WRITING stories is the bread and butter of the working journalist, but you may find yourself sent out with a camera to take the photo as well all too often.
In my experience, the ability to capture a good photo can sometimes be the difference between your story being the lead, or a page three.
We all know how to point and shoot (hopefully!), but I want to give you my top ten tips and tricks which will help you make those shots count…
1.) Know your camera. Every camera has different settings, which need to be explored BEFORE you are out there trying to use the device under pressure. Look through the manual, play around with it, get comfortable with it.
2.) Practice with Photoshop. A good photo-editing program has the ability to change a mediocre, washed-out shot into something usable. Play around with levels, colour balance and canvas rotation, along with the crop and marquee tool. Refer to the online help centres and stick with it.
3.) Ready, Steady, GO. Before you take a shot, monitor your body for trembling/shaking or any other hand movement like wind impacting on the camera/your hands, shaking from an unstable surface or even breathing. Get yourself on firm, even ground, stand steadily and perhaps hold your arms against the side of your body to steady the camera. Take a couple of seconds, exhale, calm down a bit and as you exhale fully, take the shot, like you were shooting a gun. You can also consider propping your camera up with your arms (ideally a tripod) in a bipod-style triangle on top of a sturdy object (a ledge, wall or chair). Less camera shake makes for excellent, sharp shots.
4.) A little maintenance. Keep your camera clean, and clear from dirt, especially around the lens. A small smudge on the lens will affect your image, and often make it un-usable. Check your camera often for dirt and grime, and keep it away from sea spray, rain and other liquids, as well as dust blown by heavy winds. Be conscious of the fragile nature of the camera – it’s not a toy, it’s a precision instrument – a costly one at that.
5.) Get in close. Don’t ever be timid or scared of getting too close to a subject, or asking someone if you can take their photo. A major problem with many images is that they were taken from too far away, and there is a lot of wasted space around the edges, which is cropped out, thus reducing the overall pixel count. Don’t be frightened of getting RIGHT UP THE FRONT of that school assembly, the diplomat visit or the press conference. It is expected of you as a journalist, and a photographer. Never try to rely on the zoom, as involuntary hand trembling often corrupts a long range shot.
6.) Tell the subject what to do. You are the photographer, and they are the subject, so it’s up to YOU to tell them how it’s going to go. Don’t be rushed by a hasty subject, take some time and find a good spot and a good angle. Ask your subject to come with you to a fitting place for the background, or an uncluttered, plain background for a portrait shot. Use props – subject a designer? Shoot them next to their designs! A fireman? Shoot them with the hose! (not literally of course) Protester? Shoot them protesting angrily! You get the idea.
7.) Light is everything. Try to avoid shooting a subject in direct sunlight. The resulting image will have harsh, bright patches on one side of their face, and shadows all over the place. Instead, walk them into a spot with nice, even light and shoot there. One idea is to take the subject to a place where the light filters through something – a white mesh curtain,under a tree or at the worst, in the shade. The ideal condition for shooting is daylight when the light is filtering through a layer of cloud. See my post on light diffusion for more ideas on creating flattering light.
8.) Aim, Focus, Compose, Shoot. The four steps of taking a shot should go like this: 1) Decide your setting and shooting angle. Take aim through the viewfinder or on the LCD screen. 2) Choose your focal point – for a portrait target the eyes, but the focus can vary depending on your desired subject – press the shutter button softly HALF WAY DOWN and the camera will normally focus on what is covered by the reticule (the aiming thing in the middle of the screen) 3) Now you have the focus (you are still holding the shutter half-way), compose the shot – perhaps including some of the background, some context, or evening up the spaces between the people and the edge of the frame. One important thing to note is that if the subject or you moves too much the focal length will change, and throw your focus out. Aim at the eyes again and re-focus. 4) Take the shot by softly squeezing the shutter button (like a trigger) so as to avoid too much hand movement. Check the shot on the viewfinder for good focus (use the zoom to go in on the eyes and check them).
9.) Take more than one shot. Don’t be afraid to try a few different styles of shot – this also gives your editor more options when it comes to layout – and make sure you take BOTH landscape (horizontal) and portrait (vertical) shots. More often than not, a subject will blink, ruining the shot – this can be overcome by asking them to close their eyes (and trust you), for a second or two while you focus and steady yourself, then when you give them the cue the open their eyes and you snap the shot. This is especially useful in large groups.
10.) Look for something different. A high vantage point, a reflection in a pane of glass, symmetry or lines, ironic context, unscripted and unprompted action, something no-one else would get. Make your shots unique by taking the subject somewhere different or by asking them to hold something or do something. Don’t always just take those same old ‘person looking at the camera’ shots. Be creative.
AND A FINAL BONUS TIP: Use both eyes. If you have a camera with a viewfinder (not the LCD screen, the part you look through), put one eye to the viewfinder, and use your other eye to watch the subject. This certainly takes some practice and multi-tasking ability, but drastically improves your reflex if shooting a moving subject. This is the best way to ensure your timing is at its best – to catch that smile, miss that blink, shoot that bus properly-framed. Try it out – practice will make you faster and produce better, well-timed shots.
