Intro 2 PJ class goes on field trip for their final project: Team Photo Story

   Documenting the student team! My photos of a great bunch of students who were up for the challenge.
   After you open the story, click on the arrow to the right of the image to advance the story.
Thank you for viewing!
(Photos by Lori King)

On cell phone photography: Post your event pics instantly, responsibly

   This is a busy time for news.
   Political rallies are at the top of the list. I know many of you Wayne State students are attending candidate rallies this week, but I've yet to see a single Instagram or Twitter post of your photographic coverage.
   Why not?
   One student lamented he couldn't take a camera because it wasn't allowed. I responded with this: Cover the event with your cell phone!

On Deadlines

   The power of cell phone photography is the ability to post instantly.  Even if you have two expensive DSLR cameras hanging off of your shoulders, you can still snap a quick photo, write a concise caption, and hit send within minutes. This is preferred for spot news, particularly.

   If you're at the event, why wait to post it when you get home, or never? Shoot and send immediately! Think like a journalist. Don't you want to inform your readers in that moment? That's the power of a cell phone, which is an additional tool in your journalism toolbox. You can post a single image, a photo slideshow or videos fast and easy. 

   In fact, I recently did a blog post on Steller, an iPhone photo slideshow app. The piece was on people writing messages on ice at a hockey rink for cancer survivors and those who died. Within 30 minutes of shooting about 15 images and a couple of 15-second videos, I posted the photo story on Twitter, and it had nearly 2,000 views by the next day! 

   Political rallies, spot news, sporting events (see Steller story below) and even news conferences are great places to capture mini feature picture stories with your cell phone.  

   Don’t forget about Instagram! Instagram allows you to be more creative in your event coverage. Shoot short video clips, and capture moments that you typically wouldn’t take with your DSLRs. Use extreme perspective. Get close. Shoot wide. However, don’t use filters if you’re covering the event as a journalist. Keep it real.

   But there is a danger when posting instantly. The ability to make errors, particularly in your captions, is high. So, triple-check your spelling, verify your facts, and double check your venue spelling before you post mistakes. 

   With Instagram, you can edit your mistakes, but not with Twitter. You’ll have to delete your original post and repost. This means your mistake will be up for a long time, and for many eyes to see, before you discover the error.

And here's a Steller feature picture story from a sporting event:

SELECT & COPY YOUR EMBED CODE close instagrampinteresttwitterfacebooksteller

Enterprise feature pictures are the bright, happy, candid moments of life

This photo is an enterprise feature I took with my new Fujifilm X-E2 mirrorless camera. I was on the hunt for a feature photo for the paper, as well as practice with my new camera. I initially stopped by the museum to document the grounds crew clearing off the steps, but then a school bus pulled up and I got this instead! (Screen grab from Toledo Blade)

Typical umbrella on the street shot. Couldn't find him to get his name, so he's nameless. It happens. Shot Feb. 25.

Northwood resident Daniel Diaz flies his self-constructed model plane at the Lark Elementary soccer field in Northwood, Ohio. Diaz has been building his own model plans for nearly two years, and has about 12 in his collection.   

Photos by Lori King  ©Toledo Blade

   Feature pictures.

   They are the bright to the dark. Happy to the sad. Feature pictures are the behind-the-scenes to the main action.

   The feature picture category is so broad that you can’t contain the definition into a single category. Features are everywhere!

   This week began our lesson into feature photography. I’ve provided lots of links to view on Blackboard. You have your textbook chapter to read. So, on this blog post I’m demonstrating feature photos I’ve taken in just the past few weeks.

                 On Enterprise Features

   Enterprise features are unplanned, candid moments. We Blade photographers call them rovers, because we rove around and search for anybody doing anything even remotely interesting. I enjoy rovers because we are on our own, with no direction from editors or reporters (no offense!)

   Basically, roving is driving around and finding something that will fit a hole in the paper or, say, go with a weather story.

   The key to successful enterprise features is capturing the spontaneous moment. Camera controls and composition are certainly important, of course, but it’s the moment that counts. To get moment, you need patience, perceptiveness and a curious nature to what just might happen in front of your lens!

     I’m writing about enterprise features because today, Feb. 25, is a snow day for most schools in Metro Detroit and Toledo. It’s a perfect day to capture one!

   

Clarice Nelson loses control of her umbrella as daughter Tamaro Jones watches. 

