Photojournalism Ethics

Photojournalists should be situational, because there are too many cases that come up to have one general rule for all of them.

A photo can really capture truth if it captures the emotion of what's going on in the photo and is not manipulated in a way that changes its reality.

As a photographer, I don't think that I have done anything that changes reality, because I don't feel that changing levels and cropping "edits" reality.

If news organizations do not define their ethical standards, readers will not be able to depend on them for real news.

Dove Evolution of Beauty

Changes to model's face:

• Made her neck longer and thinner
• Made her lips fuller
• Made her forehead smaller
• Made her eyes and eyebrows bigger
• Added more hair
• Made her cheek-bones more contoured

I do not think it is ethically okay to manipulate a photo like this, because it makes somebody a different person, instead of just enhancing them unlike with just make-up and hair that is done well.

It is worse than when something like the Oprah photo, which is outrageously unreal.

Changes with make-up and hair are okay, because they enhance a person, but anything done digitally like in that video is not ok.

The difference between fashion photography and photojournalism is that fashion photography is to sell a product and photojournalism is to tell a story. Both unfortunately change reality, but it is more serious with photojournalism because that is changing a story that may be very important, rather than just changing someones appearance.

Ethics Intro-Photo Manipulation

UW:
1. The University of Wisconsin-Madison digitally inserted a photo of a black student on the cover of their admissions packet. They cut out his head and mirrored it to make it look as though he was at a football game, when he wasn't even present. The people that made the decision said they did it to show racial diversity, when they barely have that. The 110,000 brochures are going to be re-made. Officials who made the decision said they lacked when making it.
2. I think that is wrong because the university should be honest about the racial diversity (or non-diversity) they have there. The purpose of a brochure is to give an example of the real life there and that is not a correct interpretation of it.

Famous Examples:
1.



I feel as though war and violence are very important subjects, and to manipulate a photo that will go out to many people and impact them because of a fake image and gruesome being displayed is horrible.

2.

I think is edited photo is completely ridiculous and could not even pass as even a bit true.

So called "funny" pictures

Fred Imadoofuss feels the need to use old CDs to create a knight costume in hope of winning a Halloween Costume prize. Unfortunately, he did not place at all in this competition.

On Ignorant Lane the unveiling of the new warning sign for the upcoming speed bump is misspelled. The street workers realized their mistake and ran off in fear of residents coming after them.

Stupid and Stupider have some serious fighting Braveheart action going on outside of their apartment after they both realized they bought dryers and no washing machine. Stupid and Stupider both ironically worked in a laundry mat.

Repetition

The top bar, verticle supporting bars, and red seats all repeat many times in the same direction.

Is This Seat Taken?
A deputy waits before French President Nicolas Sarkozy's speech to members of the ruling party UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) at the Elysée Palace.

The repeating horizontal logs(ladder) show repetition.

Toil in the Fields
A farmer works at a laver (edible seaweed) farm at Gutong Village in Fujian Province, China.

The repeating squares show repetition.

The Blues
Performers rehearse for the opening ceremony of the 6th National City Games in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province. The sporting meet will begin on Oct. 25 in Wuhan.

Sugar Hill

1.
A. Melanie Burford used the voices, song, and pace of the pictures being shown to utilize the slide show.
B. These all worked together to make the pictures powerful and have a lot of depth and meaning. They added a story behind the pictures and made it real because those actual people talked about it.
2. The video of the police man being attacked in the Sugar Hill community disturbed me and made me think of how bad the crime must be there that a man would go to the extent of fighting a police officer.

Photoshop Basics

Online Edit

First PhotoJ assignment

1. I didn't encounter any problems getting close because I had my zoom lens with me. I was hard though shooting real moments because when band is marching, they are constantly stopping and repeating things. I think I captured emotion, because I mostly shot when they were playing but, action was a bit difficult since I was trying to experiment with aperture and shutter speed.
2. I was focusing on exposure the most because it was a bit difficult for me to get it on the "o", and not under or over exposed. I was also thinking about focus because I didn't want my pictures to come out blurry, especially since they were close-ups.
3. I tried to use lines mostly because the lines on the ground would sometimes lead your eye to a person, and when the people were marching, they form lines that I could shoot at different angles. I also remember framing a few pictures with bushes and such.

Sports Shot

Focal Length of Lens- EF 70-200 mm f/ 2.8 IS USM zoom

Shutter Speed- 640

Because of this fast speed you could get the main guy, #81 clear and focused in the picture.

Aperture- 2.8

This aperture allows the men under him to be in focus. But, anything past him and the two guys is out of focus.

I think the photographer was standing on the corner near the touchdown of the field because, his body is at an angle and not straight on.

