Saturday, October 29, 2011

people taking pictures

There was a lot of picture taking during Treat Street Satuday at La Villita. We had fun eating candy, getting our faces painted and eating a lot of junk food.  I noticed most of the photo takers had point and shoot cameras, so all is not lost for those business owners, lol. The younger attendants took photos with cell phones No one else had an SLR, or at least not that I saw throughout the day.

Tips for quiz in law of photojournalism

The following are possible questions in law of photojournalism (find answers in the chapter and read the notes you took in class). The quiz will be in the form of multiple choices.

Which of the following location requires permission before photo taking?

Photojournalists has the right to take photos in public areas is base on what legal document?

What situation requires the approval of both the administrator and the recognizable people in the photo before photo taking?

Who can give you a legal right to enter an aftermath of a fire scene of a privately owned house?

In what situation requires you bylaw to turn over your camera equipment?

What was the latest final ruling from the court on photographer Ron Galella from taking picture of Kennedy Onassis?

What are the common situations when photos published becomes libel?

What is “improper photography law”? In what situation would someone consider breaking the law?

In discussing people’s privacy right. Kobre’s book mentioned Ms. Graham appeared in a county fair and had her photo being taken at a public place and published. She sued the newspaper and won. What was the case about?

“Work-for-hire” agreement means the copyright of a photo is own by who? And how do you define “work-for-hire”?

Precisely when is the earliest moment a photo is copyrighted and what do you need to do to claim copyright to your photo?

Some restrictions apply to photojournalists in taking photos of the person in their home even though without going into a person’s property. What are they?

When taking photos of an accident scene, what kind of legal concerns you need to be aware?

What is media “ride along” with the police? Is it legal? How did Supreme Court rule this kind of situation?

Are all true and real photos safe to print? In what situation a photo becomes “putting someone in a false light” and “embarrassing the subject” being photographed?

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Your blog posting extra bonus tally

What do we have so far?

Blog posting is considered as bonus point to your final grade. It will be an extra 5% if you do all the required postings. If you partially fulfill the requirement, you will get the proportional percentage.
Let me know asap if there are any discrepancies.

Wk4            The world of slow shutter speed
Wk5            Shadow and Silhouette
Wk6            Two persons reading under the shade of a tree
Wk7            Looking into details
Wk8            Walking in Sync
Wk9            Making background and foreground work together
Wk10          People taking photos
    
 Legend: x (yes)            - (no)           


Wk4
Wk5
Wk6
Wk7
Wk8
Wk9
Wk10
Alex
X
X
X
-
-
-

Cassie
X
X
-
-
-
-

Celeste
X
X
-
-
-
-

Ivie
-
-
-
-
-
-

Jennifer
X
X
-
X
-
X

Julianna
X
-
-
X
-
-

Katie
-
X
-
-
-
-

Rachael
-
-
X
X
-
-

Riley
X
X
-
-
-
X

Valerie
-
-
-
-
-
-

      
The winner: Jennifer  
Runner-up: Alex, Riley
            

mid-term written test comment

Thanks for Jennifer for helping to explain the answers to the mid-term questions. I added a few comments to her post. For those who are not sure about the answers, I suggest you go check that out. Similar questions will be asked in final exam. Again, you will have to understand the concept to be able to answer the questions correctly.

EL

People taking photos

Photo/video taking culture already becomes an inseparable part of our life. We see people taking photographs or video everyday unless you lock ourselves at home. Keep an eye on people next to you. Better yet, if you don't want to passively wait for opportunities to drop in front of your eyes, actively go to places that will surely have people taking photos/videos every minute.

Conditions: No friends or relatives. Has to be someone you don't know. No stage photos. Due next Wed.

Technology has changed the way we take photos and videos. 

 People are not using cameras anymore!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

foreground/background




I took the acorn photo with foreground/background composition in mind and do like its simplicity. I also had to share one of my photos from the shadow assignment. I absolutely love how foreground and background are working together in this "on the job" portrait.

Good Background

San Pedro Park early morning.
By Riley Stephens

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Know your right as a photojournalist!

This one is definitely worthy reading. Very likely to be in the following Monday's (10/31) law quiz. Please read it.

http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/know-your-rights-photographers

info about internship

While you guys are looking into photojournalism websites, this one link coming out from The Visual Student is worthy reading.

