"Thou Shall Not Set up Photo!"

During a photo assignment to take pictures of baby lemurs at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, I ran across a problem in showing just how tiny these furry creatures were when there were stuck behind a glass window and were asleep in their bassinettes. Lucky, a local TV photographer and reporter arrived in the nick of time to solve that problem.

According to the National Press Photographers Associations Code of Ethics rule number 5. It states, “While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.” Somehow those rules only seem to apply to still photographers and not TV photographers.

After setting up his camera and tripod in front of the glass window and taking a few shots. He said the one of the Zoo’s staff if they could move the babies closer to the window for a better shot. The staffer walked over to a box of rubber gloves, pick up a green pair and pink pair and asked the TV photographer, which would look better. “Pink”, he replied. I didn’t say a thing and let him set up the photo.

Donning the pink gloves, the attendants picked up the lemurs and moved them closer to the window. Not only by holding them in their hands, give size in relationship to a human hand, but also the pink gloves were a nice added touch of color.

When I returned to the paper and told the story to our Director of Photography, he asked if I said anything at all to change the situation? “Nope, nada, nothing, the TV photographer and reporter set it up", I replied, they took control over the whole situation. “Good, and you managed to get a nice feature picture of a hard subject.” He said.

So next time you see something shot by a TV photographer for the nightly news, you just gotta wonder just how much part they played in contributing to influence the event filmed.

Adding Blur to Create Motion

One method I like to use when out shooting sports, news or  any other assignment is to put a little blur motion in my photos. This is one way to convey motion to the viewer. 

I like to shoot at low shutter speeds (1/60^th or slower) using a shorter lens and “pan” or move the camera while shooting. When panning, I keep the camera on the subject and swing with the action until it is directly in front of you. Then press the shutter button as you continue panning and the result you’ll achieve is a blurred background with a sharp subject focus.

You can shoot blur-of-action photos three ways:

1)   – Remain stationary and shoot the subject as it passes.

2) –  Move along with the subject and shoot in motion.

3)   – Remain stationary and pan your camera as the subject moves parallel to you.

Capturing Peak Action in covering sports

Many of you have asked to share my secrets in capturing peak sports action photos you see in newspaper and magazines. One thing, I try to stop the action using a shutter speed of no less that 1/500 second and preferable 1/100 second or higher.

Getting the shot at the peak action requires split second timing, practice and keeping your finger pressed on the shutter button. The best stop action shots have sharp focus and the ball in the frame.

Another success in shooting sports requires a photographer to use long telephoto lenses in the ranges of 200mm, 300mm, 400mm, 500mm and longer. These lenses allow a photographer to use low f-stops at either 2.8 or f 4.0. This not only allows me to blur out the backgrounds, but I’m able to use higher shutter speeds to capture the ball in mid air. Another important reason is that the viewers’ eyes automatically goes to the subject and not wonder around the photo. Always crop your photographs to add impact and eye stopping power to them.

Another helpful hint is you also need to process knowledge of the sport you are shooting so you can anticipate the action.

Here's a few that might show you want I'm writing about.

Adding graphic power to your photographs

 

I enjoy using visual communications in my photography. I like to think It’s not what you photograph, but how you photograph the subject.  Some photographs have that talented eye to notice and add that little bit of extra graphic ingredients to a photograph that makes your eye look longer. This type of visual smack is what makes some photography stand out from the ordinary.

Crop for impact: If you want add graphic power, you must crop in on those story-telling elements. Study everything in your viewfinder, the entire frame, not just the center.  You can get rid all the distracting elements in the sides, corners or background by changing camera angle, shooting distance, or zoom settings.  I try add a better graphic impact by moving in and singling out specific features using a zoom lens or a macro lens to photograph small details.

When taking long or medium shots, I’m always on the lookout for pictures within the picture. Seeing interesting details inside the overall frame, I sometimes make separate pictures of them.  By closing in on the light striking a maidenhair fern, I was able to bring out the graphic patterns on the fronds.

Look for reflections:  Reflections can help you create striking compositions. They can be found them anywhere:  car door  windows, even, in water puddles after a rainstorm and in the calm surface of a lake as such as the boater’s reflection in the marina as he washes off his sailboat.

Silhouettes: Look for eye-catching graphic shapes that can be silhouetted against a bright background, such as a sunrise or sunset. For a good silhouette effect, shoot against the light and expose for the bright area, so that the foreground goes dark such as I did of the Salmon fishermen at dusk and able to capture the light reflecting off the fishing lines.

Use of lines: Use lines to make your compositions more graphic to express the mood you want as they curve and lead your eye right into the subject.  But using a micro lens to capture the dewdrops as they transform the graceful curves of a spider web into a deadly looking diamond necklace.

Subject placement: Where you position your subject or center of interest within the camera’s viewfinder can also add to graphic impact. According to years of advice that you should never center the subject in the middle of the picture, that’s just plain crazy. It does sometimes create a static composition, but also can produce a powerful bull’s eye effect that pulls the viewer’s eye right into the center ring such as this portrait of an Azorean girl before she went to her first Communication.