Take this photo of an umbrella gone wild, shot yesterday as I was trolling through Downtown Toledo searching for a weather rover. To make a long story short, I was actually shooting the girl on the right (because the mother didn’t want to be photographed), when all of a sudden the mom’s umbrella succumbed to the wind. There was no way I wasn’t going to shoot that! Once the mom saw the photo on the back of my camera, she graciously gave me

permission, and her name.

   The next example is another weather rover from last week.  Again, I was instructed to get a photo that demonstrated weather, this time for unseasonably warm weather. So, where to go? An ice cream stand, of course! I sat in my car and waited for customers who would fit the bill. These two teens walked up to the window, so I got out of my car, approached them, told them who I was, and to just ignore me. Using a long lens, I backed off and just let them do their thing. The rest, they say, is published!

   The final example (above) is a feature I just shot a few days ago. I like to drive through neighborhoods, looking for people out and about. I spotted this guy flying his model airplane in a soccer field. I turned around and approached him. I got a shot of him getting his plane ready - a nice reflection off of his car. Then I shot him launching his plan, but moments later the plan crashed to the ground. Moment over. But I shot everything I could. Even though I wanted the plane in the air, you have to shoot everything leading up to the moment you anticipated. In this case, I'm glad I did because when his plane crashed, my hopes of what I first envisioned was dashed. But at least I had something.

   I hope this is enough inspiration to get out there and shoot something! 

• Charge your camera batteries
• Put on your snowsuit
• Pack your pencil (best in wet weather) and notebook. 
• Go! 
• Then post it on Twitter, and please don’t forget about your AP style caption information.

   How enterprising can you be?

Springfield High School students Mallory Phillips keeps her hair from blowing around
while her friend Trey Pontious samples her ice cream cone after school at Mr G's Barn. in
Holland, Ohio. This enterprise feature made the front page of the Toledo Blade, below the fold.

Lesson: Prezi tutorial on feature hunting in your community

This Prezi tutorial goes with a lecture. It creates discussion. If we don't have class due to weather, this will get you kick-started:

Lesson: Caption writing is the journalism part of photojournalism

Still frame grab exports from video clips add duplicity to storytelling

Screen grab from the eBlade. The image is also a frame grab from video. Published Feb. 14, 2016 in the Toledo Blade.   

   Multimedia = multiple types of media.
   This is the entire focus of Kent State's Teaching Multimedia grad students, who are currently learning the multitude ways of storytelling using still photos, video, audio, infographics and timelines (just to name a few) on various web publishing platforms.
   It can be pretty daunting when you're just realizing how much is available out there. But fear not. You don't have to use all of the tools every time. This blog post will highlight a simple example of using audio and video, and exports of frame stills from those videos.
   Because video was requested for a story of a man preparing to take his dog to Westminster, I had the added responsibility of capturing audio and moving images.

Top four are still images. The last two are video frame grabs used in the story.

   Taking both stills and video is always difficult because the quality of either the stills or video suffer.
   In my case, it's almost always the stills that suffer because I get so wrapped up in the video, which is captured with a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR camera and a Sennheiser MKE 400 shotgun mic. The quality from both is superb, but that's only if you use a tripod in a quiet place with minimal background noise. Autofocus is also an issue with the DSLR. The concerns add up rather quickly.
   There's also the added concern of trying not to duplicate the moments. The stills shouldn't be exactly the same as the video. For this reason, I selected and transmitted four still images that were completely different than the video.
   But alas, I was asked this question from my boss: "Where are the shots of the man training the dog?" My answer: "In the videos." His response in a nutshell: "Give us stills of the man training the dog." My reply: "I"ll select frame grabs from the video." Problem solved.
   The photo in the screen grab at top is one of those frame grabs. And here is how I did it:

1. I drug the folder with all of the video files into Photo Mechanic and watched them one by one. 
2. When I found the ones I wanted, I took those videos and opened them up in Quicktime. (Do not do a screen grab because the quality is poor.)
3. Once I found the exact frames I wanted, I exported those frames onto the desktop. This process depends on which version you have, so Google it.
4. Then I drug those frames into Adobe Elements (or Photoshop), and cropped and saved as a 200 resolution jpg. The difference is hardly noticeable.

   Screen grabs are a good way of solving the 'missing good still moments because you're shooting video' dilemma.' So, if you have to choose one or the other, choose video.