It was a recording of a live chat on professionals with the photoj students conducted a few days ago on the topic of applying internship.

Check it out!

http://blogs.nppa.org/visualstudent/2011/10/16/live-chat-on-internship-and-job-searches/

Dr. Lo

It is about time to catch up

Photo folks, 

Every semester in the past, I have a few students dropped out from this class after the mid-term, some even dropped the class before the mid-term. I am happy to see that this might become the only class that breaks the "tradition." However, after I graded the written test on the mid-term, I am a bit worry. It seemed to me that some of you did not really study the course materials (class notes and textbook) seriously. Quite a few of the questions I have in the mid-term showed the fact that you did not go through the books and notes I required you to study.

These similar questions will be asked again in the final exam. And the questions are going to be coming from those same materials. You will need to go through that again sooner or later if you want to get a good grade.

I am very surprised that some of you did not get the right answer to the following questions:

8. The president of SAC is giving a speech on the stage in front of a big black backdrop and a spotlight shining on him. You are shooting from quite a distance away with a framing of 80% of the photo showing the black backdrop. Suppose you are using P mode on your camera, what kind of compensation setting should you choose in order to get this photo closer to properly exposed?

A. –2                     B. –0.5             C. N                 D. +0.5                        E. +2



11. Which of the following exposure combination will produce a “one-stop-brighter” photo than f8, 1/250s?
A. f5.6, 1/250  B. f11, 1/125    C. f5.6, 1/500  D. f11, 1/250   E.f8, 1/500

  
18. Landscape and nature photography usually expects the scene from close to far away to be all in-focus. If you have a good lighting that let you choose whatever aperture (f-stop) you want, which of the following would give you the best chance to get the result you want?
A. f4                      B. f5.6              C. f8                D. f11              E. f16 
19. Which of the following white balance setting should you use when shooting in an orange-yellowish kind of lighting environment?
A. Daylight     B. Shade          C. Tungsten     D. Amber        E. Orange
20. Which of the following would be a possible setting on your camera if you want to show a sharp and clear specimen of an insect? A. 1/4000s, f4              B. 1/2000s, f5.6                       C. 1/1000s, f8              D. 1/500s, f11            E. 1/250s, f16
 

Would any of you try to explain what the answer should be and why? To make sure you understand why, I will ask the similar questions again in the final exam.

Another thing I need to mention is Ranger assignment is a crucial factor to whether you will pass this course or not. Not meeting the 7/7 requirement would mean you will very likely fail this course. We have 4 more issue to publish. Unless you are planning to drop the class, I would suggest you come in much more often and pick up assignment like shopping after the Thanksgiving day.
In the beginning of the semester, I did mentioned 7 hours per week is an average time you should spend on this class. If you had been spending more than 7 hours weekly for this class in the past, you will find yourself beginning to easy up. If you haven't, it is the time to pay your due, and it is going to be more than 7 hours because you started late.

Keep the momentum going! Come talk to me if you have any questions.

Dr. Lo

walking in sync

Making background and foreground work together

Our brain can connect individual visual scene together at different location and perspective and time to make sense out of them. But photography can't. Several photos of different but related scenes put together might sometimes create an association, but most of the time, the impact was weak.

This is the time for you to try to use the concept of layering, framing with foreground, including the contributing background in photography. Try it. It is an crucial story telling technique in photojournalism.


Due next Wed. You need to include related foreground and background in your photo.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

This week's topic

Walking in Sync


Conditions:

At least TWO persons walking close together.
Pace has to be the same. Both persons should have the same foot in front or behind. Yes, like the army.

Happy searching for moments.

Military Assignment

I am part of a mobilized public affairs detachment, and although I wasn't in class on Monday, I was photographing amazing training! React to biological, chemical, nuclear attack! This site is called Disaster City-where what could go wrong, does! These are a few of my favorites that I took yesterday and just wanted to share :)

Up-close and personal







I liked these because they were so old and weathered yet so beautiful to me!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Details







I took pictures of some of my mom's favorite things. The first image is of her favorite vanilla scented candle. The second image is of her mirror that she uses every day to put on make-up, even thou it has a broken handle.







































































































































































Monday, October 10, 2011

A piece of the whole

Thought I'd focus on my two favorite subjects, painting and photography.


