Quick Tips & Know Your Rights

This is an updated repost of the information presented on April 4, 2008 at the New York Press Association Annual Convention.
While there is no way to "pin" a post, I have set the date to keep this post on the front page for new visitors. Please scroll down to see newer content as it's added.

video, narration, beats by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com
photos by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com, The Beaumont Enterprise and/or The Dallas Morning News

If you find the "Quick Tips" version to be visual hot sauce, please watch "Savory Tips to Improve Photos." It's the same presentation with more time to savor each image.

Additional information is located on the All PJ-related posts section of this blog. Underlined topics are linked to previous posts with detailed information about the subject.

Basics:
Read equipment manuals three times.
Have the right equipment for the job.
Know the difference between nouns and verbs.
Pre-consider potential visual problems and solutions.

Photo basics (see below for specifics) 
Fill the frame.
Have sharp focus.
Get the right exposure.
Time the images.

Fill the frame:
Get close.
Use long lens.
Crop in camera.
Get wide.
Back away when necessary.

Focus:
Stabilize the camera.
Focus on lead eye.
Adjust plane of focus / angle.
Use depth of field.
Adjust focal length for available light.
When focusing manually, use one finger.
Zone focus.

Exposure:
Zone V.
Hand meter the area.
Use alternative meter techniques: Sunny 16, palm, grass.
Understand the dynamic range.

Timing:
Have patience.
Look for repeated action patterns.
Anticipate the action.
Shoot at apex.
Shoot before collision - wind through reaction.
Get reflective shots (quiet moments)
Seek "timeless" images.
Time of day.

Composition:
Shoot horizontals and verticals.
Start with a clean background.
Have dark corners.
Place subject in background.
Use subject and foreground to cover unwanted elements.
Leave leading space.
Use Rule of Thirds/Fifths.
Build a strong skeletal structure.
Frame items within other items.
Avoid tangents.
Have clean edges.
Lead eyes with light and focus.
Layer the image.
Employ leading lines.
Employ repetition of pattern.
Block corners.
Juxtaposition (harmony / irony)

Where to crop:
Avoid cropping joints.
Contain subject within rectangle (Golden Ratio).
Avoid lights, reflections and voids.
Frame arcs and lines.

Before shooting:
Research stories - find those with emotional elements.
Verify location, access.
Double-check equipment.
Have business cards, pencil and notepad.
Refuse access contracts.

Upon arrival:
Arrive early. Stay late.
Shoot signs and rosters. Collect paperwork. Shoot name tags and numbers.
Shoot basic package: scene, normal, tight
Shoot story: lede, transitions, kicker, emotion.
Get cutline information (5W & H). Get sound if possible.


Selecting subjects:
Hunting techniques: shadows, oblique angle, concealment, pre-compose, pre-focus
Emotion
Activity
Color
Sound
Use attention span limitations.

Goals:
Tell the story.
Get main subjects.
Get emotion.
Shoot 100-frame minimum.
Use each lens.
Shoot each angle (left, right, high, low).
Shoot reflection / refraction.
Shoot silhouette / isolation.
Shoot blur.

Before leaving:
Understand the story.
Be able to tell the story in one frame, three frames, five frames, 20 frames.
Have all cutline information.
Have 100+ images.
Count equipment.

Advanced:
Find new word.
Make unique (rare) images: access, subject, news value, combination.
Multi layers
Multi meaning

Artificial light:
Use flash whenever it's helpful (no light, too slow).
Use flash from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. outdoors (fill light).
Get flash off the camera.
Understand what causes red-eye.
Try to keep flash angles from 45 to 90 degrees.
Diffuse light.
Color balance artificial light.
Learn to light large areas.
Use multiple lights to add depth.
Be ready to manually calculate exposure (guide number).
Understand inverse square law of light.
Speed techniques (stop action).
Light painting with mixed light and flash (holiday lights, fireworks, lightning).
Increase depth of field with artificial light.



 video, narration, beats by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com
photos by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com, The Beaumont Enterprise and/or The Dallas Morning News

Do you know your rights as a photojournalist?

Please watch “Know Your Rights as a Citizen Photojournalist.”

Know your rights (most is covered on this link)
It's best to be courteous to defuse confrontations.
Don't be belligerent.
The First Amendment provides the right for anyone to make photos.
Anyone can shoot in public places, streets and sidewalks.
Anyone can shoot where access is granted.
Property owners have the right to deny access.
Understand trespass law by state.
Generally, PJs can shoot until asked to stop.
Exceptions include military facilities and some areas within nuclear plants.
Model releases aren't required for editorial use (but pubs may still require).
Celebrities, politicians and emergency workers limited their right to privacy (injected themselves into spotlight).
Felony criminals have no right to privacy until in prison.
The right to privacy is seriously limited in public places.
The exception to this is medical facilities (which include ambulances in some states).
Business security isn't sufficient to prohibit photography.
Trade secrets aren't in public view. Trade dress doesn't apply to photojournalism.
Police may limit access, but can't prohibit photography (prior restraint).
You aren't required to explain the purpose of your photography.
Coercion and harassment by private security is a criminal offense in all states.
Private parties have limited rights to detain and could face criminal and civil charges.
Without a court order, private parties can't confiscate film.
Ask what law was specifically violated.
Ask for this person's name, and who they represent.
Report rights violations to police. Call before the offender does.
Enough for now,

Hurricane Season Starts Tomorrow

Hurricane season starts tomorrow. If you know anyone in hurricane zones please check on them and ensure they have evacuation plans. I covered several hurricanes as a photojournalist. Although my advice in this post is mainly for other photojournalists, there's some good general information mixed in with the other info.

iPhonography 101 - Storage

Previously, this iPhonography series discussed the camera and editing images for color balance and tone.

Today, we'll look at how to store the images in the iPhone for quick retrieval through albums and archival safety through downloads and file name conventions. 

DON’T DELETE YET!

If there is still storage space on your iPhone, don’t waste your time looking through the images to delete a few – just save them all. They often have little details you will need later. They may let you know the who, what, when, where, why and how of a better image that doesn’t contain the same information.

I’ve written a post titled, “Take pictures of signs and rosters.” The point is to get additional background information to go with the photos of value. Don’t delete these until they are saved on a computer or in the cloud. One day, they may be vital to complete your family story.

In general, I NEVER delete ANY images other than completely useless shots.

What is completely useless?

A random palm of the hand or inside of a pocket happens from not turning the camera app off after a photo. Some images are completely black or completely white. Some are nothing but blur or grossly out of focus.

If it has ANY use, it isn’t useless.

Library sorting

When it’s time to make images, make images. Don’t sort the images while you are prepared to make images. Check occasionally to ensure the images you need were captured. Then, make some more!

As images are made, they’re stored in the iPhone’s library. These can be sorted later when you have time and nothing interesting to shoot. If you’re waiting for an oil change or traveling by air, it’s a perfect time to sort images.

From the Camera App of the iPhone, hit the library box (lower left corner). The last image will appear.

If it appears with black borders, tap once to show options. If it appears with white borders and options, tap once to show black borders.

It’s easiest to sort in assess image quality with black borders, but images can only be favorited and sorted with a white border. Each person must find their own level of comfort switching back and forth between the two modes.

Sorting through photos

Open the photo Library. You can start immediately editing by swiping left and right through the photos. Or, you can jump to different parts of your Library by selecting “All Photos” and swiping up and down until you find the area where you want to focus. Tap on a photo icon and start swiping left and right through those images.

When there is time to sort images, you need a plan. Be efficient and don’t waste your own time. Choose your Favorites, add those to folders and stay organized.

