Digital PhotographyProf. Vaccaro

Hofstra University

Today’s class roadmap

Review Assignment No. 1 (editorial plan)

Lecture on Digital photography

Go over Assignment No. 2 – due next class

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 BasicsRead 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 PhotosThink 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 PhotosWhat 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 photographyThink 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

Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated and more …

Now APPS: USA Today, AP,

Assignment No. 2Due NEXT CLASS

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

Use Flickr, VuVox or SimpleViewer.net

7-10 photos with captionsUsing 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

Tweet the link out