Documentary and Photojournalist Tips and Techniques

Shooting in a documentary or journalistic style is a really good way to produce a strong and coherent body of work on a subject you are passionate about.  Unfortunately it’s not always easy to get the results you want.  We have a few preparation tips for events or assignments which you wish to photograph as a story. This could range from your kids first soccer match to a harder hitting subject.  Whatever the story is, there are some key things that will enable you to be capture-ready when that perfect moment occurs.  To get a head start on telling your story, read on....

 

The most important thing is to be prepared with batteries fully charged (both primary and spares), testing them in-camera to ensure all necessary gear is in good working order. Triple-check your camera settings before you begin to confirm everything is a-ok. Don’t forget to also obtain permission to shoot the event if required.  

Have a pre-determined idea of the story you wish to tell and think about the type of shots needed to tell that story effectively. An example might be a wide-angle shot of a factory to set the stage, a few portraits of factory workers and some candid photos of their day-to-day experiences.  Remember to be patient as you may not always get the shot on day one. The photographic style you choose can say a lot about the subject and the aim should be to always show the reality of the subject’s situation. The challenge is to capture the humanity in the scene and this only comes from practice, patience and experience.

Keep in mind you may need to do some homework before you start.  Check with the organisers (if applicable) of the event to see if there are any restricted subjects or areas and if you need a permit to shoot in a specific location. If it's a public event held on public property then you should generally be fine to simply show up and shoot.  If you do have a meeting with anyone in the lead up to an event make sure you are punctual and act in a professional manner.  This will give you credibility and shows that you have respect for them as well.

Some factors to consider during your project is – ‘How will you present the finished folio?’ ‘Will it be in colour or black and white (or both)?’ ‘Are you going to print them or will it only be viewable online?’ Also take note of locations, dates, times and names as you shoot because the photos will need to be given context with a few words attached to each image.  People need to know what they are seeing and their significance as it pertains to the overall portfolio.  Documentary photos rarely speak for themselves.

The equipment required is very personal and also dependent on the story type.  For some stories, being unobtrusive and ‘under-the-radar’ is essential so therefore using a compact but high-quality camera is important.  Some suggestions would be the Fujifilm X100s , Sony RX1, Leica X2 or Olympus OM-D-E5 . These are all compact cameras with serious sensors and high quality optics yet they are hard to notice and whisper quiet when shooting with them.

If there is no need for a low-profile then feel free to equip yourself with what you think will be needed and that you can deal with carrying around all-day.  For me it would be the Canon 16-35, 24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f 2.8 (or equivalent lengths in your chosen brand) or a combination of two of these depending on the situation.  Also, two strobes may come in handy with two Gorillapods to hold them in position should an opportunity arise to set up some posed portraits. A small tripod with an adapter can work as a light stand or a tripod when required.

Check out these links to get inspired by some talented photojournalists.

*Please note that the following links are to external sites and may contain photos of a mature nature so reader discretion is advised.

Verve Photo - photos and links to some of the best photographers in this field.

The New York Times Lens blog - excellent photography with each entry telling a story from The New York Times.

Tatiana Cardeal - a mixture of travel and photojournalist work.

Sanjit Das - some great reportage stories and great photography.

Once you're feeling inspired why not give it a go and enter the Sydney Morning Herald Photos1440 Challenge!  Great prizes are on offer for the best of the best including a Canon 5D Mk3 Pro kit (includes a 24-70 f2.8 II Lens), an internship with The Sydney Morning Herald and prizes from Digital Camera Warehouse!  The challenge is 'Capturing the minutes of the day' and the winning entrants will be displayed as part of The Sydney Morning Herald exhibition - Photos1440 capturing the minutes of the day.  The exhibition is proudly presented by Canon Australia.

Good luck and don't forget to share with us your results on our Facebook page or right here on this blog.

 

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Basic Portrait Retouching with Adobe Photoshop

Post-processing of your photos is a vital element in the photography workflow. Luckily in this information and technology age this process is made fairly straightforward with powerful applications like Adobe Photoshop providing an in-depth myriad of options and capabilities to help you get your images looking the best they can be. 

In this short, but hopefully helpful article we would like to give you some pointers on adding a touch of magic to your portrait shots.

The tool names in the article are representative of those in Adobe Photoshop; however the techniques can be applied in many software suites. Consult your manual for the appropriate similar tools in your preferred software.

Find a recent portrait shot you’d like to improve; if possible use a RAW format file so you have the most data available for editing and let’s get started!

1. Check Your White Balance. Do the skin tones present in the photograph look natural? While you may have adjusted your settings in-camera, sometimes indoor lighting can be difficult to balance correctly. If your white balance needs adjusting, a simple way of doing this is as follows:

Click “Add level adjustment layer” by going to Layer – New Adjustment Layer - Levels and select “Auto”. Did this work? Sometimes it won’t do much of anything to improve your image. If that is the case we need to go deeper (and this will likely yield a better result anyway!).

Use the three “eyedropper” icons to pick the black, grey and white samples from your photo. Typically you can get away with simply using the black and white tonal value selectors, but if you find your images still requires further adjustment try picking grey as well. For these finer adjustments, hit up Image – Adjust – Hue/Saturation and make your finer adjustments to the colour there, paying attention to the overall tones in the image – if it starts looking a little too cool or warm bring the levels back slightly until you find a natural look.