Favorite and edit down

The first edit adds selected images to the Favorites album.

With a photo in full screen, hit the heart button at the bottom of the screen for any images you like. This will immediately add them in your “Favorites” folder.

After you’ve made a pass through the entire library, go to the Favorites folder. Next, compare similar images and select the better of similar images. Un-heart the lesser of the two. If you change your mind, you can return and re-heart until you leave the album or put the iPhone in sleep mode.

It’s OK to keep two similar shots as long as you unselected four others. You can compare those later.

Create albums

Once you’ve selected the best images in your iPhone’s library, you need to add them to specific albums for easy access. You can make albums for different categories: cities, subjects, dates, etc.

The image is still located in the same place in your main library. The Albums streamline your search later. If you have business photos or photos of your dog that you like to show, the best images are only a few clicks away.

Open the Library box, tap the screen to switch to the white selection border on the screen. Click “All Photos” in the top right. Click “Albums” on the bottom of the screen.

At the top of the Albums page is a + icon. Tap the + to create a new album. From the pop-up options, select “New Album.” Name the new album in the pop-up window and hit Save. Continue to create albums for major categories.

Don’t DELETE from Albums

CAUTION: If you “Delete” an image from an Album, it DELETES it from your Library. If you no longer want a photo in an album but want to keep the image, hit the Trash icon, and choose “Remove from Album” instead of “Delete.” Then, the image remains in your Library rather than moving to the trash.

Social Media albums

If you manage your own social media, you may want to create some specific workflow albums. These include:

·         To edit (see the iPhone editing post) 

·         Ready to post (these have been toned and color corrected enough to post)

·         Future posts (these are either scheduled through services or held until a specific time)

·         Holidays or specific days (can be long- or short-term storage for future holidays or events)

As you complete the tasks or posts, you can remove photos from the albums to stay organized.

Add to Albums

Rather than using the word “Copy” or “Move,” I’ve used the word “Add.” This is because the photos aren’t copied (duplicated) or moved (physically relocated) to any albums. There is still only one photo. It’s located in the Library. However, a link and icon (alias or shortcut) of that photo are added in as many albums as you choose.

Select from Favorites

Once all appropriate albums are created, click on the Favorites album. The images you chose before (by hitting the heart icon) should be in this album now.

Tap the “Select” option in the top-right of the screen. Next, tap on any photos you want to add to one particular album. A blue circle with a white check mark will appear on the photo icon. Continue to select all photos that will move to the same album.

Tap on the photo again to unselect it.

Once all images are selected, tap “Add To” at the bottom-center of the screen. The “My Albums” page will appear. You’ll also see the number of images you’re about to move near the top of the screen. Locate the specific album where you want to add these photos. Tap once on the icon for that album. You’ll see an animation of the photos being added to the specific album.

Remove from Favorites

Once an image has been added to another album from the Favorites album, it should be removed from the Favorites album to stay organized. The heart icon can be removed from the photo in any album (Camera Roll, Favorites, or a specific album), and the photo will be removed from the Favorites folder.

Download often

Download images from your phone to your computer frequently to avoid accidentally deleting images. They’re also far easier to organize on your computer.

Consider setting up an automatic cloud storage system. Ensure the images are safely stored in at least one secure location (two is better) BEFORE deleting an image from your phone.

Make duplicates

Don’t make any changes to originals that can’t be undone. Once on the computer, you’ll need to copy images to make any changes to the copied version and leave the original as it was.

To easily sort through images that you have worked on, keep those separate from the original files by placing them in a different folder.

File name conventions

For color-corrected and other important photos, give them specific names. Start the name with the date the image was CREATED. Because computers sort differently than we write, here is the pattern to use: For May 20, 2019 the file name should start 190520 (19=year, 05=month, 20=day).

Then, possibly add a short term for a group of images. “NOLA” for images made in New Orleans, Louisiana. Finally, something specific about the image such as “bridge sunset.”

The finished file name would be “190520 NOLA bridge sunset”

What stays on the phone?

The biggest advantage of keeping any photo on a phone is access. Those images are in the device’s memory. They can be referenced quickly at any time without need of a Wi-Fi or cellular signal.

Your permanent images should be set aside and easy to access in specific albums. If the image isn’t important enough to set aside, post it online and store it on your computer.

You should have your folders set up by now. You’ll know which images you want to have handy forever. Many of your favorite images are probably also on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). So, you don’t always need to carry the full-size versions with you.

Delete after saving

When the photos on your phone are safely saved elsewhere (preferably with a second external-drive backup), it’s time to delete the non-essential images from your phone. It’s easier to manage a few images rather than an entire life history.

Once you confirm that the images are safely on your external hard drive(s), select those images in your iPhone folder and hit delete. Now, there’s more space for new images.

Enough for now,

Quick Tips to Improve Photos Video

 video, narration, beats by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com
photos by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com, The Beaumont Enterprise and/or The Dallas Morning News

Please watch and share “Quick Tips to Improve Photos.”
The companion "cheat sheet" on this blog is located here: quick-tips-to-improve-your-photos.

This version is visual hot sauce to some. There is a slower version to savor each frame. It's located at "Savory Tips to Improve Photos."

Please share and subscribe to the NewsEagles YouTube channel (it’s free and easy). Please follow this link, sign in to YouTube (or create an account) and hit SUBSCRIBE at www.youtube.com/newseagles

Although I will do some additional work in the future, this is my Magnum Opus.

Enough for now,

Know Your Rights as a Citizen Photojournalist

video, narration, beats by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com
photos by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com, The Beaumont Enterprise and/or The Dallas Morning News

Do you know your rights as a photojournalist?
Please watch “Know Your Rights as a Citizen Photojournalist.”


Please share and subscribe to the NewsEagles YouTube channel (it’s free and easy). Please follow this link, sign in to YouTube (or create an account) and hit SUBSCRIBE at www.youtube.com/newseagles
Enough for now,

What Is A Photojournalist?

video © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com
photos © Mark M. Hancock, The Beaumont Enterprise or Mark M. Hancock and The Dallas Morning News

This presentation is an updated version of a speech given at the New York Press Association Annual Convention in 2008. This presentation is intended for non-photojournalists and especially students considering photojournalism as a career. To see more videos, please visit and subscribe to the NewsEagles channel on YouTube. More to come. 


Enough for now,

Know Your Rights

U.S. PJs take media law courses in college to learn their rights and responsibilities. In the past, I've considered it redundant to post this information on this blog.

However, after a particularly annoying incident today in a public park, I've determined many people are either ignorant or are just control freaks. So, here is a link to the ACLU's "Know Your Rights" post for photographers (it covers the same information posted in 2005).

In general, if you are standing on public property and not impeding emergency or police activities, you can shoot whatever you can see. It's a Constitutional right for every person standing on U.S. public property. There's no debate.

If you don't want photos of yourself or your objects, don't be within plain sight of public property. The Constitution is the basis for - and thereby trumps - all other laws.

Enough for now,

PJ Challenge Competition

One hard-working PJ/reader is about to EARN an Urban Disguise 50 V2.0 laptop/camera bag valued at $179.

In honor of this blog’s 2 millionth milestone (not really, but it’s a happy coincidence), the good people at Think Tank Photo have offered the rockin' prize posted above.

Rather than a regular (subjective) PJ contest for the best quality images, this contest is for hard-working PJs. Let’s reward the PJ who works the hardest on all the subjects a PJ should do each week.

A shopping list of PJ subjects is posted below. To win this prize, a PJ must be the first to shoot and post links to ALL of the subjects*.