Printing Post

1. Since my negatives had a few water spots on them I used the Photo Flo to wipe them off: you dip it in the Photo Flo then wipe it of using the special photo wipes by pulling the edge.
2. When I loaded the negative into the enlarger I picked my one negative, opened the flap of the black metal holder and put the edges under the four silver circles so that it would stay and lowered the flap. Then I slid it into the enlarger and lowered the lever.
3. I focused the image by using the "crystal mirror". I placed that on top of the picture and slightly turned the knob to focus the image so that the crystals would become clear and defined.
4. I set the aperture by using the timer. The longer you had the timer on the more your image would develop on the paper and vice versa.
   
5. For the test strip, I tore off a slice of the paper and for each quarter section of it I used a higher aperture when I moved the blocked part over. Then I developed it through the developer, stop bath, and fixer.
6. When making the final print I used a whole sheet of paper and placed it under the lighted image and centered it with the image so that some of the image would not be cut off, then set the correct aperture on the timer and hit start. Then it went through the developer, stop bath, and fixer.
   

9/11

"Simplicity" ^

In this picture, the mostly all white background plus a bit of muffled people adds to the emotion of the woman, making it very simple.

"The Rule of Thirds" ^

On this picture the big leftover piece of the building is in the top right part of the rule of thirds drawing your eyes there first.

"Lines" ^

There are many lines with the stairs. The stairs all meet where the fireman is, drawing your eye to him.

"Balance" ^

The men on the two sides of the priest balance the photo because if it was just one man it would not seem to be equal. But the two men on each side put your eye to the priest while keeping focus on them also.

"Framing" ^

The blurred solider and flower around the child adds attention to her and makes her the main focus in the picture, along with her emotion.

"Avoiding Mergers" ^

George Bush's hand adds distraction to the other man. It looks as though there is something growing out of the police officers neck because of Bush's hand and the angle.

Great Black and White Photographers

My three favorite photographers were Alfred Stieglitz because of how he portraied the old time lifestyle through such beauty and real world action, Max Waldman because of the power the black and white photography and how it creates such intensity among his portaits of people, and W. Eugene Smith because of his power of political events and its effects emotionally on me.

My favorite photographers with their pictures in order:

W. Eugene Smith

Max Waldman

Alfred Stieglitz

First negatives review

1. There are two problems with my negatives:

• There are around 3 water spots which happened when the water was not completely off of the negatives, so they dried on them.
• At the end of my role, on 24 and 25 I must have not wound it correctly, so the chemicals did not get on it evenly and destroyed the picture.

2. 18- The villa is focused and the composition is only a bit off of being correctly exposed and is in frame with interesting arcitechture.

20- The vineyard is in focus and the composition is only a tad bit off being correctly exposed and the angle is interesting.

Photo Contest

I absolutely loved this picture by Victor Barajas who won "Best of Show" in the 2003 Fall ATPI contest. The young girl is so powerful even though she's so small. You can't exactly tell what she is thinking but, her innocence and stare are hypnotizing. The colorful lighting makes this picture very vibrant and real. The composition of this girl in the picture is strong but, vulnerable, especially at the angle that towers over her. Lastly, the exposure is great, it is not to dark or to light, the sun works and helps create the vibrant colors.

Pinhole Camera vs. SLR

There are many differences between pinhole cameras and SLR cameras, the most obvious being that the SLR is more complex. SLR camera's have many different features offering advantages; like, a zoom lens, aperture change, interchangeable lenses, a mirror, and shutter speed. These control what your exposure will look like and how fast it will be taken, unlike the basic pinhole camera.

Pinhole camera favorite picture

I really loved this pinhole photo by Benjamin Marsh. I love the really warm, earth toned colors. I also love how the black encaves in on the corners, the squares go across the top and the bottom, and there are numbers to give it a relaxed and simple feel. I also love the way it looks as though the floor is curving. This is a great and beautiful picture taken from such as simple camera.
1. There are no people or action in the photo.
2. It seems as though everything is pretty much in focus.
3. I don't think that the image is warped, but, I can't tell with the architecture.

I don't really like this picture by Monica Gomes. I don't particularly like it negative. I also feel as though there is too much dead space above the buildings.
1. There are no people or action in the photo.
2. Everything is in focus.
3. This image is warped. You can tell because the parking spots and the buildings are rounded.

Critique Two Photos

Good: >>

I really like this picture, I feel as though it sticks well to all three of the rules. This picture shows emotion through her body language with her hands and face. It also pretty much fills the frame and doesn't have too much random area in the background. It is also candid and shows that she was enthusiastic at this moment by her hands waving in the air.

Eh...<<

I don't really like this picture. It doesn't obey the rule of filling the frame. There is way too much empty space around her body. The point of focus isn't on her, so she came out a bit blurry. But, on the contrary, it does show emotion and a candid moment through her smile.

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