2. Spot healing and skin softening. Everyone, even the big stars have skin marks and imperfections. Take a high-resolution photo of a face and they will often show up quite prominently. If you’d like to mask these a little, there are a couple of things you can do.

Spot healing tool (In the expandable Band-Aid icon on the tool panel) – This is a handy tool for removing blemishes, acne scars and other marks on the face. Don’t go completely nuts with it – just dab it over the real imperfections, don’t go removing every line and freckle as not only will the overuse give the image a plasticky look, it will remove the unique features of the face and the natural structure.

If you simply want to improve the appearance of something, such as a hairline with deep follicles or a mole, the clone tool can be a better option. Adjust the opacity for a more translucent effect that works well for natural blending of skin areas.

Skin softening – Everyone loves to look smooth and young, but overdoing this in the editing process will alter the natural look of the model – refining and softening the skin will give the face a lovely glow, but do keep it realistic or the person will look like a wax dummy. Less is more. Here’s a quick way:

First, duplicate the layer (Command+J on Mac, Control+J on PC).

Then invert that layer (Command+I/Control+I).

Add a “high pass” filter to the layer. You can do this by hitting Filter – Other – High pass. Use around setting 5. Hit “OK” and set the blending for the layer to “overlay”. Right now it may look quite scary, but we are not done yet.

Add “Gaussian Blur” by hitting Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur and set this to half of the High pass filter setting, so 2.5 for the sake of this example. This should have it looking better.

If you like, you can now add a layer mask and work the face detail like lips and eyes back into the image if you have already worked on them.

3. Clean up the eyes. Perhaps the model still has glassy morning eyes, and some people simply have a redder look to their eyeballs in general. If you’d like to make them stand out by making the whites a little whiter, do the following:

Add a new blank layer (Perhaps change the name to something like “eyeball clean up”).
Change the blend mode to “Color”.

Pick the brush tool and ensure the opacity setting is around 50%.

Hold the ALT key down and pick some “good” white from the eye as a sample. 

(ALT+click on the good sample).

Paint the vessels and blotches with the brush tool.

Adjust the opacity of the layer if you find it looks a little overcooked.

And there you have it! Three tips for improving your portraits.

Check out our Adobe software products!

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Studio Lighting Tips: Three-Point Lighting Setup

If the photography bug has bitten you hard and you want to start doing some serious shooting, you might want to think about kitting yourself out with some lighting gear. If you’ve never used your own external lighting setups before, it can be a learning curve but the rewards are rich. See below for some great tips on getting better photos with controlled lighting:

1   Okay, first things first. Great lighting can be let down by poor composition and posing, especially when it comes to portraits. Take the time to set the scene properly. Watch for shrugged shoulders, stiffness, slouching and striking features hidden by poor positioning. You can also make use of props and accessories, and be sure to pay attention the background of your photos – it is better to enhance than detract from your subject.

It can be a little overwhelming playing director and having to guide your subject so specifically, but the results can be stunning. Try and breath some natural life into what can be seen as quite a rigid situation – tell a joke to get natural expressions of happiness and laughter, or give a totally left-field direction and you might just strike a gold pose. 

Just remember to keep snapping and try different things.

     There are many lighting setups, and once you learn the ropes you will be an unstoppable lighting machine that will have many ideas on what works for you. Portraits tend to be shot with a three-point lighting setup, and that is what we will focus on.

The Three Points:

1.       Main (or Key) Light:

This is your main lighting source, and is the primary point of illumination of your subject.  You can use a speedlite [ADD LINK] for this or a studio lighting kit [ADD LINK], sometimes referred to as flashes or strobes.

If you are using a speedlite, get it off your camera! On-camera flash can cause flat lighting, whereas you can use it to much greater effect off the camera with a flash trigger.

By using an off-camera light source you can use shadows and highlights to enhance bone structure, skin tone, eyes and other features of your subject’s face that you may not normally achieve.

No matter how good you get, with lighting comes testing and repositioning until it looks right. This can take an indeterminate amount of time! Be patient.

2.       Fill Light

 

This light will help soften harsh shadows caused by the main light. This will improve overall results and give your shots a more professional edge, though it is optional and if you are starting out and only have one light you can try reflectors to soften hard edges.

In terms of positioning, if the main light is to one side of the camera, the fill light is typically placed on the opposite side.

3.       Background Light

As you might have guessed, this one lights the background.  It will light up whatever happens to be in the background, which is essential if you have gone the whole hog and put together a set with props and the whole shebang.

The light is placed typically behind the subject, and is pointed at the background. Again, this is an option depending on your exact shooting situation, but if you don’t have a background light you can get away with using a dark backdrop in its place.

And there you go! As with anything in photography, it will take practice and you will be sure to have a ball while improving your skills. You won’t believe the difference some controlled lighting can make, so do feel free to check out our extensive range online, or pop into one of our stores to ask our knowledgeable staff.

Linky linky:

Studio and Lighting at DCW

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You wanted it, you got it.

Did you know that Digital Camera Warehouse produces home-grown video content just for you?

We have created some great tutorial videos to help you with studio lighting, portrait-taking and low light gig photography. These are just some of the videos on offer and these are updated frequently, so keep your eyes on PurVi: Purple Vision Videos from Digital Camera Warehouse!

Here's Al giving you the low-down on Low Light Gig Photography:

Need more? Head on over to the PurVi Page: 

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