* Rules:
1) The subjects must be shot on or after August 9, 2011.
2) All photos, videos, slideshows and captions must be posted to publically-viewable locations on the Web (newspaper website, blog, portfolio websites, etc.). The spot news photo MUST be on a news site (it must be vetted by an editor).
3) PJ must shoot and post links to ALL subjects listed below. Simply cut-and-paste the list into the comments section and add a link to EACH example of YOUR work. Each subject and/or link may only be entered in one category below. Only entries submitted as comments for this post will be considered (no e-mail).
Again, contestants can only enter ONE entry in the comment section of this post with ALL subjects and links in the ONE post. The post should have exactly 13 links.
4) Each image link must have an appropriate photo(s) and/or video for the category and a complete cutline (names, dates, locations, etc.).
5) All entries will be time-stamped by Blogger when the entry is submitted. The first to complete the PJ challenge wins.
6) Once a winner is determined, the winner must be willing to e-mail their personal information to me for Think Tank Photo to mail your prize.
7) Mark M. Hancock is only responsible for verifying the completion of this challenge. The winner is subject to any additional rules required by Think Tank Photo (I don’t think there are any, but I’m covering all bases).
8) PJ's only provide links to the images/videos as evidence. Copyright owner(s) keeps all rights.

Please see the Labels section of this blog to clarify terms.

Categories
Please provide a link to ALL of the following:

1) Spot news (must be a news link rather than personal site)
2) General news
3) Sports
4) Feature photo
5) News photo story (three photo minimum)
6) Feature photo story (three photo minimum)
7) Concert or theater
8) Education
9) News or business portrait
10) Wildlife
11) Product photo (a restaurant review is fine)
12) Slideshow
13) Video

Good luck and get to work.

Enough for now,

Submit photos for publication

Editor's note: This piece was written for a military vehicle magazine. It's written primarily for vehicle owners who want to submit photos of their personally-owned military vehicles for publication. However, most of the suggestions apply to all photographers.

© By Mark M. Hancock for Supply Line magazine

Professional images in newspapers, magazines and books have several commonalities. First, they’re sharply focused. They are properly exposed. They have some element of timing or time (including timelessness). They have good composition. Most importantly, they contain enough information for reproduction in the medium.
How large a photo can run (be reproduced) is determined by the final file size. This size is determined by the capture size minus any crops. While film can be scanned at higher resolutions, there is no way to “add” size to a digital photo. Once a digital image is made, it can only be degraded. Consequently, it’s vital to capture images at the highest resolution possible.
Television promotes a misconception that images can be “enhanced” beyond the original. This is false. An original image cannot be improved or repaired. Color balance, saturation, contrast and definition can be adjusted, but the information contained within the image is set.
The highest quality any image will ever produce is determined at the exact moment the shutter is activated. Furthermore, each step away from this original is an opportunity for the image to be degraded.
Professional digital cameras capture images in the most direct-to-press method. However, not all digital cameras are alike, and sometimes it’s better to use quality film cameras rather than inferior digital cameras.
When film is used, it’s best to scan directly from a negative or transparency. This process ensures the image is close to the original source. If the image was shot on film, printed onto paper, and scanned into a computer, the image is already at its third generation.
A grandson may look similar to his grandfather, but it’s not the same person. Only the original is the original.
The fidelity of the image becomes most important when it is submitted for publication.
Each print medium has a set pixel per inch (ppi) requirement. Newspapers are often 200 ppi, magazines and books can be 400 ppi. By comparison, most computer monitors are 72 ppi. Consequently, an image may look fine on a home computer monitor, but it wouldn’t look good in print.



This image of a retired M41 Bulldog was made with a Nikon D300 digital camera at a medium-fine setting. The quality is good enough for newspaper publication.



This image the same M41 Bulldog was made with a iPhone 4. The quality is surprisingly good enough for newspaper publication. However, it has major limitations.

Get published

Publications most often reject submissions because the images lack enough information or clarity for reproduction. There are several steps photographers can take to get their images published.
* All images start or fail with the quality of the lens. It doesn’t matter how large an image is if it was shot through a dirty fishbowl. Cheap cameras have cheap, plastic lenses. Likewise, quality cameras can have quality lenses. The quality of the lens determines the sharpness of the photo.
The sharpness of a photo is determined by the “circles of confusion” it produces. Lenses that produce the smallest circles of confusion are the best.
* The camera itself plays a significant roll in image quality. With film, it’s less important to have a top-end camera as long as the “glass” (lens) is good. With digital cameras, the camera, its sensor and internal processing software are often the difference between instant success or failure.
It is vital that a camera doesn’t artificially increase the file size. All digital cameras interpolate to some degree to make digital images. However, cameras that immediately increase the number of pixels, have also immediately destroyed the image fidelity because more of the image is fiction than reality.
The camera adds extra pixels and “guesses” about the pixel colors between other pixels and most often averages surrounding pixels. The average between red and blue is magenta (bright pink). Magenta is not a great color for a combat vehicle.
Professional cameras have better software algorithms and more sensors to capture an image with minimal immediate destruction.
Some micro and cell phone cameras are starting to achieve significant gains by reducing the size, but increasing the number of sensors. However, they still aren’t up to the same professional standard, nor are they anywhere near professional-quality film.
* Crops play an equal role in the ultimate size of an image. A crop reduces the area viewed in an image. There are three basic crops. These are camera, software and presentation crops.
Camera crops are perfectly acceptable. The photographer simply moves around or changes lenses to isolate a specific scene. These images reproduce best because no information is lost between the shoot and publication.



Both of these images were made seconds apart with the same professional camera. The top image was not cropped. The bottom image was cropped and artificially enlarged. Professional shooters get close for detail shots.




Never use the “digital zoom” or “digital crop” software built into some consumer cameras. The camera automatically discards the excess information rather than expanding the number of sensors used to collect the image. Instead, get closer to the subject rather than throwing away those valuable pixels.
Software crops are a deliberate decision to discard valuable image real estate. If the camera was tilted, the photographer was too far away from a subject or other visual elements intrude into the frame, it’s common to crop the image in digital photo software.
Publications often have formats for specific types of images. Oddly-shaped images will often suffer crops to fit these parameters. Even if the publication accommodates odd-shaped images, the editor may choose to crop “extraneous” elements out of an image to make the main subject more noticeable.
All of these crops reduce the effective size of a digital file. When an image is 192 megabytes (Mb), such as many color Library of Congress photos from the 1940s, crops have little effect on the ability to publish an image. However, a 5 Mb image can’t take a severe crop and still be large enough for use in most magazines.
* Camera stability helps determine the sharpness of an image. Without getting too technical, greater light allows for better images through faster shutter speeds, lower film speeds and more depth of field. Low light has the opposite effect.
Camera shake is a direct result of an unstable camera. With low light, camera shake is inevitable unless a sturdy tripod or other platform is used. While it isn’t foolproof, a good tripod is the single most valuable tool a photographer can use to improve image quality.
* Interpolation is an artificial increase of a digital file’s size. As mentioned above, this can happen as the image is captured. It can also happen by well-intentioned people increasing the size of a file to make it fit a publication’s parameters.
Unfortunately, interpolation can also make images completely useless to publishers. Many publishers have specialized software and camera techniques to slightly increase the usable size of an image. However, the increases are limited and also amplify any image flaws. A larger, flawed image is simply a bigger mess.
Most software is capable of increasing file sizes. If it can be avoided, DON’T ARTIFICIALLY INCREASE FILE SIZES. While the software is helpful, it isn’t as good as a full-size original because it artificially increased the file size. Specialized programs still invent “stuff between stuff,” but it does so better than other software programs.
Many publishers can scan prints and film at resolutions as high as 9,600 ppi to ensure clarity. However, if an image was already degraded (via previous artificial increases or other software manipulations) before it gets to a publisher, nothing can be done to salvage the image.
Photographers submitting scans to publications need to maximize every scanner setting to acquire the highest resolution image possible. There is no such thing as an image that is too large to publish. It takes much longer to make several high-resolution scans, however, each second spent on the scanner is more than equally rewarded on the press.
It’s wisest to spend the same time tightly editing which photos will be submitted rather than scanning and submitting many low-resolution images. The low-res images won’t be used and wastes an editor’s time.
In short, no program “improves” images by making them larger, artificial increases only degrade images. It’s best to get the original capture medium (film, digital file, etc.) and work forward from there. Then, scan the original at the largest file size possible and run it in a location smaller than the actual file size.

