Supporting presentation for a workshop on how to shoot better pictures for citizen journalists and bloggers.

1. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Shoot Like a Pro
(with a camera built for amateurs)
Taking interesting photos
suitable for publication

2. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
What you’ll learn
• Basic concepts
– What’s a photograph
– How photos get from your camera to paper
• Setting resolution
• “Seeing” a good photo
• Using your camera to capture it
– Smartphone, iPad, point-and-shoot
• Uploading your photos to the Observer
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3. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts
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4. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts: What’s a photograph
• Light is focused, condensed through a lens
• Captured on a light-sensitive surface
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5. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts: What’s a photograph
• Only real variable: How much light gets in
• 2 ways to control it
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6. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts: What’s a photograph
• Only real variable: How much light gets in
• 2 ways to control it
– Size of the aperture
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7. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts: What’s a photograph
• Only real variable: How much light gets in
• 2 ways to control it
– Size of the aperture
– Length of time aperture is open
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8. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts: What’s a photograph
• Length of time affects ability to stop motion
• Controlled by shutter speed
– 100s or 1,000s of a second
– Low shutter speed: moving objects blur
– High shutter speed: moving objects freeze
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9. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts: What’s a photograph
• Size of aperture affects focal plane
– i.e. depth of field
• Controlled by F-stop / aperture
High number/ Low number/
smaller aperture larger aperture
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10. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Basic concepts: Printed photos
• A printing press is like a computer: it only knows
on and off
– A space on the page either has ink or it doesn’t
– Black ink is never gray; it’s just black
• Half-tone process overcomes this limitation when
printing photos
– Photos are rendered using “half-tone” process
– Optical illusion – recreates image as a series of dots
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11. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Half tones
• Pre-digital
– Created by re-photographing picture through a
screen
• Digital
– Created in
Photoshop or
prepress
software
Image: graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu
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12. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Mastering Resolution
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13. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Resolution
• A technical issue – not artistic
• It’s the amount of data in a photo
– More data = more flexibility in using the photo
– More data = more memory
• Must reconcile 3 data storage technologies
– Digital cameras store data in pixels
– Computers store data in bytes
– Printed paper stores data in dots
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14. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Digital camera
• Captures image on electronic screen
– Unlike analog photography, it’s not a “true” image
– Image translated into pixels
– A 5 MP photo (i.e. 5 million pixels) is
2592 p x 1944 p
– iPhone 4: 8 MP
– Nikon Coolpix S6200 ($119): 16 MP
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15. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Digital photo
• You choose resolution when photo is shot
• Typical settings
– High/Medium/Low
– Large/Small
– Actual photo dimensions
• You choose resolution again when moving photo
from camera to computer
• Once removed, information is gone forever
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16. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Digital photo
•Originally
photographed
at 4 MP
•Stored at
593 kb
(1/2 MB)
•Already too
low for print;
original was
≈2MB
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17. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Digital photo
•Originally
photographed
at 4 MP
•Scraped from
a web page
•33 kb
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18. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Resolution
• When a photo is SIZED digitally by dragging on
screen:
– The number of pixels stays the same
– Resolution decreases/increases as it’s sized
• When a photo is SAVED at a smaller size:
– Most software (e-mail clients, websites, etc) will
reduce the number of pixels – resulting in loss of
resolution
– It’s because their goal is to save on memory
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19. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Resolution
• Websites/computer screens reproduce at the
equivalent of 72 DPI
• Newspapers print at 300 DPI
– “Dot gain” reduces clarity
– Colors lose brilliance
• Glossy magazines print at 720 dots per inch
(DPI)
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20. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Online
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21. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Newspaper
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22. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
High-end magazine
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23. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Resolution Takeaways
• Shoot photos at highest resolution
• Store photos at highest resolution
• Understand how printing process will
compromise photos
– Colors lose brilliance
– Images lose clarity
• Don’t even think about printing a photo
scraped from a website; it won’t work.
