I will admit I was intrigued by this topic because I am very interested in photography and images which accompany news stories. The sub-topics we covered in the lecture were the overwhelming presence of picture stories in today's news, is a picture really worth a thousand words, a short history of pictures and what makes a great photo. Firstly, Bruce talked about the ever-present nature of picture stories in today's society. For example, they are in newspapers, magazines, TV, movies, computer screens, iPhones, outdoor advertising, and even on money!
A condensed version of the history and transformation of picture stories includes..
- Australian Indigenous Cave stories-been around for 40000 years
- Cave Painting Stories- Lascraux, France 15000-1000BC
- Plato-“shadows on the cave wall”
- Holy Books and Stained Glass-these were driven by pictures, primarily because people couldn’t read so if the church wanted to get message across they needed pictures
- Early Newspapers/Newsletters-1860’s newspapers -illustrated with line drawings
- Photography begins for journalism- first published photo in a newspaper halftone only, first published news photo was in 1880
- First colour reproduction in newspaper was in 1936
- Digital capture and upload- in laptop and put it online and onto devices
- Digital manipulation-Photoshop, which is now in every magazine cover and pages. This is new but everywhere
- Digital publishing- better quality photos and videos, more opportunities for visual, photo galleries- rather than pick one, you can pick a number of pictures you can publish show a lot more aspects of story.
With relation to the topic of what makes a great photo, we firstly looked at a case study of three photos from a funeral and Bruce asked us which photo was more effective.
I thought picture two was the most effective, this photo was also voted as the most effective by the majority of the lecture group. I thought this because it was nicely framed with a religious context,the frame takes up the picture.
This photo was picked as the news photo of the year for Qld Media awards in 2009. We then talked about the characteristics of a great photo. They included:
I thought picture two was the most effective, this photo was also voted as the most effective by the majority of the lecture group. I thought this because it was nicely framed with a religious context,the frame takes up the picture.
This photo was picked as the news photo of the year for Qld Media awards in 2009. We then talked about the characteristics of a great photo. They included:
- Framing- how we frame an image
- Focus- in terms of focus of the people
- Angle and Point of view (POV)- for example if filming from up high the message conveyed is to look down on the subject
- Exposure or light- falls on persons face, usage of flash is frowned upon
- Timing (shutter speed)- there is a movement against camera phones, however this is important for sports photos
- Capturing “the moment”- which is a second in time
- The rule of thirds- (Golden mean)-entails breaking the photo up into grids which acts as a guide to what makes a great photo- these days it is pre programmed to see and perceive.
Below is one of the quotes used in today's lecture which I thought was very insightful.
“A picture has no meaning at all if it cant tell a story”. I think this quote perfectly sums up the purpose of a picture and what it aims to do.
With relation to moving pictures the criteria is basically the same as still pictures, however editing is now used and there is a sound element in moving pictures. Some more progressions in the history of photo journalism was the creation of editing in 1925 which put images together to create a story
and cut between shots to create tension and create a story.
This was accompanied by newsreels at the cinema, propaganda films, the creation of the 24/7 news cycle, mobile phones and social networking, a visual
This was accompanied by newsreels at the cinema, propaganda films, the creation of the 24/7 news cycle, mobile phones and social networking, a visual
- journalist or in other words the new TV journalist. We ended with the quote
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“If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if
it rips out your heart, that’s a good picture”. I really liked this quote also because it tells the truth and captures the essence of photography in my opinion.
In today's lecture I learnt the history of picture stories because I didn't know the transformation of the pictures and the progression into news stories. Furthermore, I also learnt the various factors involved with a good photo.
I thought this was a very insightful and interesting lecture because of my passion for photography and my interest into how the pictures end up with the articles or in magazines.
In today's lecture I learnt the history of picture stories because I didn't know the transformation of the pictures and the progression into news stories. Furthermore, I also learnt the various factors involved with a good photo.
I thought this was a very insightful and interesting lecture because of my passion for photography and my interest into how the pictures end up with the articles or in magazines.
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