Digital Photography

Prof. Vaccaro

Hofstra University

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 types Point and shoot Digital SLR: Single Lens Reflex Smartphone

Digital Photo Basics

• Read the manual and understand the machine you’re working with

• 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

• What works? Composition, emotion, light and outside-the-box

• 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.

• 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

• Drop Box … for storage/uploading

• Instagram/Hipstamatic … for social features/lens

• Flickr … upload/storage

• Photosynth … panoramic

• Pic stitch … photo collage

• Pro HDR … for

Ethics

• Changing 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 Examples

• NY Times Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/

• Newsday.com - let’s scroll their site

• ESPN.com - let’s look at just sports

Assignment No. 2

• Due Tuesday, Oct. 9

• Photo gallery of an event on campus Off-campus if you prefer (please check w/ me)

• Register, use VuVox.com

• 5-10 photos with captions Using either your phone or a camera

• Write graph/headline on your blog and post the link

• Tweet the link out