Digital PhotographyProf. Vaccaro

Hofstra University

Today’s class roadmap

Review Assignment No. 1 (editorial plan)

Lecture on Digital photography

Digital Photography

Digital allows as many photos as your memory card can handle, often hundreds

Ability to analyze photos immediately

Smartphones and laptops allow for immediate uploads

Camera typesPoint and shootDigital SLR: Single Lens ReflexSmartphone

Digital Photo Basics

Read the manual and understand you’re tool

Repetition is key to improvement

Hold the camera steady and with proper form

Get close to the action, don’t be afraid to get what you need, when you need it

Think about your audience and how they will react to your photos

More on Digital Photos

Think about the big shot, the front page

Think about photo galleries, images for video or shots that can be used in the future

Don’t forget your deadline and shipping photos to your editor as fast as possible

Ethics: Do not misrepresent a photo, add a dimension or delete anything (cropping is fine for the most part)… unethical journalism is very common with digital photography and unacceptable

Record ALL necessary info for captions

More on Digital Photos

Go where the other photographers aren’t

Don’t forget all equipment: tri-pod, batteries, extra memory cards, etc.

Act natural and move around

Be aware of the background

Keep the light behind you

Editing: iPhoto, Photoshop, basic cropping and lighting all work

Mobile photography

Think mobile first in a pinch

Have the proper apps downloaded for editing, for uploading, etc.

How can you utilize Instagram with journalism?

Keep stabilization in mind … could be very blurry

Smart phone accessories

Glif … $20

Tripod … $15

Smart phone accessories

Owle Bubo … $175

Fish eye lens … $5

Camera apps for iPhone

• Adobe Photoshop Express … for editing (although phones and apps now have their own internal editing)

• Drop Box … for storage/uploading

• Instagram/Hipstamatic … for social features/lens

• Flickr … upload/storage

• Pic stitch … photo collage

• Pro HDR … for photo design/effects

EthicsChanging photos is unethical

Editing color can be borderline unethical

Taking photos from another site is unethical

Known your boundaries … your rights … i.e. Phil Datz situation

Photo ExamplesNY Times Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/

Newsday.com

ESPN.com

Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated and more …

Video LecturesLet’s watch a couple of videos about

photojournalism techniques and tips

Take notes on your blog and be prepared to talk about one or two key points from each later in class

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

Assignment No. 2DUE: Tuesday, Sept. 23 … one week

Photo gallery of an event on campus (Off-campus if you prefer … check with me)

Use Flickr; register for a login ID, then upload photos to create a gallery

Take 10 photos and write caption for eachUsing either your phone or a camera

Write graph explaining the image gallery and a headline “Assignment No. 2: Photo gallery” on your blog and post the link, then tweet it out using #HUJrnl10 and @ChrisVaccaro