   And wouldn't you know it: None of the still photos were used in the paper. Both stills were out of my frame grabs. Go figure.

Intro to PJ class goes on field trip to news photo exhibit, news station

   The Intro to Photojournalism class at Owens Community College kicked off the month by going on a field trip Feb. 1.
   We first went to the Toledo School for the Arts Gallery to view the Blade Photos By... a month-long photo exhibit, which showcased 40 prints by eight photojournalists.
   Then we toured the newly renovated Channel 13abc news station. Our tour guide was Diane Larson, the evening WTVG news anchor, who is a former student of this class!
   There's nothing better than getting out of the classroom to view the work of employed photojournalists (in full disclosure, I'm one of them), and to get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes at a local television station.

Channel 13abc anchor Diane Larson was our tour guide at the station this morning! The @owenscommunitycollege Intro to Photojournalism class stopped by the @ts4arts gallery for the #BladePhoto show, then onto 13abc for an awesome field trip. @dianelarson419

A photo posted by Lori King (@toledophotog) on Feb 1, 2016 at 1:10pm PST

Photojournalism students learn ISOs, shutters speeds and f/stops...oh my!

Wayne State's COM 2280 Digital Photojournalism class pose after practicing with motion. (Photos by Lori King)

    Photography is easy. Just put your camera mode on Auto or Program and shoot. The camera will think for you!

    But we don't do things the easy way. My photojournalism and multimedia students are required to shoot on Manual mode, giving them full control of the camera, and their images. And this ain't easy. It's expected they will make lots of mistakes. After all, isn't that how we learn?

• This is a recap, in a nutshell, of what was learned this past week:                              The camera is an instrument that controls light. It doesn't know what the subject is that it's capturing, whether that be a human, building or pet.
• The camera is built to read light that bounces off of 18% gray tones. White or bright objects will reflect too much light, while black or dark objects will absorb the light; hence light bouncing off of gray is the magic tone for correct exposure.
• The three controls that take away or add light are ISO, shutter speed and aperture (f/stop).
  - ISO is one way to control light, and you should always set that first. It is the camera sensor's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO, the more light you add to the scene, or the lower the ISO, the less light you add.
  These are the standard ISOs: 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400. ISO 400 is a good middle ground, but it is on the slow side. We refer to ISOs as slow or fast speed. A 200 ISO is slow, and a 1600 ISO is fast. Because 1600 adds more light to the sensor, you can set a fast shutter speed, which takes away light. Simple formula: The faster the ISO, the faster the shutter speed.
  - Shutter speed is when you trigger the shutter button and a mirror (for cameras with mirrors) opens and closes. All you need to know is that the longer the mirror stays open, the more light hits the sensor. The faster the mirror opens and closes, the less light hits the sensor.
  The shutter speed has another job, as well: motion. The three types of motion are blur, panned and stopped. Blur and panned are best accomplished at around 1/30^th of a second. While stopped action is best shot at 1/500^th of a second and faster.
  These are the standard shutter speeds: 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000.
  - Apertures, also called f/stops, are controlled through the lens.
  These are the standard f/stops: f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22, f32.
  When you set your aperture, you're opening or closing a hole in the lens. F2.8 is the biggest hole, allowing in more light, while f32 is the smallest, allowing in very little light. This concept can be confusing because the smaller number is the bigger hole. Just remember that these numbers are actually fractions that measure the diameter of the hole. So, f/4 is actually 1/4th, and F/8 is actually 1/8th: 1/4th is twice as big as 1/8th. Yes, there's math involved!

         Aperture also has another job. It controls depth of field. A shallow depth of field (subject in focus while foreground and background is out of focus) is at the f2.8 range, while a wide depth of field (subject and fore/background is in focus) is around f/16 and smaller.

Reciprocity

    These three controls work together to add or take away light. This is called reciprocity, as they are reciprocal to one another.

    Photographically, we measure light in stops. The setting between ISO 400 and 800 is one stop, which is the exact same amount of light as between f/4 and f5.6, which is the same amount as between 1/125^th of a second and 1/250^th.
   So, to meter properly, set the ISO first; then set your either your aperture or shutter speed, depending on the depth of field or motion you want to achieve; meter on a gray tone; and then set the third control accordingly. It's very important you pay attention to your inside camera meter, because it is your measuring cup, so to speak. Once you meter on the gray tone, then you can shoot your subject (and ignore the meter). 

