 Editors like
transparencies
for bright color
and contrast
retention when
printing
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Who can deny that a photo of a child smelling a flower,
can spark the interest of almost any reader?
If you make extra shots of your subject, they can be used for reference and for many more variations of your stories or articles. These types of photos I call "stock" photos. Photos of waterfalls, flowers, children, pets and scenics can be used in many different ways to dress up your writing. If one editor doesn't use the photo, another one probably will. Photographs bring your story to life and make the reader feel like they are in the scene. Photos can be turned into art such as the Concorde photo on the left side of this page. Photos show how things are made, or how people relate to nature and each other. Photos document important changes to people and a community over time. |
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| I'm no
Ansel Adams |
Well, lets dispel the notion
that you can't make good photos. While Ansel Adams was a master of
photography, we have a lot going for us too. Today's modern cameras are
convenient and much easier to use.
Even some 'pocket cameras', such as "Pentax" can have quality LD, (low dispersion) glass, which can make extremely sharp high quality photos. They expose the film properly under most lighting conditions when set on "automatic exposure". There is a lot to be said about a good 'pocket camera' for writers. |
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| What is good about
a pocket camera? |
Here are the main advantages
of a "pocket camera".
#1. They are less complicated and intimidating. After all, you are a writer, and your first job is to get the interview/story. #2. Have you ever seen anyone thrown out of a mall, store, or office for having a pocket camera? It is often the rule with "big" cameras. #3. They are quicker on real life every day "grab" shots.
Find a knowledgeable sales person or check it out with the magazines, or experienced photographers. The best have sharp lenses, possibly with LD "Low Dispersion" glass. |
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| Slides are called
transparencies |
Now book and magazine publishers
use transparencies, also called slides. Slides hold their color saturation
and detail much better than prints when published.
Slides are less forgiving of exposure mistakes, and must be exposed properly. Usually within 1/3 of an F stop of the 'exactly' correct exposure. Snapshots or prints can be exposed a full F stop from the correct exposure, and still turn out ok. Exposure mistakes are corrected in the process of making prints. To make sure the exposure comes out right, you can "bracket". That means making a second photo with a little more exposure than was indicated, and a third with a little less than the original. This also creates slightly different moods or styles, which different editors may like. |
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| How can I
make the camera take different exposures? |
There are several ways to get
most cameras to bracket by reading the light differently.
#1. Use the + and - exposure compensation or the "backlighting" adjustment if available. #2. Set the film speed 50% faster or slower. #3. With the proper exposure set in the camera, set it on "manual", increase and decrease the F-stop; or the shutter speed by half a 'stop'. |
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| Its only a
few cents more for the best film. |
The color, sharpness and versatility of the films made today are super compared to 20 years ago. Fugichrome 100 holds its bright colors well when published. For portraits you may want to try some of the softer 'professional' films. There is even a Black and White film, 'Ilford XP2', which can be run through your local color processor and be ready in an hour. It has good rich smooth tones for rendering skin in black and white, and no distracting grain. Modern flash units automatically produce a chosen amount of light. Even in the day time, it can fill in those deep shadows under your subject's hat, for instance. | |
| To be successful with any kind of photographic work, weather it is fine art for galleries, photo competitions, or magazines, you need a good reliable Photo Lab. A good lab will not loose your work, knows what you want, and will always make you look good. | ||
| Decisive
moment |
Photography captures an 'instant'
in time. The 'perfect moment' may require studying the action or
taking several shots to tell a story. Capture the mood and make the best
of what is there...
Is the scenery of horses running in a blizzard almost all white? Then blur the motion of the moving legs to get an 'arty' look |
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When using a SLR (Single Lens
Reflex) camera, use a polarizer to heighten the color of flowers or make
the sky a deeper blue. See the article "How Polarizers
Work" at this site.
Experts rely on a few 'rules of thumb' to keep them on track for making good photos. You can remember them easily enough. They are: |
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| #1 | Have your clean camera ready at all times, with fresh batteries for the flash too. Use it on all interesting subjects, don't miss a good shot because you were not ready. | |
| #2 | Use the best film possible. Film with a slow or lower ASA rating number will generally be sharper and have better color saturation. As the light gets low, or when using a telephoto lens, also use a tripod and faster film. Hold the camera tight to your face and squeeze the shutter slowly to avoid blur from camera motion. That will also dampen some of the vibration when the shutter releases. | |
| #3 | Always try to make a vertically oriented picture first. Verticals have more power and impact than the same size horizontal shot. As you visualize your image, imagine it hanging on a wall or on the cover of a magazine. I had a horizontal shot on the cover of 'North Georgia Journal' once, but it was cropped from a high quality 4" by 5" transparency. Except for cover shots, fill up the frame of the picture with the subject, and only the subject, no distracting backgrounds. | |
| #4 | For good composition, have the subject looking into the picture, not out the edge. Have objects pointing into the picture or dark objects framing the edges. Likewise, make sure there are no bright distracting objects in the background or pointing out of the picture. | |
| #5 | Use different focal length lenses to add variety to your photos; a wide angle for buildings, rooms and close in to scenes. All things considered, wide angle shots are sharper and help reestablish the dimension of depth lost when printing the photo on a flat surface. Conversely, a telephoto will compress distance and make the print appear flatter, like a poster. Weather it is rattlesnakes or people a telephoto brings you in closer to your subject without intruding on its 'personal space'. | |
| #6 | When making 'close ups', get in really close. Think
of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings of flowers. Many award winning photos were
made by getting in really close then backing out to include only what is
essential to the photo. This helps keep your photos uncluttered and concise
for your viewers. Of course, rules are made to be broken so feel free to
experiment.
Keep shooting; Hardly anyone makes a masterpiece on their first attempt. Walk around and try different angles. |
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| #7 | For people and pets, get
eye contact and show relationships; either between the person and
the camera or between the subjects in the viewer. For magazines, have your
subject holding or doing something that relates to your story and looking
slightly toward it. Just as your words tell a story, your photos will also
tell a story along with the written one.
After your trip, or interview with a person; you can look at the photos
and often remember many things you forgot to put in your notes or took
for granted at the time. Pictures can help poetry in the same way. Photos
remind us of the other qualities that are not visual about a subject. The
dew on the rose bush may remind us of the early morning fog that we over
looked while we were there. The warmth of the sun and the fragrance of
that scene.
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| Joy and
more Joy |
There are many good books about
photography which can help. Some books cover technical material about cameras
and films. Some tell about the artistic merits and styles of photography.
The ones I like the best are the ones that show many different techniques
and styles and present many fun ideas for making photos. Books are inspirational
and really get me going.
If you give it a try, you will see that photography can do many things for your writing. Photos can fill in the missing blanks to make your writing interesting in more than one dimension. So go ahead, try your luck as a "shutter bug" and keep shooting. You may surprise yourself as to what a good photographer you are. It may be the solid rocket booster that puts your stories 'in orbit'. |