Using shapes, patterns and colors: Colors also produce a life of their own.  I like to use contrasting bold colors to work with one another, as the contrast of the white daisy against the color of the purple lavender.

The repeated line and patterns of repeated lines, shapes, tones and colors within a scene adds that extra bit of graphic power to your photographs.  Sometimes those visual lines may be orderly as the outlines of hills at Hurricane Ridge that create a step ladder leading up to Mount Olympus.

Covering non-photographic events

 

While working for newspapers, photographers shoot a variety of assignments ranging from spot news, general news, sports, feature and documentary. But, there’s nothing more dreaded than being assigned a why I love where I live, my favorite chef, a fine romance, check passing, ground breaking and of course, the school assignment. To the news photographer these are commonly know as “non-photographic events”, but they have to be covered and it’s up to us to capture a story-telling photo.

Most are pretty boring event to cover, so if only teachers would plan ahead and contact the newspaper’s education beat reporter and inform them of an ongoing class project. That would actually make better pictures than kids standing next or pointing to a finished science project. The same goes for ground breakings, instead of having to capture pictures of local officials moving dirt with a shovel, how about stopping by ever so often at the construction site to make pictures of workers. I tried to train our reporters on what makes a visual assignment or not. From time to time I had to tell them, that this is one assignment where 5,000 words is a lot better than one crappy photo.

Once I received an assignment to cover Presidential Candidates at The Islander Middle School . Eight graders were taking part of a social studies class using Story path, an educational program in which they create an election campaign, with candidates, platforms and posters. Sounds pretty boring and why yes it was. I could have gotten a few shots of the candidates standing at a podium giving a speech, but for some reason I decided something there might make a good photo. Besides, if I returned to office after this assignment, there might be a worse one waiting. I have this thought, if you’re out of the office your working, you know out of sight, out of mind to the editors and another photographer would get handed a “last minute” assignment.

I’ve been following this one group from classroom to classroom when the candidate, dressed as Herbert Bobman, for the Peace Party, had her nose tweaked by a classmate. So, instead of handing in a speaking at a podium pictures, I stayed longer and the paper published a nice story telling feature.

The excitement of covering spot news

 

To some news photographers there’s nothing like getting the blood pumping than having to jump up and rush off to photograph a spot news event. Spot news photographs are pictures of unscheduled events for which no advance planning was possible. These news situations are normally spontaneous photos of a fire, traffic accident or a rescue. This type of event puts pressure on the photographer to produce while working under trying conditions, even through a little humor can be found near the end once those emergency personnel on the scene deems the situation isn’t life threatening and a lighter type of photo can be taken. So, if you don’t make it on time to photograph the trauma situation, a story telling photo can always be made.

I’ve found while out covering spot news events, stay out of the way of police, fire or medical personnel. A long lens helps so that you can move in closer to make photos that might show emotion.

Most of the time it’s often difficult to gather caption information at spot news events, so I try get the names and contact phone number of an police officer, firefighter or paramedics and what fire station they belong to, so that I can later phone and get more details.

Here are some details of the posted photos:

A SWAT team member and his dog provides cover for the rest of the team as they search house to house for a suspect in the after a Seattle Police Officer was shot in his car about 9:30 this morning. Since the scene was still active, I was forced to use my 400mm lens and stand back across the street behind a police line.

South Kitsap fireman knocks back a house fire in Port Orchard. While working for the Port Orchard Independent I got to know most of the local emergency personnel well and actually able to move in closer to a fire, emergency situation using a variety of lenses, ranging from a wide angle to a telephoto.

Emergency personnel stabilize an injured woman after an accident.  While covering this accident I was told to get back by a Washington State Patrol Trooper, but the Fireman Lieutenant informed the officer that I knew what I was doing and wouldn't be In the way. I guess all those times I dropped off containers of ice cream at the fire station paid off.

A fireman carried a 50-pound English bulldog up a steer embankment after his owner lost control on an icy road.

A sanitation worker pours coffee from a thermos after turning over his garbage truck while traveling through a roundabout.

"Oh Wow!"

Living in the Pacific Northwest provides photographers not only chance to capture a variety of scenic attractions, but also never ending challenges in shooting under a variety of lighting conditions.  While cruising around Port Orchard one day I came upon this scene of the snow capped Olympic Mountains. What made it pop out was the ever changing sky conditions and the dark layer of the gathering cloud line.  To me, a scenic picture or “Oh wow!” is one of my favorite types of photo subjects. This shot is another type of pictorial as it grabs the viewers’ attention and is easier to take than any other, for it is the type of subject that shouts out to you. “Just take me!” If the light is right, if the composition comes together to make the kind of eye-catching shot that captures the spirit of a place, then take it quickly because the scene may change momentarily. And if the lighting changes for the better, take it again. Being in the right place at the right time is one of the secrets of capturing the “Oh wow!” shot. Luck has a lot to do with it, but carrying your camera around with you and spending time out taking pictures will increase your chances of capturing this type of scenic picture.