Historic images


German plane C.L. III A 3892/18 was brought down in the Argonne by U.S. machine gunners, between Montfaucon and Cierges, France on October 4, 1918. (Pvt. J. E. Gibbon / U.S. Army)

While photographers have complete control over the quality of their own images, sometimes historic images are needed to completely tell a story.
The most important issue when submitting images to a publication in the U.S.A. is ownership of copyright. In the United States, the person submitting the images must either have made the images, have reproduction permission from the copyright owner, or have acquired an explicit “public domain” image (from a governmental organization).
The image above is an example of a public domain image acquired through the U.S. Department of Defense official internet site (www.defenseimagery.mil). It was made by Pvt. J. E. Gibbon for the U.S. Army in 1918. It is a 1.1Mb scan of a print from a film camera.
Additionally, it illustrates that high-resolution historic images are available from the Civil War to present day.
Unfortunately, the digital image above has also been manipulated by someone along the line and would be rejected by most newspapers and magazines as a credible image. However, it illustrates today’s topic while image manipulation is a subject for another day.
Recently, photographers (and other copyright owners), have voluntarily elected to allow their private images to become part of the public domain through Creative Commons agreements (www.creativecommons.org). While there are various licensing agreements within this range, many photographers have released all claims to images.
However, most publicly accessible photos on the internet are protected by copyright and permission must be acquired to use them. Without getting too deep into media law, here are some copyright basics.
The second a photographer makes an image, it’s protected by copyright. Nobody else can use or has any claim upon the image (latent or digital) unless the photographer has expressly given his or her rights to another person or entity. Professional photographers generate income and perpetuate their profession by leasing limited reproduction authority.
Some employees of several companies automatically surrender this copyright to the company while working on the behalf of the company (such as news organizations or military manufacturers).
When displaying an image in public, there is no legal requirement to notate an image as copywritten. Through its existence, it automatically has a copyright. Smart photographers also file for an explicit (hard) copyright through the U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov) to collect additional punitive damages for infringement, but it isn’t required by law.
There are always exceptions concerning image ownership, but it’s best to ask before assuming ownership or availability of images.
Furthermore, possession of an image (in print or digitally) doesn’t equate to ownership. The purchase of a print or digital file doesn’t equate to ownership. Only original creation, signed reproduction permission or verifiable public release of an image allows others to legally publish images.

Online images

Another issue with images found online is file size.
Images posted online are expected to be viewed on 72 ppi monitors. Furthermore, designers want pages to load rapidly to keep the attention of visitors. When both of these demands collide, low-resolution images will be used.
An image that appears to be 5.5 inches on a computer monitor may only reproduce at 1 inch in a magazine due to the ppi conversion. Therefore, it’s imperative to ask image owners for high-resolution images while getting publication permissions.
Digital processing of photos is a relatively new process. Although the first digital camera was created in 1975, almost all images made before the 1980s should have been made on film. If a low-resolution image exists, a high-resolution image or original document (negative, slide or even a print) should also be available.
Again, it’s best to use the original source materials to get the best reproduction materials at the highest resolution to meet any dimensional requirements.
Image dimensions are expressed in various terms. The actual number of pixels an image contains is fixed until it is cropped. A 4,000-pixel-wide image remains 4,000 pixels wide even if the file format or image resolution is changed.

Understand megabytes (Mb)


The image above is a tightly cropped version of an iPhone 4 photo. It held up better than expected when compared to images from a professional camera. However, the dynamic range (steps between white and black) doesn’t have the same quality, nor does it have the same overall .jpg file size or color clarity as its competition.


Some publishers prefer to receive images with specific pixel minimums (photographers are welcome to exceed this number). This ensures an image will fit into a “hole” on a page. Unfortunately, if a crop is needed for proper display, a just-large-enough image could be rejected.
Other publishers prefer to have a minimum megabyte count. While megabytes of information ultimately determine if an image has enough information, various factors play into an image’s megabyte size.
The camera determines the file size. Cameras are sold based on megabyte (Mb) count. In theory, an 8Mb camera should make a better image than a 3Mb camera. However, this could be an illusion.
If the camera artificially increases the file size to get a larger Mb file, the images are largely useless. Furthermore, if the camera’s lens or other optical qualities are inferior, no Mb count is going to make it better. A 100Mb image shot through a dirty goldfish bowl is the same as a 1K image to a publisher. Neither will run.
Additionally, file formats increase and decrease Mb count.
Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG or .jpg) images are the most common photo compression format. It compresses the file size to its smallest possible size to save computer space and speed movement from machine to machine. These images can also move freely among various software programs.
However, each compression creates a loss of information. Publishers prefer .jpg images to move directly from a camera to a pre-press operator. The direct route limits number of Saves (and image compressions).
The next type of file is a Tag Image File Format (Tiff or .tif). Tiffs are more “change friendly” because it doesn’t compress and lose information on each Save. Tiff images tend to be four times as large as .jpg files. Consequently, if a publisher requires 5Mb .jpg images, the Tiff equivalent would be 20Mb.
The largest common file format is Encapsulated PostScript (EPS or .eps). This is actually a vector format designed for graphic artists. Because photos are pixel-based (raster), it’s not an ideal format for photographs. However, it creates a large, loss-free image file. It’s best to avoid this format.
A 5Mb .jpg image can save as a 28 Mb .eps file. This is essentially a temporary size illusion because the file will be converted to a .jpg or .tif file by the publisher. When a publisher requires a 5 Mb .jpg, a 5 Mb .eps won’t work.



Photographers should also remember to make vertical images and move around to get multiple angles of the same subject to show the environmental context. The results may reveal something unexpected.



Enough for now,
 

Understand PPI, DPI and LPI

Definitions
PPI = Pixels Per Inch
This is a clarity measurement used primarily with monitors. It's literally the number of linear pixels visible on a viewing screen. Digital camera file sizes are measured in pixel dimensions and megabytes of storage memory.

DPI = Dots Per Inch
This is a clarity measurement used primarily with home printers. It's literally how many dots of ink are placed along one linear line of paper.

LPI = Lines Per Inch
This is a clarity measurement used primarily with commercial presses. It's literally the number of etched lines packed into a single inch of a single printing screen (plate).

While ppi is roughly comparable to some printers' dpi if the display size is set to the correct proportion, lpi isn't. In essence, it's the difference between a tattoo and needing a tourniquet.

A tattoo is made of hundreds of tiny pin pricks on the skin. These can be seen as dots per inch.

