Basics of Photojournalism

Photojournalism is not the same as shooting photos. Journalism tells stories, and your photos
should tell stories, too. Think about the story before you go—what are you hoping the photo will
tell or show the reader?

Do you have to show people angry with one another? Confronting one another? Are you showing
that a crowd showed up to an event or that an event occurred despite the fact that it had no crowd?
All of those are different photos.

“Think about the story before you go—what are we hoping the photo will tell or show
the reader?”
Are you trying to show why the player won or lost the game? That’s two totally different photos.
Imagine it was a tight tennis match. You don’t know which way it will end as you are shooting the
photos. So, you need to get photos of each player smiling, each frowning. If you can, shoot pictures
of them hitting the ball (returning a shot or serving) and pictures missing the ball.

The photo helps tell the story.

See this On The Media piece for more about shooting pix (or actually, video) at the scene (it’s really
good; go ahead and click, we’ll wait).

Before You Leave with the Camera

Before taking off to shoot photos, make sure to familiarize yourself with the camera. Feel free to
shoot photos in the office to test the camera’s abilities. If your camera is your cell phone or iPad,
shoot some pictures with it when the pressure is off.

Make sure you understand the basic settings on the camera and how well it can shoot photos at
a distance or how well it can shoot action shots or how well it can shoot low light.
Remember to bring:

• The camera
• Make sure it works before you leave
• Are the batteries good?
• Check for space on the memory card or on the camera’s memory.
• Have extra batteries or a charging cable.
• Make sure the memory card is empty, or bring an extra
• A notepad to get down people’s names
• CLEAN THE LENS.
• Look at the lens in slanted light to see if it’s clean.
• This is both for standard and cell phone lenses.
• Cell phones, though, are harder to see.
• Be extra cautious with them.
• To test: shoot a couple photos into the light and look for blurred or “hot” spots.
MC Newsrooms Guide

How to Shoot at the Scene

Blurs, jiggles or slight movements can ruin an otherwise good photo. It might look great on the
tiny camera or cell phone screen, but we will see problems when we edit on the big screen in
the office. For that reason, you want to follow a few basic rules for shooting photos. The rules
don’t guarantee a good photo, but they increase the chances.

The basic position turns your body into a tripod:

• Hold your elbows tight to your body

• Stand with your feet at shoulder width
• Look through the eyepiece (not the screen)
• Hold the camera tight to your eyebrow as you look through the eyepiece
• If you can, find a wall, post, column or other support to lean against or to hold the camera
against (this is especially true in low- or moderate-light scenes)
• Do not zoom-in with the lens or the phone if you can just move closer

For cell phone or tablet pictures, follow the rules above. But also:

• DO NOT hold the cell phone one handed with your arm extended and shoot with your
thumb! (Keep elbows tight against your body.)
• Cell phones don’t have eyepieces, but you can hold the edge of the cell phone against your
eyebrow or forehead (if you’re wearing a hat, use the hat brim) to hold it steady
• Also, iPhones/iPads allow you to shoot with the volume button so that you don’t need to
awkwardly touch the screen (perhaps Androids do this, too--give it a try).
• Lightly twist the phone in your hands as you hold it. This makes you shake less.
• Walls, posts, and columns are your friends; lean on them.
• This is especially true of moderate to low light
• The cell phone lens is TINY--you need more light; the smaller the lens, the more light
you need.
• Cell phone flashes are white, white LEDs that tend to flatten a person’s face.
• Avoid the cell flash.

Flash photography:

• The flash only works on objects 12 feet away or closer.

• Get close enough so that the flash is useful
• Don’t bother with a flash if you’re far away
• If possible, bounce the flash off the ceiling so that the shadows are less strong

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MC Newsrooms Guide

What to Shoot at the Scene

Think about the story. What will show the story best? Get into a position that allows you to
shoot that photo.

• GET CLOSE
• SHOOT FACES (not backs of heads!)
• Which people are most important to the story?
• Have you gotten photos of them?
• Are they doing something or standing there?
• Take A LOT of photos
• It might look good on the camera screen, but bad in the office
• Blurs, jiggles and too dark/light, are easy to shoot, hard to fix
• Change the settings on the camera and try different exposures and such.
• Try different angles (low or high)
• Tilt the camera
• Zoom in or shoot wide-angle
• Squat or lie-down and shoot
• Stand on something and shoot from above
• Use a selfie-stick to reach heights or lows

Editing Photos (Pixlr.com is online and free—works like Photoshop)

Do not make it appear to be something it is not! Edit for clarity, accuracy and art (remember:
photos tell the story, too). You should always get close when shooting the photo and try your
best to get the photo you want.
At the least, please consider these menu items:

• Crop (rule of thirds)

• Check levels (notice folds in fabric, light around eyes, under chin, etc.)
• Hue and Saturation (notice skin tones)
• Color balance (if needed; look to see if whites look white, and should)
• RESIZE (Image Size)
o At least one horizontal shot that fits the size of the featured image space.
o 3:2 ratio (width:height) 600 pixels by 400 pixels; 700 by 500, etc.
o Check the size (MB) of file; 200-300MB range is great

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