PhotojournalismThe Types of Shots, Elements of Shots, the Eight Basic

Images, the Composition, captions, and story structure, and a Scavenger Hunt

Everyone is a reporter!

Instagram is changing how we share pictures.

@dguttenfelder

A group of North Korean seamstresses at the Sonbong Textile Factory. A rare glimpse into the inner life of a nation normally obscured from public view. “Nobody knows anything about North Korea and what it looks like,” Guttenfelder told TIME magazine.

@philmoorephoto

Somali laborers work on a water catchment, or berked, which gathers rain water in anticipation of the dry season. The Somalians continue to fight for their lives amongst the violence in the Congo. “The utter

collapse of Congo has challenged the United Nations to rethink its role in the country” said, investigative journalist James Verini in a special

report for National Geographic.

@benlowy

An injured child recovers in a UN Mission trauma center in Juba, South Sudan. “Thousands of South Sudanese civilians have fled their homes following intense millitary clashes in the city of Juba,” Moore writes.

The photos you take, like these, should tell a visual story and breathe

life into our news publication.

Photojournalism

Sue Skalicky, nationally recognized high school journalism teacher, says, “Work on photos that tell the story!” Which means simply capture photos that tell the whole story or that are the whole story, not simply a part of that story or simply just some photo. The photos you take should tell a story visually and breathe life into the news publication.

Elements of Shots• Newsworthy photos are suitable to make the news;

they convey the news in them.

• Emotional photos are those where people’s emotions are shown in some way.

• Intimate photos display an intimate setting, where the subject is in some close relationship/partnership.

• Unusual photos are where the subject is captured in an unusual way, that may or may not capture details that we didn’t see/know before.

Types of Shots

• Cover Shot sets the mood of the subject. It begins the photo story (similar to a cover page for a report).

• Establishing Shot Who or what is the subject. Have you shown them in a unique way?

• Detail Shot The subject is shown in a very detailed way.

• Closing Shot is the final photo in the composition. It

sets the closure to the project.

• Filler shots that fills space, but stay on the topic.

The 8 basic images “The Crazy 8”

• Wide shot—both vertical and horizontal. Wide Shots are, think “widescreen”, shots that are the width of the viewfinder.

• Medium shot— both vertical and horizontal. Medium shots show the middle of the subject but not the whole subject.

• Close-up shot-- both vertical and horizontal. Close-ups are closely shot to the subject but not too close.

• Extreme close-up shot-- both vertical and horizontal. Extreme close-ups are shot extremely close to the subject and usually show close-up details we wouldn’t see with the naked eye.

 

Artistic Rules of Style Simplicity

Rule of thirds

Physical balance

Color balance

Framing

Lines

Simplicity concentrate on a few basic elements.

focus the viewer’s attention precisely where you want it.

Avoid cluttered backgrounds; by changing the angle or the perspective and getting up close to your subject, you can often produce a photograph that is visually stunning and has no distracting or extraneous elements that reduce the impact of your composition.

Professionals often position the primary component of their photograph off-center to add even more visual interest to the finished product.

Rule of Thirds Each shot is composed of three

different spatial elements. The foreground, middle-ground and background are all present in most landscape shots;

photographers can create visual appeal by naturally drawing the eye to the middle ground and focusing attention exactly where the photographer intends.

By manually setting exposure levels and deliberately selecting shots with these elements, amateurs and professionals alike can create works of art, rather than mere photographs.

Creating Balance

While balancing the physical components of a photograph is important, another aspect that is often overlooked is balancing the colors present in the shot.

Shots that focus heavily on first-order colors, also known as primary colors, tend to be more dramatic.

Certain colors, such as red, orange, and yellow, should usually be employed attract the eye and create dynamic tension within the photograph. Too many high-energy colors, especially in contrast to each other, can overwhelm the viewer and cause anxiety rather than producing the visual effects desired; by balancing strong tones with neutral ones, a more balanced composite shot can be achieved

Composition, captions, photo-essay story structure, intro to project

Composition is simply how the photo is taken to draw attention to the subject.

 Unique angles: above, below, to the side of the subject to take photos adds dimensions and artistic value to the photos.

 Leading lines: paths/lines that take you more into the photo: railings, trees, tree lines, all lead the audience into the subject of the photo.

Framing: look for natural frames that will frame you subject naturally in the photo.  Fill the frame: when capturing photos make sure to fill the viewfinder with subject material.

 Rule of thirds: divide the viewfinder into thirds so there are nine individual boxes. Make sure your subject is in the center of one of those thirds.  *All photos should use the rule of thirds, but other composition strategies can vary.

Captions

Three types of Caption:

Present Sentence is a sentence in the present tense and tells what is happening in the photo.

Past Sentence is a sentence in the past tense and provides additional information of the photo.

Quote Sentence is a sentence that is a reaction from someone in the photo. The person is quoted and attributed. *All three types of captions should be present with each photo.

Photo Essay Story Structure

There are many ways the photo essay could be structured. These are some, but many exist. Storehouse is an app that presents the photos in a visually-attractive way, with photos and text appearing easily vertically or horizontally.

Steller is another app. It presents the photos in a book form.

FlickR and Wordpress Slideshow are online tools that present the photo essay as a slideshow.

360 Panoramic is an app that will allow you to take photos of a full area, 360 degrees.

Introduction to project• You will be Paired into groups of 4-5

• With your partner(s) think of five possible subjects and write them down. Examples of subjects: a student’s life, transportation, nature.

• As a group, come to a consensus as to two possible subjects.

• Your group will write a story visually with the photos you take and caption them in a way is accurate and adds to the story you’re telling.

• Discuss photo essay tools that you want to utilize in your photo-essay composition.

Example of a Photo Essay

The subject of this photo essay is “Transportation”. The type, element, composition, and basic image of each photo will be identified.

Cover Shot: this is horizontally shot, medium, and emotion photo. Though she is not traveling, she is taking a break from traveling.

Detailed shot—this photo is

an extreme close-up, detailed,

unusual, and vertically shot

photo.

Another close-up but not extreme is this next photo of the couple. It is also horizontally shot, intimate, and an establishing photo.

This fourth photo is an unusual, wide, horizontal, establishing shot.

This man unlocking his

bike is a close,

vertical, establishing,

filler shot.

The girl with a purple hat is a filler, horizontal, medium, intimate shot.

The boys walking is a

close, vertical, intimate, filler shot.

Parking meter and car is a horizontal, extreme close-up, newsworthy, filler shot.

Pedestrian walking down

sidewalk is an emotional,

vertical, wide, filler

shot with the sidewalk

working as a leading line.

This final photo is a closing, newsworthy, horizontal, medium shot. It uses framing with the street and the trees framing in the man and lift.