    See how easy this is? Actually, it's not that easy. But once you comprehend the numbers game, it actually makes sense.
    Keep in mind that this might all sound very confusing, but we talked about this lesson during class. So, I hope it makes sense to them.
    I could go on and on, but after a while the numbers get all jumbled, so I'll stop here and let it all soak in. 

    (Sometime soon: lenses and white balance, and whatever else we talked about.)

Students prepare to capture me running back and forth for a panning exercise, and doing jump jacks to stop and blur motion.

Welcome to the world of scholastic photojournalism! Your first lesson...

Welcome to a new semester! This is a Storify lesson I put together for our first day of class.

Steller offers visual storytelling app (outdated)

   There's a cool app in Apple town, and I like it.
   As a photojournalism and multimedia instructor, I'm always searching for different ways to present and share visual storytelling content. It is certainly a challenge keeping up with the multitude of new multimedia tools constantly being developed. 

   This blog post is about just one of those tools, the Steller app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, released in 2014, and now it's available for the Android.

   This mobile-first digital storytelling app combines text, photos and videos in a clean, visually-appealing format. The story includes a title page, and up to a total of 20 pages that are taken directly from your iPhone photo collection. 

   Once you download the free app, you hit the + button in the bottom middle of the page, choose your first image or text page, select your design your story, and continue selecting each page one at a time. You can design the page as you go, or go back to it later to delete or add pages. Once you are finished, Preview and the Publish. You can then share to Twitter, Facebook or your blog. It is that simple.

   The beauty of this app is that you view the story like you're reading a book. The pages turn!
There are a few drawbacks, though:

• Viewers not familiar with the app don't know that the story needs to be manually opened, and the pages turned by swiping the page or hitting the right or left computer arrows. 
• You can't share the complete story on Instagram (at least that's how it used to be); only a single page selected from the story.
• The videos loop, and viewers might not know to swipe out of them.
• Shooting vertical video makes more sense here because you can fill the entire screen. If you shoot horizontal, there's too much white space top and bottom.
• The archiving of these stories is worrisome. How long will this app survive? But this isn't a big problem because this app was chosen as one of the Best Apps of 2014 by Apple, and you still have the original images in your phone's photo gallery. 
• Elements in stories published back in 2014 to at least 2016 are now outdated, thus you really shouldn't try editing them. You'll get this message: "You are editing an old story with outdated themes and features. Some functionality will be restricted.
• And in 2019, your free themes are limited to two: classico and Noir.

   Photojournalists don't have a lot of input over how our photos are published on the web and in the newspaper. But this app gives us back a little power. 

   Consider the many ways visual stories can be told. Take, for example, at this high school basketball game I shot, there were four ways my photos were published:

Screen grab from Toledo Blade newspaper's front sports page.

1. Instagram. I decided to start out by shooting from a high angle, so I went to the top of the bleachers, in a corner facing the basket. I took a panoramic photo with my cell and posted it on Instagram.
2. Steller. Then I remembered the Steller app. To tell a different story, I avoided being redundant with images, shooting photos and videos with my phone that I wouldn't have shot with my two DSLRs. 
3. Toledo Blade newspaper. Because we have an early deadline for the print version of the newspaper, I transmitted my best 12 photos from the first two periods via Photo Mechanic FTP using an air card. This caused me to miss the entire third period.
4. Toledo Blade website. I continued shooting in the fourth period, and sent the rest of the images for a photo gallery on the website.

   This app can be a powerful way to get our social media savvy youth, who often turn to YouTube and Snapchat for their 'news,' to view real stories about real people, places and things. And it's a fun way for us veteran shooters to have fun, too!

   For these reasons, I'm think this storytelling app is worth using and teaching.
Here are a few links to stories and reviews on Steller (though these links are dated, as well):
JEA Digital Media article on Steller
Storybench story on Steller and mobile reporting
Tutorials on the VSCO Cam app 

On shooting sports: Covering action, reaction, coaches and fans

ACTION: Western Michigan's Darius Phillips breaks up a pass to Toledo's Cody Thompson at the University of Toledo's Glass Bowl in Toledo, Ohio on Friday. (Blade photos by Lori King)

REACTION: Alonzo Russell cries as he's ejected for targeting.