A single full-page lpi can be seen as an 11.5-inch cut from a razor. Imagine what 275 of these razor cuts within one inch would do. Then, multiply these cuts times four for the four plate screens involved on a cyan/magenta/yellow/black (CMYK) press. Next, place these razor cuts at the correct degree angles (15C, 45M, 0Y, 75K) to ensure coverage.

Yup, you'd need a tourniquet or at least a skin graft. ;-}

Why do PJs need to know?
Working PJs need to know this information to adjust to the needs of different clients. For example, books and magazines are frequently printed at 275 lpi or higher while newspapers are more likely published around 85 lpi.

The required lpi is ultimately determined by paper quality and "dot gain" (ink bleed). Glossy (coated) paper has little dot gain and higher clarity. The ink on newsprint paper has serious dot gain and less clarity. When ink is absorbed in a wider circle by the paper, it needs a lower lpi to appear as a "full color" image.

These differences mean PJs may need to adjust their capture quality sizes. For most newspaper gigs, it's acceptable to capture .jpg images at fine quality, but medium size (roughly 3M). However, anything larger than 1M after a crop works.

For most magazine and book gigs, it's best to shoot RAW+.jpg at fine quality at the maximum file size (roughly 6M to 30M, depending on the camera). Most high-lpi publications seek images in a range higher than 5M (jpg).

Pixel measurements
Dots and pixels per inch are close measurement approximations, but they're not exactly the same. Furthermore, most dedicated computer monitors are set at resolutions of 72ppi (low-res Windows) or 163ppi (iPhones). While images may appear clear on some monitors, they won't necessarily reproduce well.

Most newspaper staffers use 200 ppi as a baseline measurement. However, for general PJ work, 400 ppi is a better working number.

Depending on the actual use of the image, these ppi measurements approximate how large or small an image could be used on the printed page.

For example images posted on this blog are set at 92ppi. At 92ppi, an average image may appear 3.565 inches tall or wide. However, at 400ppi, the same image is only 0.82 inches tall or wide.

The size will appear larger on a low-resolution monitor, and tiny on a high-resolution monitor. Nothing changes except the resolution of the viewing monitor.

Dot measurements
As stated above, dpi (dots per inch) is a measurement of most home computer printers. In casual conversation, it's often (incorrectly) used as a substitute for ppi.

Folks would like to imagine dpi is a universal "standard." It's not. Nobody could give a definitive answer for the size of a single dot because it varies between machines. It's deliberately vague.

It's safest to work in ppi when referring to images. A single pixel is made of red, green and blue light in combinations of millions of colors. A dot is just a single-colored dot.

Line measurements
Printers use LPI (lines per inch). This a far more detailed measurement because a million or even 10 million dots still don't technically fit into a solid line. Consequently, there is no real digital equivalent to press numbers. So, we use 400 ppi to approximate one lpi line because the dots become so small they appear to be a solid line.

Please understand the press reproduces every defect down to a single pixel, dot or snigglefritzel.

Book requirements
During the day, I'm a book Editor at a specialty publisher. At night and on weekends, I still shoot and write for newspapers and magazines.

The book publisher requires authors submit 1M (megabyte) .JPGs images for quarter-page placement. Full-page images must be 5M .JPGs to approximately fit on the page at the correct proportions. Other format images - such as .TIF or .EPS - should be much larger. To get the approximate proportions for layout, we divide the image dimensions by 400 (ppi) for an inch count. Then, measure the placement box.

For example, an image could be 2100 x 1575 pixels (683K). This means its maximum size is 5.25 x 3.9375 inches. It can’t be laid out to fit in a hole that is 11.25 x 8 inches because it's about half the size it should be. It’s too small.

To make the example image fit a full-page, the layout program (InDesign) would stretch and degrade (interpolate) the images. When we fit the image to fill the full-page hole, it's 161.904 percent at 300 ppi (the lowest acceptable setting for the press).

We can improve an image's resolution by sending the image through a software program to increase the file size with minimum degradation. The new file size would be 5.13Mb. If the original image had started as a 5.2Mb file, it would have been the correct size.

Artificially increasing file sizes
Most software is capable of increasing file sizes. If it can be avoided, DON'T ARTIFICIALLY INCREASE FILE SIZES. Most programs "invent" pixels between other pixels. This is called interpolation.

During interpolation, most software averages surrounding pixels and approximates a solid pixel of the average color. The average color between a red pixel and a blue pixel on a football uniform is magenta (bright pink). Magenta isn't exactly a "football color."

If required, let the publisher increase file sizes because they'll have special programs to accomplish this with minimal damage to the original image.

We use PhotoZoom Pro 3. It can be tweaked to increase resolution with minimal degradation of the original. It still degrades the image, but it's nowhere near as bad as "upsizing" through basic photo software.

While the software is helpful, it isn't as good as a full-size original because it artificially increased the file size. It still invented "stuff between stuff," but it does so better than other software programs.

If authors wanted to mail prints to our office, we can scan up to 9,600 ppi to ensure clarity. Otherwise, the software can handle minor "upsizes" if the images are clear.

However, if the image was already degraded (via previous artificial increases or other software manipulations) before we got it, the program simply enlarges all previous problems. The program can be set to fill pixel gaps and smooth lines, but this only degrades the actual image more.

In short, no program "improves" images by making them larger, artificial increases only degrade images. It's best to get the original capture medium (film, digital file, etc.) and work forward from there. Then, scan the original at the largest file size possible and run it in a location smaller than the actual file size.

Enough for now,

Student PJ contest honors Jim Cox

Jim Cox was a TVPJ in Phoenix. He died in a mid-air collision of two news helicopters on July 27th, 2007. Since then, his family has established the James Alan Cox Foundation for Student Photographers.

The foundation provides five scholarships aspiring PJ students including $2,000 tuition assistance for college students and five high-end cameras for high-school students.

The foundation is accepting applications from now until the Oct. 15, 2009 deadline. There are still and video categories with strict limits. You can view the application and enter the competition at www.jamesalancoxfoundation.org.

Please only submit legitimate PJ work. Please prepare your submissions early because several criteria must be met to qualify.

Images of minors require model releases. Otherwise, the competition is open and reasonable. It's a legitimate PJ contest (not a rights grab) to honor a dedicated TVPJ.

Enough for now,

Image manipulation is a global problem

© by Mark M. Hancock for Global Journalist magazine

The first day in April is called April Fool's Day in the United States. In Israel this year, it was simply portrait day for the new cabinet and photographer Menahem Kahana. However, when Kahana's image appeared in Yated Neeman, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspaper, someone had fooled with the image.

Someone at the newspaper used Adobe Photoshop or a similar software program to remove female ministers Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver and replaced them with two men to create an all-male cabinet.

While cloning over people in a portrait is a terminal offense at most U.S. daily newspapers, image manipulation has recent precedence in the Middle East.

Los Angeles Times staff photographer Brian Walski was fired - ironically - on April 1, 2003. The international-award-winning, 20-year news veteran combined two images of a British soldier and civilians in Iraq to make a "better" image. It cost him his job and his credibility.

However, few lessons were learned by others.

Lebanese photographer Adnan Hajj submitted at least two digitally-manipulated images to Reuters during the 2006 Lebanon War. Hajj turned flares into missiles in one instance and poorly cloned smoke rising from Beirut in another.

Hajj and others were also accused of introducing various items such as new toys and a burning Koran into scenes. Two days after Hajj's digital manipulations were discovered, Reuters stopped its 10-year association with Hajj, removed 920 photos by Hajj from the company archive and fired a photo editor.