Sunday, October 9, 2011

Photojournalists professional code of conduct

 Note: Dr. Lo spent 4 hours writing this up. Of course, it is important and it will be in the examination.

Journalism should be:
Credible, objective, unbiased, complete, accurate, and socially responsible
.

The following professional code of conduct is derived from the above value. Instead of preaching you what we should do, I am suggesting what we should not do.

Things photojournalists don’t do:

Do not knowingly jeopardize people’s life or safety for getting photos because being a responsible human being comes before being a responsible photojournalist (however, taking photos of a traffic accident victim at a distance is not jeopardize his/her life).

Do not give up the opportunity of saving a life in exchange of a photo (unless someone else is already doing the life saving job or that we are sure that our help is not going to save that life).

Do not set up or stage photos to look like documentary. We do not create, we discover. One exception is when we are shooting posed portrait (environmental portrait). In that case, we create the moment but make sure the subject is posing (look directly at the camera) in front of the camera. Remember, no amount of captioning can justify a visual lie. When the photo looks real, it’d better be real.

Do not add, move, or remove objects during a documentary-shooting situation. Move ourselves, not the subjects or objects.

Do not digitally manipulating documentary photos more than they need for proper reproduction for publishing. Do not change the content of a photo in photo enhancement.

Do not obstruct the natural happening of an event. Try to cut the interference to the minimum. (e.g. Not to use flash when people are watching slideshow or performing on stage).

Do not change the course of the natural happening of an ongoing event. (e.g. Don’t ask people to stop when they should be walking. Don’t ask or suggest people to cry when they are not crying)

Do not break laws to get photo because acting within the boundary of law shows that we are honest and reliable, and that is one reason why public trust us (unless there is an overriding reason such as revealing governmental repression and brutality on countries with no press freedom).

Do not give in to threats or harassment easily unless personal safety is in immediate danger. We should extend our legal right to the most possible limit. We are not photographing for ourselves, we are doing it for the public. They put their hopes on us.

Do not let emotion get over our head. Do not let sadness, joy, horror, excitement, anger or threat carry us away. To be able to do our job effectively and efficiently, we need to try everything we can to be cool, be calm, be rational, be objective, be accurate, be polite and be respectful.

Do not bring a friend or kids to cover an assignment because having two identities in us at the same time might compromise our full ability and attention to achieve our complete and accurate reporting.   

Do not receive payment, reward, or freebie when shooting assignments because we might knowingly or unknowingly compromise our objectivity. Readers will lose trust in us if they know we did that.

Do not lure people into letting us shoot photos of them by offering money, goodies, and reward of any kind because subject might do unreal things for us just because of the reward.

Do not lie to people to get photo opportunities. Lying photographers can’t ask people to trust their photos are true.

Do not dress red to a funeral or dress shorts and sandals to an executive board meeting. If we don’t show respect and prepared for our assignment, how are we going to show respect to our photographs, and also the people and events that we are reporting?

Do not promise our subjects publishing the photos because in journalism business, publishing news is a serious collective decision, every report has to go through a collective editing and gatekeeping process. We don’t want to make any promise we can’t keep.

Do not let any personal prejudice get into photographs we take. We don’t purposely make people look appealing; we don’t purposely make people look ugly either.

Do not compromise accuracy by getting second- or third-hand information. Whenever possible, request and confirm information from the subject directly.

Do not put on anything such as buttons, caps, and stickers given by event organizer when shooting an assignment. Do not dress clothes with signs and words that label us to a political or social party.

Do not express personal political or social preference when covering assignment. We can show understanding and ask questions, but we don’t take sides when reporting.

Do not just shoot the way people organize the event want us to shoot but rather shoot everything that represent and document the event because we are not working for event organizers. We work for an independent news organization, and eventually, we serve the public’s right to know.

Do not give or promise giving any photo or shoot any specify photos for the event organizer. We cover the news for the public, not the organizer. Removing ourselves by shooting photos other than what the news required could result in a compromise of the coverage of the news.