There is a saying in the photojournalism field that if you can shoot sports, you can shoot anything.

   This can be true for several reasons:

• • Action shots require precise timing and an innate understanding of fast shutter speeds.
• • Reaction shots can be just as important as action shots, so you need a keen awareness of what's happening before and after key plays. This includes capturing the antics of coaches on the sidelines.
• • Fans like to see themselves, too, so searching for strong fan shots is essential for making a slideshow interesting and compelling.

  • Critical thinking is definitely employed here by figuring out issues like where to shoot from and how to get the best angles; how to best ID the players and coaches; and how to deal with other factors, like weather, substandard camera equipment and limited access.

    The current assignment for the Wayne State photojournalism class is shooting a sports event. As part of that assignment, they are required to post their strongest action, coach and fan photos. They'll also edit their best dozen or so for a slideshow, produced in Adobe Premiere CC.

REACTION: Asantay Brown is taken off the field with an injury.

    A sports slideshow is a mini-portfolio for the vision and technical control of the shooters, so I encouraged the students to 'circle the wagon' to capture the flavor of the event.

   To demonstrate the assignment requirement, I posted these photos I took last night at the University of Toledo vs. Western Michigan football game.

    A big lesson I want to discuss here is that journalists are not cheerleaders for the team we cover, nor are we prevented from shooting moments that are hard to witness. Case in point - when Toledo's Alonzo Russell cried as he was ejected from the game for targeting WMU's Asantay Brown. Or when Brown was taken off the field on a stretcher.

    After the game, as we photogs worked up our images in the press box, another photographer asked me if a close-up shot of Brown's face on the stretcher was appropriate to send to his client. Both myself and the USA Today photographer told him to definitely send it, and let the editors decide whether to run it or not. I also shot that photo and sent it, and it ran in the newspaper today.

    So, here are samples of what I'm looking for when the students post their best three photos to their blogs.     

   Of course, I'm very aware they probably don't have the access or the long lenses that I have. But they need to do what it takes with what they have to get the job done, as do every college photographer assigned to cover their teams.
Link to Photo Gallery
Link to Toledo Blade sports columnist Dave Hackenberg's column, "We're not here to cheer for your team." 

FANS: Young Toledo fans don't get their wish after the Rockets lost their last home game to WMU.

COACH: Toledo's Corey Jones walks hand-in-hand with head coach Matt Campbell after their loss to WMU. It is these kind of captured moments that add emotion and mood to the game.

Q&A 7: Free Press photojournalist Eric Seals turns to video for storytelling

Automobile junk yard. (Photos by Eric Seals)

Eric Seals

Sometimes there comes a point in our lives when we feel it’s time to give back.

   For photojournalists, that means mentoring our youth, or going into classrooms to share what we’ve honed throughout our careers.

   Sharing with others is something that Detroit Free Press photo and video journalist Eric Seals has been doing for the past 15 years.

   He wrote on his website that he believes in the ‘reach one, teach one’ philosophy. He does that through doing job shadowing, mentoring others, and teaching at workshops and seminars around the country to those interested in this “amazing profession.”

   Hired by the Free Press in 1999, the Southfield, Michigan native has spent most of his career at the Motor City, home of rapper Eminem, Chrysler and Lake Erie. It is also a city recovering from bankruptcy, and suffering from high crime and neighborhood blight. But the good and bad of the city gives Seals plenty of stories to cover.

   Seals earned a degree in journalism in 1993 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He is a two-time MPPA Multimedia Photographer of the Year winner, a national Webby Award recipient, and has earned several POYi wins, NPPA-BOP awards and 10 Michigan Emmys.

   As part of his teaching philosophy, Seals has been busy both shooting and mentoring. He recently returned from teaching at the University of Maryland School of Journalism. He also showed his Great Lakes shipwreck documentary that was selected for viewing at the Utopia Film Festival in Washington D.C.

   Over the past several months he has been busy teaching about video storytelling at the NPPA Multimedia Immersion workshop at Syracuse University, and at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Florida.

   I am proud to welcome Eric into my Wayne State University Digital Photojournalism classroom on Oct. 29. And then on Nov. 19 he will use Periscope to give a virtual tour of the Detroit Free Press, bringing his beloved newspaper to us, in our classroom.