During the same conflict, a woman was apparently photographed by photographers representing both Reuters and Associated Press (AP) while she mourned near a bombed home - in three different locations on three different dates. Issam Kobeisi made two of the images for Reuters while Hussein Malla submitted one to AP.

While both photographers were close enough to conveniently capture her emotion and the wreckage with wide-angle lenses, neither bothered to include the woman's name in their captions to verify authenticity.

Moving further east, the media branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards released an image of an Iranian missile test launch in July 2008. In keeping with Middle Eastern digital ethics, it was manipulated as well.

After one missile failed to fire, the non-firing missile was removed from the image and one of the three other missiles was duplicated to make the launch appear to be a complete success

Digital manipulation isn't limited to the Middle East, and the April Fool's Day theme continues.

On April 1, 2007, the Toledo Blade ran a front-page image by photographer Allan Detrich. However, the former Pulitzer Prize finalist had digitally altered the image. Detrich's deceptions were discovered when he digitally removed the legs of a spectator from a baseball game on a Page 1 story. Competing papers ran similar images with the legs plainly visible.

By April 7, all of his images were removed from the Toledo Blade's Web site and access to his images was blocked internally. All 50 images submitted by Detrich to the Associated Press were also removed by AP.

The 2007 National Press Photographers Association president Tony Overman took the unusual step of publicly condemning Detrich's practices.

Overman stated the extent of this problem precisely, "The Blade reports that a subsequent internal investigation of his work showed evidence of manipulations in 79 photos so far this year, an unprecedented amount of violations."

In many of Detrich's manipulations, items such as balls or bushes were added to images while distracting elements such as wires were removed.

Advice from pros

Millions of ethical, accurate images are presented to the public each year by professional photojournalists. These professionals often risk their lives to present honest images. Consequently, harsh, career-ending criticism is leveled at rogue photographers who violate the core ethical rules of photojournalism and undermine the work of thousands of ethical photojournalists.

"Most photojournalists in Nicaragua are aware of the basic ethical rules of photojournalism and follow them," stated Tomas Stargardter, photo editor at La Prensa newspaper in Managua, Nicaragua. "The basic principle is 'Do not lie.'"

Alex Lloyd Gross is a Pennsylvania-based freelance photojournalist. He stated, "Always follow tight ethics. Without them, there is no trust between the reader and the journalist."

Defining ethical standards

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) released a “modernized” Code of Ethics in 2004. The old code was written in 1946 and didn't address television or digital editing. The new code includes these concerns and clarifies some other issues while clearly stating the expectations of members.

The code's goal is to achieve the highest standards while maintaining public confidence in the profession. This is accomplished through an honest, accurate and complete presentation of visual information. The code promotes accuracy and honesty in recording of events, event fidelity, digital editing and captioning.

While this standard isn't universal, it is upheld by most professional photojournalists around the world.

Historical perspective

Photographic manipulation is nothing new. In 1858, English photographer Henry Peach Robinson was a proponent of photography as an art form. Throughout his career, he made composite photos from separate negatives.

The first such composite image was placed on exhibit without an explanation. The image showed a girl on her death bed with her family in waiting. The image was initially criticized for its apparent intrusion on a private moment of a family's grief. Later, the artist was criticized for fooling the public with a manipulated image, which combined five separate negatives.

The first widely-known American instance of an altered image was by Mathew Brady's photography company in the 1860s. The company placed a portrait of Abraham Lincoln's head on the body of John C. Calhoun, a Southern slavery supporter.

Both images were portraits, but the photography company claimed they didn't have a full-body image of Abraham Lincoln in an inspirational pose.

Joseph Stalin regularly had enemies removed from images. Stalin most famously had the former Great Purge executioner and head of the Soviet secret police Nikolai Yezhov painted out of an image after Stalin arranged for Yezhov to be executed.

In the golden age of photojournalism, W. Eugene Smith also combined negatives to change the impact of images for Life magazine. Rather than cropping the image, Smith placed a silhouette of a hand holding a saw to cover a fog imperfection in a 1954 image of Dr. Albert Schweitzer.

He was also known to print images down to black and use potassium ferricyanide or bleach to reveal only the areas he wished to show. The chemical dissolved silver molecules to lighten or completely remove elements from images.

While the silver destruction process could be slowed long enough to make printing plates, the original photographic prints continued to degrade over time. Not only were these images irreversibly damaged, common storage techniques allowed these prints to permanently damage nearby prints as well.

While similar actions today are considered unethical, it was common practice in newspaper and magazine darkrooms to have potassium ferricyanide next to spotting pigment bottles.

As tainted prints degrade nearby prints, manipulated images tend to damage the works of others nearby.

Digital manipulation enters the market

During the 1980s, powerful computer-based image processing methods were developed. While supermarket tabloid newspapers continued to piece together supposed exclusive images of aliens, mermaids, Big Foot and other fiction, most legitimate newspapers had accepted basic ethical practices.

Meanwhile, magazines sat on the newsstand racks next to the tabloids. Both vied for the impulse purchase and income generated by casual shoppers. Ultimately, fashion, glamour, lifestyle and similar magazines frequently employed airbrush and digital manipulation to make sales while news magazines primarily presented factual images.

In February 1982, National Geographic created controversy by digitally moving two Egyptian pyramids closer together so both would fit onto the magazine's cover. Later, Tom Kennedy became director of photography for the magazine and stated, "We no longer use that technology to manipulate elements in a photo simply to achieve a more compelling graphic effect. We regarded that afterwards as a mistake, and we wouldn't repeat that mistake today."

With the ethical door opened by various magazines, Texas Monthly placed the head of Governor Ann Richards, a motorcycle rider, on the body of a model Betty Harper straddling a Harley-Davidson motorcycle on the July 1992 cover.

D Magazine eventually upped the ante by placing the head of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on the swimsuit-clad body of model Desiree T. Claassen in July 1995.

However, Mirabella had already won the ethical arms race by creating a completely fictitious model for its September 1994 cover. Considering fake images had become the norm, a non-existent model wouldn't have been very controversial - other than inside the modeling profession. However, Mirabella's table of contents page explanation of the image never mentioned the cover was a composite fabrication.

Instead, it states, "Maybe her identity has something to do with the microchip floating through space, next to that gorgeous face."

In March 2007, Time added a teardrop to the face of former President Ronald Reagan. Time officials later said the image was a legitimate illustration because the teardrop's illustrator was listed in the table of contents.

It wasn't the first or most controversial step over the line by the magazine.

When O.J. Simpson was arrested, Time magazine darkened his mug shot to make him appear more menacing on a June 1994 cover. Because the unaltered image appeared on nearby Newsweek magazine covers as well, the manipulation was immediately evident.

Newsweek magazine has also had its share of controversies. In December 1997, Newsweek drastically altered a portrait featuring septuplet parents Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey. In this instance, Time ran the unaltered image.

And, not to be outdone by the Texas lifestyle magazines, Newsweek placed Martha Stewart's head on a model's body for its March 2005 cover.

Political manipulations

While digital manipulations are often easy to make, old-fashioned staged images are still useful to fulfill questionable political agendas.

The Daily Mirror newspaper in the United Kingdom fired editor Piers Morgan in May 2004 after learning he was a party to staged images of British soldiers supposedly abusing Iraqi prisoners. Morgan had refused to resign. Instead, he said the photos "accurately illustrated the reality about the appalling conduct of some British troops."

While political image manipulations are nothing new, the ease of modern software programs has accelerated the frequency of manipulated images for political gain.

A 2004 composite image appears to have a young Sen. John Kerry and Jane Fonda share the stage at an anti-war rally. In reality, the images were made by two separate photographers in two separate states more than a year apart.

