Photojournalism on the Web &Digital Storytelling

University of North TexasDepartment of Journalism

Visual JournalismFebruary 28, 2008

The Five ‘I’s

Interactivity Involvement Immediacy Integration In-depth

Basic Tips for Good Photos

Range of Values Understanding your lighting Contrast Shadows

Clear, sharply focused subjects Too far away Not focused

Composition & the ‘Rule of Thirds’

Understand where all objects are in the picture

Use your naked eye AND look through your viewfinder

Divide the picture into thirds – The main object or action of the picture should be near one of the intersecting points.

The “Decisive Moment”

Photos have to ‘tell’ a story Some circumstances are easy:

Academy Awards; Principal awarding the diploma; a ‘handshake’ closing a deal

Others are more difficult Keep shooting until you get it The “Aha” Moment Feel it in your gut

Challenges/Opportunities Digital Photography Unlimited capacity

The Ol’ Days: Limited space, wrong photo, badly cropped, size of photo doesn’t do event justice

Slide shows, photo galleries Multiple publishing formats More tools to improve

quality – or manipulate Control

Greater control on which images to use

Higher risk of managing copyright – ethical issues

Flexibility Immediacy Permanence/Archival Interactivity

Text

Static Graphic:

Photo

Text Box

Online

Discussion Lurker

Link

Interactive:

-Timeline

- fact box

- Slideshow

- map

Quiz

Interactive

Game

Interactive

Flash

Content

Online

Discussions

Reporter

Email

Interaction/Involvement Continuum

Low High

The greater the interaction and involvement, the higher the learning

Digital Storytelling Tools

Shovelware out, Within Media In It’s no place for lazy journalists Dig deeper, report more, drive to

find more sources, quicker Need to be more accurate and

more thorough Search, research and verify

Digital Storytelling Tools

Rules of the road: Tighter, shorter

copy Section heads Boldface type,

bulleted presentations

Pull out quotes Timelines

Links Fact Boxes Graphics Visuals Audio

Digital Storytelling Tools Drilling Down – What Really Works

Timelines Old School: Static graphic in chronological order New School: Dates, images, description, audio

http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/timelines

Quality Audio & Video Slide shows Story Boards

Story Boarding

It’s all about nonlinear!!!1) Divide the story into its logical, nonlinear

parts, such as:a) A lead or nut paragraph, essentially addressing

why this story is importantb) Profiles of the main person or people in the storyc) The event or situationd) Any process or how something workse) The history of the event or situationf) Other related issues raised by the story

Story boarding

Change the way you think: Avoid “First Part”, “Second Part”, etc. Divide the contents of story into

media elements Video Still photos Audio Graphics Text

Story boarding Determine which pieces of story work best with video

What a great way to see, hear, watch Decide which still photos you want

Creates moods, punctuates your text, adds context, richness Which audio? And will still photos work with it?

Bad audio detracts from the story, the audio and the entire package

What about graphics Animated graphics help show how things work Go where no cameras can go: e.g. showing how things work,

like cells or space

Story boarding Using maps

Google, government, satellite imaging Showing neighborhoods, patterns of crime

Text “Chunking stories”. Q&A. First-person. Investigative.

Complementary media, not redundant Match each element.

Interactivity means reader involvement