   To celebrate this wonderful collaboration between WSU and the Free Press, Seals has been chosen as my seventh Q & A subject for this blog.

Q: When did you first become interested in visual storytelling?

A: I became interested in visual storytelling I guess when I was a kid who grew up reading the Detroit Free Press and looking at the pictures in the newspaper. After a while, I got to the point where instead of looking at the pictures I wanted to see the moments with my own eyes. I wanted to witness it for myself. Photojournalism was the only way to do that, and be creative while being that witness. I took a photography class in high school, which started me on my fun, challenging and amazing journey into the world of visual storytelling.

Q: You began shooting video in 2008, at the beginning of the ‘video explosion’ in photojournalism. What inspired you to jump on the video bandwagon?

A: I don’t know if there was anything that inspired me to get into video storytelling. It was more like the Free Press gave me a traditional video camera in 2008 and said, “We want you to start doing video for freep.com.” I just took to it, and spent lots of time doing self-teaching from watching lots documentaries and learning on YouTube and Google.

   I loved going to movies as a kid, and still do now. Perhaps I see what I do as an extension of “making movies,” but I do it with a journalism twist; telling truth with a camera unlike movie directors who do take after take.

 We have several talented photojournalists on staff who shoot video stories, so it’s nice to be able see their work and bounce ideas off each other.

Q: What’s your opinion on shooting stills and video at the same time? How do you determine which one works best for the situation?

A: It depends on the assignment or story to be honest. Sometimes doing both just needs to be done. I recently had an assignment at the Detroit Zoo, where I had to shoot thousands of crickets that are fed to the various animals. I knew a short video clip of the crickets was needed, especially with that cricket chirping sound, along with a short interview with the cricket caretaker. I also knew I needed stills for the paper and the web. It’s all about prioritizing what’s needed when, and for how long, in terms of shooting stills and video.

   Other times, especially when I’m working on long form video storytelling, the video takes priority over stills, and when needed I can always pull frame grabs off the video, seeing how the quality of video is so much better these days. And sometimes I’ll have one camera with one lens to shoot stills instead of switching back and forth on the same camera.

   Another good think to do in long form storytelling is allow yourself an hour or two off and on to just focus on stills and not video. This works well when you’ve got good command of the story, it’s structure and a good body of work in terms of b-roll, etc.

Giving back to students. (Twitter screen grab)

Q: There are numerous storytelling tools available to us today. What tools do you use to tell your stories? Can they actually get in the way of storytelling?

A: I use a variety of tools from Canon HDSLR’s to Canon C100’s, GoPro’s and sliders for video storytelling.

   I’m a big camera gear geek, and yes, various tools can get in the way of storytelling if you let it. What needs to be done is keep your eyes focused on the main thing - the story, the story, the story! Besides the story you also need good characters, good audio and a really good edit to keep viewers hooked into what you are trying to tell them.

   You can have the best gear known to mankind but if your story isn’t good, doesn’t make sense or have a good focus then viewers won’t stick with it and move onto something else.

Q: What advice can you give aspiring photojournalists today?

A: I’d say find and study other photojournalists whose work makes you think and feel something, work that has moments and emotion to it. It’s that kind of work that viewers want to see or watch.

   Go get a coffee, head to a library or a bookstore, find the photography section and plant yourself. Pour through the books, study how composition, graphics, light, layering is used by some of the amazing talent out there. Even right here in Detroit at the Free Press we have talented photojournalists who are very nice, willing to share what they’ve learned.

   Show and share you work with others who are better than you, those that set the bar high for you to reach. Ask for a critique of your work. Keep an open mind about what they say. Take their constructive criticism well; learn and improve yourself based on what they say, then go out there and put it into practice.

   Fail and fail again, and learn from it - that’s how you get better.

  Embrace video. It’s so important if you want a job at newspapers these days. Watch lots of documentaries; find video journalists working at newspapers whose work you also like and watch their work; and reach out to them for help and advice. You have to be really proactive if you truly love what you do and want to get better at this amazing profession.

   I’m constantly sharing my video stories to those out there who set the bar high for me. I get torn down when they look at my videos, but with those little pieces I learn, grow and can put those pieces back together.

   I often say, “Don’t tell me my strengths, show me my weaknesses.” THAT is how you get better!

   Follow Eric on Twitter and Instagram:  @ericseals

Waiting for marshmallows.

Proven innocent.

