Photoshop September 27, 2007

In my photojournalism course today we went over the fine program of Photoshop in a detail. I have played aruond with the program before, but never in extensive detail. Today we focused on how to make a picture sharper without messing with the intergrity of the picture. The dodge tool and the burn tool are simple, but can make or break the picture. The dodge tool can lighten a picture, or reveal more clearly what was actually seen. My professor said that the goal to using the program and working on the picture is to make the picture look the way it did when we took the picture in person. The burn tool darkens for areas where lighting is too harsh, and with both the dodge and burn tool you can change the strengths and set it to a particular setting, such as highlighting, moderate or shadow.

We also looked at the levels, taking the picture and adding more white, gray or black tones. This is good for contrast in the picture, so that the colors don’t all blend together and you can also do this by adjusting the levels. Another feature is going to the variations option and taking the color you have too much of and adding another color along with it. I also learned how to use the lasso tool to the best of my ability. The main goal, however, is to keep the integrity of the picture and to make the picture look the way your eyes saw the scene.

Lighting September 25, 2007

Quality of light is a key aspect to any good picture, especially in photojournalism. There are three basic elements to look for within basic lighting. First, long shadows from high angles are a good way to show lighting from a different perspective. Second, silhouettes are a great perspective especially when the sun is coming up or when the sun is going down. While doing silhouettes it is very important to make sure that the background is much brighter than the subject, usually the subject is only black but the outline is very sharp. Third, while experimenting with light is the use of rim light which is light around the body, or light around the subject.

Using light in the correct way can enhance any picture and can make an ordinary subject catch an audiences attention quickly. It is important to make sure the white balance is set correctly and to keep the focus on the subject sharp. Remembering these aspects while using lighting with a picture will ensure a good and unique photo.

On-line Media September 23, 2007

The world of media has expanded so much in the recent years, on-line has become one of the most important parts of the newspaper world. In order to really understand this I interviewed Tom Ninestein from the Pensacola News Journal. He has been the metro editor for the paper for 15 years and the last 10 years the paper has had an on-line Web site.

“It allows us to be more competitive with radios and news,” Ninestein said. “For the future, convergence is up and coming. The printed product will continu, but on-line allows more outlets for news media.”

Ninestein also remarked that on-line media allows readers to be more interactive.

“In the past 10 years viewers had to write a letter to the editor and wait. The responses back and forth could take months. Now a viewer can respond within seconds of the story being posted,” Ninestein said.

F/stop September 21, 2007

So in photojournalism, yes I am still on this topic, I completed my Depth of Field project. It was an incredibly challenging assignment I soon realized after starting. My poor roommate had to stand, sit and roll for me. The whole time she was doing that I was trying to figure out how to set each part of the camera to the particular area the professor said to put it at, it was very difficult.

Lighting seemed to be the most important aspect of this assignment. The white balance had to be set perfectly to get the right color and contrast. As well as, the ISO had to be set differently with every move I made. Difficult as it was I do believe that this will be an excellent learning experience for me and for the assignments to come.

http://www.fstop.com/

More Photojournalism September 14, 2007

I love when classes overlap information. Right now in my photojournalism class we are looking more closely at Depth of Field. The tricky part about Depth of Field is that you have to change the f/stop as well as keep up with the ISO. Our assignment in class is to take three separate pictures: one will be indoors with a focus on the subject and the background is blurry, second will be outdoors with the subject and the background both in focus and third will be of the subject in motion, either moving left and right or up and down. I think that my poor roommate will be the subject in many photos to come, I just hope the pictures will come out correctly. Here begins my journey to learn more about technology.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

Photojournalism September 12, 2007

I have been extremely focused on photojournalism lately, especially since I have a photojournalism class and we were focused on it during lecture today for convergent journalism. So after my last blog I had a chance to play around with the camera for photojournalism, the ISO seems to be one of the more important aspects to the camera, it controls the lighting (larger numbers for indoors and smaller numbers for outdoors). Shutter speed was a little more difficult for me to figure out, but I soon learned that when I was capturing action shots I want it to be bigger and for casual daily happenings a smaller number works best. I have enjoyed the overlap in subjects for the two classes, it has helped me to really understand the concepts that I am learning and to devour the information that much more. Photoshop was also discussed and I will be using it tomorrow for my photo class, I am a little wary of the program because of how extensive you can get into it, but I think it will be very useful to learn. In high school I took a coarse and we had a broad overview of Photoshop and, although I can’t remember a thing now, it was very interesting to play around with. I am so excited for all the new information that I am learning.

Here’s a link to Bill Green, a photojournalist for the Boston Globe who has one several awards for his photos.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3613/is_200207/ai_n9109992

What!? September 6, 2007

Convergence journalism is everywhere I go, it ca not be escaped. In my photojournalism class today the professor discussed convergence and how all forms of media are adapting to it. This is interesting philosophy, but one that will be difficult for many to adjust to, in my opinion. We were handed out cameras yesterday and I was stumped, how do you turn the thing on? It was all downhill from there.

In the world we live in I would have thought that I would know more about technology than I seem to actually know. Learning it now is a good thing, I suppose, but what do people who have been in the news media industry for 25 years do when new things continue to poor in and the confusion rate is going through the roof?

At my internship they had continual meeting and seminars to get staff sped up on how to use the computer programs to input data and stories and some of the employees could not understand even what the cursor was, I wonder if that will be me in a matter of years. I can only hope to catch up now and maybe this technology thing will stick with me, maybe.

Audio September 4, 2007

Today in class we went over he different the various forms of audio, I ad not realized that there was such a variety. I am very knew at all thing technological so this blog will be comprised of the many fascinations that I learn which may not be as fascinating to others who are more advanced in their technological knowledge.

There are actually three different types of audio: dynamic, directional and lavalier. I have had experience with both dynamic and lavalier, although I had only known them as microphones. My dad has several dynamic microphones that he uses and at my church I have used a lavalier several times. The directional seems like a really interesting tool to use, it picks up the audio in the direction that you are pointing the camera. Audio is a very exciting form of media that I am excited to learn more about!