Patrick Shannahan, staff photographer for The Arizona Republic, gave tips for taking better photos to Reynolds high school teachers Tuesday at Cronkite. Some seemingly obvious suggestions included taking a lot of photos, waiting for something to happen again, and reading your camera's manual.
Less obvious suggestions included remembering to fill the frame and using the flash during the day to fill darkened foregrounds.
I know that I, personally, tend to use point-and-click cameras for just that, forgetting that they can perform quite a few features which replicate the functions of more sophisticated cameras. So, in a sense, you may be able to learn more about the basics of photography with your point-and-click before you invest in a more sophisticated camera and frustrate yourself.
Of course, for this to be possible you need to take the time to actually read the manual (!) and experiment a little.
I suppose we're all very spoiled by the notion of post-processing, i.e., Photoshop. But since as journalists we are obligated to consider its ethical considerations, it makes sense to get photos as right as possible the first time.
Joanne Drapiewski
Frederick Douglass Academy II
New York, N.Y.
Posts
Not only get the photo right in the camera for ethical considerations, but also just for the sake of time and quality. If you spend a few extra moments on the front side getting your images right it can save a lot of frustration on the production side of the image trying to fix it. Also, Photoshop can only "fix" so much. The old addage of "garbage in, garbage out" is pushed aside when people talk about photoshop since it can do so much, but it is not a magic potion. Somethings simply cannot be fixed, but instead are made acceptable and are a compromise.
ReplyDeleteJeff Jones
Miyamura High School
Gallup, NM