A 2006 image placed the head of comedian Al Franken on the body of an adult wearing a diaper, bunny ears and clutching a teddy bear.

In both instances, Republican operatives were trying to discredit Democrat candidates. Neither attempt is known to have run in newspapers as legitimate news images.

In October 2008, Republican activist outrage over digital manipulation took an unusual and disturbing turn.

After Newsweek ran a particularly tight image of Gov. Sara Palin on the magazine's cover, Republican media consultant Andrea Tantaros, vice president at Sloane & Company, appeared on Fox News to voice her displeasure.

The crisis communications specialist with a journalism degree from Lehigh University was upset because Newsweek had not manipulated the image to make her client look better than reality.

Tantaros also stated on her blog, "We expect this from gossip magazines like Star, OK! and In Touch. Newsweek is supposed to be an unbiased, substantive weekly, not some fly by night publication that can afford to appear unprofessional. It is expected to have standards (except when it comes to conservative, backwater female politicians, apparently) and a competent photography department It's incredible how this photo editor didn't have time to make Governor Palin look her best but manages to make Barack Obama look like a statuesque, presidential image of perfection just about every other week. Mindboggling."

Possibly Tantaros should move to France.

Recent manipulations of images inside France appear to favor the administration of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Paris Match magazine removed body fat from a shirtless image of the French leader in August 2007. In June 2008, the newspaper Le Figaro digitally removed a large diamond ring from the hand of French justice minister Rachida Dati.

Concerns about the future

Recent newspaper cutbacks and closings have many photojournalists concerned about future photojournalistic integrity.

"With papers leaning towards citizen journalism, I am very concerned. It's nothing for the citizen with a cell phone to take out a tree, manipulate the background or something even more sinister," Gross stated.

Stargardter instead believes ethical behavior has become a prerequisite.

"Photojournalists are taking more care to follow ethical rules since the labor market is limited," Stargardter stated. "The ability to protect your actual job and make sure that you have good references for any future job becomes a priority in these troubling times."

Enough for now,

Transition from staff to freelance

There's no denying the newspaper industry is in trouble. More than 14,000 U.S. newsroom employees have already lost jobs during 2008.

Instead of opining about how miserable any photojournalist's chances of survival are, let's address some business fundamentals for the foolhardy.

In all circumstances, it's wise for staffers or college students to think ahead and have business basics under control prior to separation or graduation. Waiting for the inevitable only creates crisis.

Fundamentals
Every photojournalist needs personal business cards and a Web site. It's also wise to join organizations such as NPPA and ASMP.

Likewise, every photojournalist needs to have a handle on basic accounting, invoicing, pricing, insurance and various other business fundamental requirements such as the cost of doing business.

Professional organizations, the Internet, libraries and book stores have plenty of information available on these topics.

Have equipment
Most staff photojournalists opposed purchasing personal equipment since the digital conversion. Equipment costs are high, and equipment is quickly outdated. However, downsized photojournalists must return company equipment before they walk out the door.

Currently-employed staffers are strongly encouraged to purchase personal equipment while they still have a staff income. Start with lenses, supports and lighting equipment. Buy a dit body last to get the best price for the highest acceptable quality.

Equally important is a personal laptop computer with work-essential software. While the software is expensive, upgrades are reasonable. It's best to only need an upgrade after a layoff than an entire suite of programs.

Define your business model
There are two general photojournalism businesses. The first only deals with businesses. The business-to-business (B2B) model is the most convenient because there's often no need to collect state sales taxes (depends on the state). We operate a lean, sole-proprietor business, find clients, negotiate assignments, invoice and find more clients.

Because we function as image wholesalers and produce no tangible products, we're only responsible for income taxes.

The second model includes consumer sales. Wedding photojournalists earn their primary income through consumers. The structure is more difficult because it involves registration with state comptrollers, sales tax collections, additional insurance and a host of additional considerations.

While B2B is simplest, consumers can help keep photojournalists busy between gigs and provide secondary income from shoots (reprint sales). It's worth the trouble to avoid major problems later - particularly in tight markets where competition is tight and might play hardball.

In Texas, it's illegal to sell more than three tangible items annually to consumers without a sales license (this includes online auctions). A print is tangible. A CD is tangible.

Most states probably have similar requirements. However, each state is different. Check with local state comptrollers for specific requirements.

To get a sales license in Texas, businesses must register a DBA (doing business as) form with the county and apply for a sales license from the state comptroller. It takes a while to get the license, so plan ahead.

For minor print sales, taxes must be filed quarterly. Businesses conducted mostly with consumers may need to file sales taxes monthly.

Get to work
Photojournalists want to make images. Professionals shifting from staff jobs to the freelance market must adapt quickly to survive. Cross training in skills such as writing, design, video and editing is strongly encouraged. The current market demands multi-skilled professionals.

While business isn't our primary passion, the fundamentals must be addressed before we can work. It's best to be completely prepared to work as an independent business. Only those who are prepared to function as a lone wolf will survive after the rest of the pack is gone.

Enough for now,

Tim Hussin - 2008 CPOY winner

Tim Hussin was born in Palm Harbor, Florida in 1985. He is currently a freelance photojournalist.

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photojournalism from the University of Florida. He has interned at The Rocky Mountain News, The Deseret Morning News, Monroe Evening News and The Gainesville Sun.

In 2008, he won the College Photographer of the Year and was a semi-finalist for the Hearst Journalism Awards. He has also won other awards from the CPOY, Hearst Journalism Awards Program, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), the Michigan Press Photographers Association (MPPA) and the Photo Imaging Education Association (PIEA). He is currently the 2008 NPPA student clip contest point leader.

He participated in a project about the sponge industry in the Bahamas as well as a Study Abroad project at an historic art house in Berlin, Germany. Recently, he covered the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo. and the separation of parents from children at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Eldorado, Texas.

Additional images can be seen on his blog, his Web site, and his Flickr stream.

Please read his interview parts A, B and C.


Enough for now,

Best PJ colleges and recruits 08

In 2005, 2006 and 2007 we tried to ascertain which colleges are best for PJ students. My answer is always the same:   The university doesn't make the best PJs. The best PJs make the most of their time at university.

This fact was proven when the College Photographers of the Year Casey Templeton and Rick Gershon were both lone wolves from their universities. Tim Hussin, the 2008 College Photographer of the Year, is also a lone wolf from the University of Florida.

We now have four years of data to show us benefit-for-investment trends at different universities. Let's use the information we have and draw a few conclusions.

When looking at the winners list, let's ignore who won gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention. Instead, we'll look at how many individuals from different universities got any awards. Of these winners, we'll eliminate the universities with only one winner (no matter how many awards were won) and eliminate the redundancies.

Again, what remains is a solid guess at the quality of the PJ education at different universities. If nothing else, it shows a consistent ability to teach students to shoot and select quality images for competition.

Here's the breakdown by number of individual students who won any awards at this year's CPOY:

2008 top award winning schools

13 (+1) - Ohio University
11 (+3) - Western Kentucky University
06 (+2) - San Francisco State University
05 (-2)- University of Missouri
04 (-2) - Brooks
04 (=) - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
03 (+1) - Syracuse University
02 (new) - Loyalist College
02 (new) - Southern Illinois University

Western Kentucky gained the most ground this year and picked up three. San Francisco State increased awards by a third. Ohio held the lead and increased its total by one. Syracuse also picked up one. The University of North Carolina was stable while the University of Missouri and Brooks both lost two.