Eric's visit to the Wayne State digital photojournalism class Oct. 29.

Links to a few of Eric's video stories:

http://tinyurl.com/DennisHale

http://tinyurl.com/GreatLakesFreighter

http://tinyurl.com/KadenCook

http://tinyurl.com/GreatLakesFlowerLady

http://tinyurl.com/GreatLakesShipwreckHunter
http://tinyurl.com/DetroitPotholes
http://tinyurl.com/PBBinMichigan

On journalists taking their own photos: It is now a matter of when ... not if

Tweet of f/stop chart written on a whiteboard by a student learning depth of field.

  

Screen grab from blog of student Jun Kim.

We are nearly half way through the fall 2015 semester, so it's time for a quick update on how the Wayne State University digital photojournalism course is going.
   The first half of the semester was spent setting up their social media accounts (blogging, Twitter and Instagram), and learning their law, ethics and First Amendment rights as photojournalists. They are also in the middle of learning how to use their DSLR cameras . . . on manual mode, of course. This includes going over camera controls and composition - basic photography training with a 'keep it real' philosophy.
   Next up are lessons on caption writing, the AP Stylebook and cell phone photography.
   They learn all of the above before they even shoot their first assignment, which will be feature hunting.
    There are 17 students in the course, and all but one (economics) are in the journalism program. I told them on the first day of class that if they stay in journalism, it won't be a matter of IF they shoot their own photos, but WHEN.
   Journalism has changed over the past few years. There are far less photojournalists now because of layoffs, streamlining, job cuts, and print newspaper closures and online editions. Remember the cuts at Chicago Sun Times, the Times-Picayune and CNN, just to name a few? Remember what happened with the Ann Arbor News and the Rocky Mountain News? Their demise left many great photojournalists unemployed, including Pulitzer Prize winner Preston Gannaway.
    The demise of hundreds of these staff photojournalism jobs is what drives me to prepare these young journalists for the future. I tell them to take the course seriously; to use their cameras regularly; to shoot their own photo stories now, so they can show their future employer that they can multitask.
   The second half of the course is going to be challenging, to say the least. They will work with the WSU South End student newspaper and WDET to produce real work, not just homework. Assignments include shooting feature, portrait and sports assignments. The final project will be a photo story, which will include natural sound, and produced using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
   The power of social media will allow these students to share what they learn and do. To follow their progress, click on the Wayne State Student Blog list at the top of this blog and follow any or all of the 17 students who will one day be out there in the real world with pens, notebook and cameras in hand.

Don't make excuses: Embrace photo stories if you want a job

Aaron Mora, 7, son of the Johnston's Fruit Farm owners, inspects his bees. This was taken on the second shoot. These three photos are a sampling of the photo story I am doing on the farm, which ran in October in the Toledo Blade magazine page.

Johnston's Fruit Farm customers pick their own blueberries. Taken on my third shoot.

   Shoot ‘em and leave ‘em. Don't make this your shooting style.

   Students no longer have the option of strictly shooting single assignments. You should be shooting a photo story at any given time.

   There is nothing wrong with being a daily shooter. However, shooting photos stories is important to be competitive among your peers and competitors. These are a few of the excuses that can prevent photographers from doing photo stories:

·      Don’t have enough spare time to dedicate to the project

·      Can’t find a story to like enough

·      The subjects don’t call back

·      Fearful of becoming a pest

·      Getting bored easily
·      It's been done already

   Don't let these excuses hold you back.

   A photo story is the use of multiple images shot over an extended period of time to tell a complete story. It can be as simple as a photo essay of a county fair, or as complex as a multimedia documentary on spousal abuse that includes the use of video and audio.

   These are two reasons I have been dedicating more time to shooting photo stories:

Johnston's Fruit Farm workers in the strawberry field. Taken on first shoot.

1.     I have never entered the Ohio News Photographer (ONPA) Photographer of the Year (POY) competition because one of the requirements is to include at least one photo story.

   Here are the contest rules regarding the George Smallsreed Jr. POY entry:

“Portfolios must contain a news picture, a sports picture, a picture story and pictures from at least two other categories of the entrants choosing.” 

   It’s the lack of a picture story that prevents me from having a chance to win. A friend of mine always tells me that to win you have to enter, and she’s right. So I can only blame myself for sitting back on the sidelines and watching my terrific Toledo Blade colleagues (Katie Rausch, Jeremy Wadsworth and Andy Morrison) win POY contests.