Do not let the subjects of the photo, the general public, or government officials (such as police) to view our unpublished photos because if we do, our independence in deciding what to publish might be affected, or causing a change of the natural happenings of the event, or becoming an extension of a branch of the government. (The court might summon unpublished news photos only if it has good reason to believe that a criminal act is recorded in the photo).

Do not resell or publish photos we took for the news organization without prior approval. “Work-for-hire” law states that once we are hired as an employee of a news organization, the copyright of the photos go to the company unless we are a freelancer and under a different contract. 

Do not delete any photos we took for an assignment because we don’t know how things would develop. Some of our less than important and technically unsound photos might become a decisive photo in the course of news and history in the future. Keep every photo archived, good or bad.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

About details

Nature's amazing creation

Happen to find this bug at my backyard while watching the flowers. It really required an eye of close up and detail to notice it. I admire the beauty of nature. I don't believe in God, but I can't find an answer for this. It carried some pollen on its pedipalp. Look at its eyes on the head. Amazingly symmetric and decorative. And green on magenta, what a complimentary color. Simply speechless.


Happy close-up searching!

Dr. Lo

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Time to press the gas pedal!

Great job and congratulations to some of you. I notice that some of you already fulfilled the 7 & 7 requirement. How nice. But remember, you can still get better grade if you shoot more assignments because we are going to calculate the best 7 grades you have.

For those who have only one or two assignments done and photo counts below 7. I strongly suggest you to fold up your sleeves and start coming in to the photo lab NOW! It is the time for you to put a full force to shooting assignments for the Ranger because we are approaching the mid-term of the semester and we have only 6 more issues to publish. How do you fulfill the 7&7 for the rest of the semester? My experience is that those who cannot make the 7&7 requirement usually is going to get a bad grade in this class. Some could even fail.

Don't wait until the last few weeks to catch up. The later you start pressing the gas pedal, the harder you can reach the finishing line on time.

Dr. Lo


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

This week's posting: Looking into details

Looking into details

Do you know that we human beings are so used to see things as a whole? Close your eyes and think of a camera. What do you see? A camera with lens connected to a camera body. How about a friend, a chair, a car, a bird, a dog? Are you thinking of the whole thing? Don't worry, you are not abnormal, we are all conditioned to see like that. However, sometimes showing a part could be better than the whole. Especially when we talk about "visual impact" in photography. If you know how to select, sometimes, a part or a "detail" shot of a thing can reveal stronger message than the whole. Of course, it might not always work, but developing new perspectives and be creative is a crucial part of the success in this photography medium. Why not try it.

The followings are some of my experiment on details.



 







You are expected to get very close to your subject/object. Let's say within one feet of distance. Show only a small part of the "thing." But try to make a sense out of it. Do not take photo of a small part of a plain white wall and make it as a photo, because no person can understand what that is.
Due next Wed. before class.

Reading under a tree







I was supposed to have a girls day with my best friend and roommate when I had to spend most of the day at the hospital. When I got home, I found her and my brother enjoying their day off by the pool waiting for me to get home! She was reading The Scarlet Letter and my brother was studying for his History class. Too perfect!

Monday, October 3, 2011

More people page photo on Ranger online

Folks,

We used some more of your wild art photos on the Ranger Online slideshow. Check the multimedia section to see if your photo was being selected.

Dr. Lo

Portrait in photojournalism

This is an impromptu piece without much of a planning. I would expect you spend more time planning who to shoot and where, when you do your portrait assignment.

Accounting sophomore Mariann Shenouda from Egypt writes "I love Egypt" at the mall area between Loftin and chemistry and geology Monday noon during chalk day organized by the society of professional journalist. Shenouda said that although freedom of speech is written down as a law in Egypt, people in Egypt do not get to exercise that right as freely as here in the United States.

 Candid portrait: Showing the subject in action in a documentary way.

 Posed portrait: Purposely set-up a direct eye-contact photo of the subject with the related environmental element to summarize who the person is and what s/he does.

 Mug shot: A basic head and shoulder photo to identify how the person looks like.

By the way,  I double checked with the school. Oct. 10 is not a holiday. Sorry Christopher Columbus. You did not brought us a holiday. Assignment and quiz is going to be on Monday.