Loyalist College and Southern Illinois University are new on the leader board this year while the University of Nebraska vanished.

As stated before, universities with strong programs draw strong students. These students are frequently as demanding on one another as they are on themselves. The top two PJ universities continue to impress. Both have remained at the top of the leader board for the last four years. This means their students are producing consistently high-quality work from year to year.

Meanwhile, one driven PJ can still take all the marbles without cohorts. Tim Hussin took the portfolio win. He also accumulated the most overall wins. What makes him so dangerous to other collegiate PJs is he accomplished this with still images and mixed media. Hussin's skills match what's happening on the pro side of this biz.

He won awards in Spot News, Feature, Domestic Picture Story, Still Image Audio Story, Video/Mixed Media Photo Story and Portfolio.

Unlike last year's multimedia dominance by Ohio and UNC, awards were won by many schools. Ohio University, University of Florida, University of Missouri, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Western Kentucky University all earned awards. This means these universities, have a grip on industry demands.

Best recruits
The College Photographer Of the Year is the shooter with the best portfolio. This system is similar to the Pictures Of the Year (POYi) awards. Meanwhile, the NPPA regional photographer of the year is determined by points. This point system shows consistent commitment to excellence and competition throughout the year.

Since it's not possible to give the same points because the NPPA student competitions are held quarterly (incidentally, Hussin is currently leading in those points as well by 150 points), we can use a different scoring system. We'll assess the following points:
6 - CPOY (Gold 4 + 2)
5 - CPOY runner up (Silver 3 + 2)
4 - Gold
3 - Silver
2 - Bronze
1 - Award of Excellence

Since we have four years of data now, we can crunch some numbers. Editors who get resume packages from these folks should take a serious look-see at the packages. These numbers indicate a consistent ability to perform at a high level in multiple categories over time.

Top 10 individuals from 2005 - 2008

20 - Matt Eich - Ohio University
20 - Andrew Henderson - Western Kentucky University
20 - Yoon Byun - Ohio University (Boston Globe)
18 - Tim Hussin - University of Florida
18 - Jenn Ackerman - Ohio University
18 - Tim Gruber - Ohio University
17 - Dominic Nahr - Ryerson University
16 - Travis Dove - Ohio University
16 - Carl Kiilsgaard - Western Kentucky University
16 - Daryl Peveto - Brooks Institute of Photography

The 2008 top three draft picks are:

18 - Tim Hussin - University of Florida
12 - Jenn Ackerman - Ohio University
9 - Andrew Burton - Syracuse University

The cumulative draft picks are:

20 - Matt Eich - Ohio University
18 (tie) - Tim Hussin - University of Florida
18 (tie) - Jenn Ackerman - Ohio University
18 (tie) - Tim Gruber - Ohio University

The folks still in college will drive up their numbers in the next few years. Those who graduated three years ago may not have done as well on this list as they would have if I had the whole data set. Nonetheless, the top 10 above are all strong recruits for newspapers and magazines. Of these, we again see Ohio continues to be the top school.

Enough for now,
 

My text editing background

This post primarily supports planned posts about writing, editing and expanded skills needed by contemporary PJs.

Unless it's necessary, I try to avoid using first person. Today it's required because this post is about my personal text editing process and background.

Although some of my longer pieces were (rightfully) criticized for verbosity, let's remember PJs must consistently summarize entire stories into two succinct sentences. These are rarely criticized for brevity. Few text reporters can make similar claims.

By seeing my training and editing process, writers might consider how editors and readers view their work. Additionally, PJs should realize they must have complete skill sets to compete for remaining jobs in a difficult market.

I've also been asked several times recently to edit and evaluate the work of other writers. Most of these pieces were written by non-journalists. While I'm known for being a stern editor of images, I edit writing more harshly because writing doesn't have the same physical limitations of photography.

Writers often select subject matter. Writers also tend to have more time to work on stories than visual reporters. A written story can be polished to its highest quality. PJs are much less likely to have this luxury.

In short, writers must not waste readers' time.

Writing background
In the Army, I studied writing as a hobby. While enlisted, I had some fiction work published and a song produced in Nashville. Upon release, I earned my first pro income as a freelance humor writer for a studio greeting card company.

In college, I won a literary award during my first semester. When I started journalism studies, I was a text reporter for the college paper. Later, I moved to news editor and ultimately to Editor of an independent university newspaper. Some of my stories won national awards.

I simultaneously worked on my visual reporting skills. I learned I could tell more stories to more people in less time with still images. Photojournalism remains the most powerful form of communication.

College experience
I never intended to be an editor. I wanted to be a reporter/PJ. However, my journalism instructors were world-renown editors and writing coaches. In college, I was one of the most qualified candidates for the news editing job, so I did it.

I learned much about quickly moving college students from novice writers to reporters. I mainly focused on the mechanics of the story. Once reporters understood the basics, they could produce better work. This approach allowed many reporters to advance rapidly, win collegiate writing awards and scholarships.

Turning pro
After graduation (and a lecture by David Leeson), I concentrated on getting a job only as a visual reporter. Leeson spent his first few years as a text reporter before switching to images and didn't want other PJs to waste valuable time. I followed his advice.

Once I was a staff PJ, I'd occasionally write extended cutlines, news stories, columns and even poetry. PhotoJournalism (this blog) evolved from these pro writing experiences.

Finding only the best
The Beaumont Enterprise had a monthly in-house newspaper content contest. The contest awarded cash prizes in the categories of writing, reporting, enterprise, editing (copy/design) and photo.

The winners of the contest weren't allowed to win the following month because they selected and judged the upcoming month. The results were released around the 20th of each month.

Consequently, each category winner had about 10 days to read, assess and select entries to be judged from a month's worth of newspapers in all five categories. By the contest meeting, each judge was familiar with the month's best work. The judging process only took about an hour to achieve consensus on two finalists in each category. These finalists were presented to the Editor for final selection of a winner.

While it was a noble endeavor, it turned something great (winning) into a chore (quickly reading 30 entire daily papers).

The process redefined my text editing style. I needed to quickly eliminate stories from the reading list. The pieces by other winners were immediately eliminated due to the contest rules. However, a significant volume of work remained to be considered.

During this review, I stopped reading stories if I found any mistake (fact, typo, grammar, style, etc.). I was only searching for the best examples. There's no way to defend a flawed story to other judges, so I'd move to the next story.

With red pen in hand, I tackled the papers. The second I found a mistake or lost interest in a story, I'd circle the mistake and/or draw a red slash at the point I jumped. It forced me to realize other people would do the same to my work. Hopefully, this made me a better writer.

Looking forward
While I'm doing fine as a freelancer, I prefer to be a staffer. Freelance feels too much like retirement. I'm not ready to retire.

Consequently, I've applied for several non-PJ jobs this fall. Despite the volume and quality of available professionals, I've been a short-list finalist for the following positions: copy editor/newspaper designer, associate book editor/designer and managing editor of a promising online publication.

All of these positions required well-rounded reporting and design skills. Most required above-average professional text editing skills. Collegiate PJs without these skills should take heed and learn these skills quickly and thoroughly.

I have several brands in the fire. I expect to continue work as a freelance PJ in the future. However, I'm continuing to learn and expand other skills to make myself more marketable to employers.

The current marketplace simply doesn't acknowledge any "dues paid" or dried laurels on a mantel. There's too much pro talent on the loose during this industrial crisis.

While all PJs prefer to shoot, we must expand our skills to handle whatever happens. Communicators with the ability to organize text, images, video and sound as an author, designer or editor have the strongest chances of survival in this industry or beyond.

Enough for now,