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24. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Rules of Thumb
• A photo needs to be 1-6 MB
• Maximum printable size (in inches) of a digital
image in a typical newspaper:
– File dimension in pixels ÷ 200
– Example:
• Your photo is 1,000p tall x 1,400p wide (1.4 MP)
• 1,000 ÷ 200 = 5
• 1,400 ÷ 200 = 7
• The photo will print acceptably at up to 5” x 7”
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25. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a good photo
Before you actually take it
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26. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a good photo
Newspaper photos aren’t snapshots
• Snapshots are souvenirs
• Newspaper photos tell a story
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27. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo
• Key components of photo
– Subject
– Everything else
Most people give all their attention to the subject
and none to everything else.
The key to notable photos is to pay most attention
to everything else.
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28. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo
• The subject
– Large
– Interesting
– Colorful
– Not centered in frame
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29. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a good: Subject
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30. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Subject
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31. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Subject
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32. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Subject
Nobody wants to see this
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33. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Subject
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34. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo
• Key components of photo
– Subject
– Everything else
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35. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo
• Lighting
• Composition
The only aspect that
• Foreground/Background requires making
adjustments to camera
• Lines & Patterns settings
• Framing/Orientation
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36. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lighting
• Lighting
– Where is the light source
• Above/font of subject: post card
• Behind subject: backlight (shadowy/moody)
• Side: intensity
– Look at the shadows
• Long v. short (long is more dramatic)
• Vertical (connects foreground w/ background)
• Horizontal / diagonal (creates balance/interest)
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37. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lighting
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38. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lighting
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39. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lighting
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40. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing aphoto: Composition
• Rule of thirds
Photographer
unknown
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41. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Composition
• Rule of thirds
Photographer
unknown
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42. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Fore/background
• Foreground/Background
– Narrow
focal
plane
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43. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Fore/background
• Foreground/Background
• Wide
focal
plane
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44. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Fore/background
• Foreground/Background
– Look for the unusual
and interesting
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45. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Fore/background
• Foreground/Background
– Blend foreground and
background
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46. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lines
• Look for patterns of lines
– Converging
Photo by Jennifer Kuhel;
taken with an iPad
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47. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lines
• Look for patterns and textures
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48. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lines
• Look for the letter Z
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49. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Lines
• Look for patterns of lines
– Z-pattern
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50. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Framing
• Framing/Orientation
– Use objects to create a frame within a frame
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51. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Framing
• Framing/Orientation
– Use objects to create a frame within a frame
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52. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Seeing a photo: Orientation
• Framing/Orientation
– Don’t feel bound by horizontal, vertical, eye-level
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53. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Using your camera
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54. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Using your camera
• Your point-and-shoot is capable of great
things
• But it’s set to take snapshots and postcards
– Auto focuses on center of frame
– Defaults to wide depth of field
– Auto-flash eliminates shadows
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55. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Using your camera
• How to get it to do more
– Hold it still (keep elbows in)
– Turn off auto flash
– Explore settings
Still Life with iPhone Grid
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56. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Using your camera
• Most cameras allow selective focus/metering
– Point camera at
subject; hold
shutter half-way
down, reframe
photo
• Experiment w/
scene settings
iPhone “selective focus”
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57. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Using your camera
• When possible, use manual settings
to adjust shutter or F-stop
– For narrow focal plane
• Open aperture/F-stop
• If manual isn’t available,
use “scenes” or “modes”
– Portrait
– Party
– Dusk/Dawn
• Anything designed to let in a lot of natural light at
expense of shutter speed
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58. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Uploading to the Observer
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59. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Uploading to the Observer
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60. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Uploading to the Observer
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61. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Uploading to the Observer
•Populate Title, Category.
•You can leave “Article”
section blank.
•Then scroll to bottom
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62. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Uploading to the Observer
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63. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Uploading to the Observer
Look for
upload
counter
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64. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Uploading to the Observer
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65. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Reward yourself
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66. All photos by Bob Rosenbaum except where noted
Resources
• Resources abound online. Here are a few:
• How a digital camera works
– https://sites.google.com/site/photomedic1/how-does-the-digital-
camera-work
• Photo composition
– http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-
composition-tips
– http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-
composition-rules
– http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/04/12/10-rules-of-photo-
composition-and-why-they-work/
• iPhone
– http://www.grumblesandgrunts.com/2013/01/how-to-best-iphone-
camera-tips-tricks.html
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