did you encounter while trying to get close, capture real moments, and capture action or emotion? How did you deal with these?

2. What technical aspects of photography (focus, exposure, composition) did you find yourself thinking about the most, and how did you make sure you did these correctly?

3. Describe how you attempted to use at least one of the advanced composition techniques when you shot.


Third - Extra credit

Register for NewsU
Go To : http://www.newsu.org/
Click on "Register with newsu"
Complete the registration process, and WRITE DOWN YOUR USER NAME AND PASSWORD!!!!
Once Logged in,click on courses > course list

Click on Photojournalism > Community Service Photojournalism: Lessons from a Contest (2005)

Click on "Enroll" and work through the amazing lessons.
Pay attention - there will be a big extra credit opportunity coming up.

What the pros are doing - Sports

Go to the following site:

Bob Rosato's Favorite Shots

Save your favorite photo and post it on your blog. Under the photo, post the following:
Focal length of lens -
Shutter Speed -
What is the effect of shooting at this shutter speed?
Aperture-
What is the effect (Depth of field) of shooting at this aperture?

Position - Describe where you think the photographer was standing to get this shot.

Discuss your 9/11 composition shots

Now that you have found good examples of the different composition techniques in 9/11 photos, go back and edit your posts and discuss the photos. Explain your choices.

How to edit a post in Blogger - From the Dashboard, select "manage: posts" and click on the WORD "edit" next to the post you want to add to.

What to discuss - Be specific - Describe specific elements in the photo. Explain what the technique is all about. Explain the EFFECT of the technique.

Example

Lines

Good Example - In this photo, the red stripes of the flag and the grey ladder all form lines that lead the eye to the man playing the bagpipe. Since these lines are diagonal, they give the photo a dynamic feel.

Bad Example - The flag makes leading lines to the guy.

Turn in (Email) your completed PowerPoint

Send your PowerPoint as an attachment to mconnoll@austinisd.org. Title your email "PowerPoint."

9/11 Composition

Overview
Like great pieces of art, great photojournalism shots are well composed. The photographer carefully places the elements of a photo within a frame in order to tell a story in the most visually powerful way possible.

Unlike art, the content of photojournalism is not, for the most part, controlled by the photographer.

This was never more true than during the attacks of September 11, 2001. This has been called one of the most photographed events in history.

Imagine being a photojournalist on that day, running into this disaster while most people are running away. In the midst of this misery and chaos, it is your job to capture the the human side of the story in an orderly and effective way.

Assignment

You will learn about some composition techniques and find examples of how photojournalists applied them to the chaos of 9/11.

First - Everyone must read about the the rules of "Simplicity, The Rule of Thirds, Lines, Balance, Framing, and Avoiding Mergers" on the following web site:

Composition Web Site

Next- Go to the site below, and find excellent examples of photos shot on 9/11 that follow each of the rules.

Post one example of each of the techniques from the composition web site.
The title of the post should be the name of the technique.

For example- Post a photo with "Framing" as the title.

9/11 photos

After Printing Post

Capture what you have learned

Post exactly how you did the following:

Cleaned Negatives
Loaded Negative into enlarger
Focused image
Set aperture
Made test strip
Made Final Print

PhotoShop Intro Lessons

Go to the PhotoShop section of Atomic Learning:
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/photoshopcs2_intro_pc

Work through the "A. PhotoShop Basics" section in order.
Make sure your volume is turned up, and use headphones if possible.
Use any photo on your computer in photoshop to practice.

Great Black and White Photographers - The Assignment

After you finish the preview-

Do the following:
Ope PowerPoint and start a new presentation. Save this in your folder on your desktop.
NAME IT- BW_photog_your_initials

Research your photographer and make the following slides:

1. Title Slide - Your favoprite photo by the photog, the photogs name, and "By Your Name"
2. Bio Slide - List four important facts about the photographer's Life. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE! Some facts to look for A. Birth and Death Years, Major Topics Photographed, Famous Photos, Jobs, Type of Camera Used, Type of Photography, etc. - INCLUDE A PHOTO OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER IF POSSIBLE
3-5. - Critique Slides - Include three great examples of the photographer's work. In the Speaker Notes Section of the Slide, include anything you know about the photo, and write a brief critique. Mention composition, Lighting, Exposure, and Content. Be Specific,
6. - Inspiration slide - Complete the following statement- In order to shoot like this photographer, but in this time, I will . . .

Save your work

Great Black and White Photographers - Preview

As we learn about the final step of the darkroom process: The print, we will also be learning about some of the masters of photography who worked mainly in the B&W White medium.

The thousands of hours these photographers spent in the darkroom perfecting their prints were as important to the final power of their prints as was their hard work and artistic eye when they originally shot them.

First - Preview some of the masters
Go to
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/

Click through all of the master photographers listed on the left side of the site. Look at their
photos.

Next - Choose three you like
Choose well because you will be assigned one of these photographers for a more extensive assignment.

At least two of the three must have done documentary work (candid photos of people)

On your blog - Post the names of the photographers you like and your favorite photo from each.



Revised Schedule

•Next Class –
–In the darkroom, Contact Sheets
–Great B&W Photographer Assignment
•Next Week –
–In the darkroom, Individual Enlargement Prints
–Begin PhotoShop work