   Contests aren’t everything, and they don't always define your overall skills, but they certainly help get better jobs, better assignments and increased self esteem.

    2. This second reason is actually the driving force to me upping my game. It’s for the students!

   How can I teach students long-form visual storytelling when I hardly did it myself?     

   It is crucial for me to push students to do photo stories. Dig a little deeper into the story. Go back again and again. Develop a relationship with the subjects. Build trust.  
   Shooting photo stories will get them jobs. There is no doubt in my military mind that the photojournalism jobs and assignments will always go to those who do not have commitment issues.  Photo stories, Photo stories, Photo stories. 
   Photographers who can write stories, shoot stills and shoot/produce a video will be much more employable. Actually, if you don't do all of those things you might be unemployable in today's multimedia-cultured world.

    So, now I must make the time to find stories I care about so I don’t get bored and thus will pick up the phone to call the sources so that I can tell their stories. 

   Storytelling is good.

   Here is a story on Mich Fest I did this year. It's a week-long music festival for only women. It was a story I had to tell because it was the last festival, ending after 40 years. 
The video:
 
The written story:

Why an old dog can teach young smartphone pups new tricks of the camera

   On cellphone photography.

   Once again I ponder this question while updating the syllabus: Should I teach cellphone photography to students when it’s already so much a part of their lives?

   Considering my tech addicted teen daughters are still teaching me about my own iPhone6, does it make sense to add a cellphone lesson to a syllabus for college journalism students?

   I don’t doubt that most of my Wayne State photojournalism students are also tech addicted, so what could I possible teach them that they don’t know already?

   Quite a bit, actually. In fact, social media is such an essential part of journalism these days that many universities are now offering entire courses dedicated to mobile reportage.

   Here are a few lessons that I think might benefit students:

Lesson One: Selfies

   This is the age of the selfies. Yes, our youth has mastered taking photos of themselves. I certainly don’t have to teach them that! In fact, this selfie lesson is about what NOT to do. Stop taking selfies!

   Yep, I advise to stop doing it, especially while students are job searching. Potential employers expect a high level of maturity. It is no secret that companies do background checks on social media accounts. Would you hire someone who excessively documents her own exploits?  This is a red flag.

   But, if they must do it, then I advise them to create two accounts: one personal and one professional, making the professional easier to find.

Lesson Two: Law and Ethics

   Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Students need to know what’s right and wrong when publishing and sharing cellphone photos.

   The first lesson I teach them in class is about the NPPA Code of Ethics. This code should be adhered to, whether the photos are shot with a cellphone or DSLR camera.

   Consider No. 5: ‘While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.’ To me, that means no filters. Keep the image real.

   Also think about the ease of being sneaky with a cellphone, meaning that if a DSLR camera is not allowed (private funeral of slain victim, for example), then neither is a cellphone camera. It is not right, in most cases, to slyly record or photograph a subject when they are not aware.

   And lastly, you have the right to photograph police or authority figures in a public place with your cell. If they take away your device despite you following all of the rules (staying behind the police tape), they you probably have a case for a law suit.

Lesson Three: Available tools

   A smartphone camera has lots of options. So, let’s go over a few:

·      Get to know your shooting and editing tools, like flash, color correction, cropping and toning. But that's as far as it should go. No fancy stuff. Again, keep it real.

- Sometimes it’s not enough to simply point and shoot, especially if you’re publishing straight to a blog or social media site. Set your parameters first (color temperature, for example) to make your post-production work easier.

·      Download still and video editing apps, like Snapseed and Videolicious. Editing and producing your still photos and videos will make you more valuable (and hirable) in the field. Learn to use these apps, and then add this skill to your resume!

       ·      Taking a photo is part one, and writing the caption is part two. Captions are the journalism in photojournalism. So, figure out how to quickly write or transfer an AP style caption for every photo you post on Instagram, Twitter, blog, email to editor, etc. Also include your byline!

     ·      And don’t forget about #hashtags when posting to Instagram or Twitter. These can help your photos, or hurt them. Hashtags need to be smart and concise. They shouldn’t be overdone, like the Jimmy Fallon comedy skit #funny #thatisnothowyoudoit #photojournalism #cellphonelessons #oncellphones

   There are probably many more lessons and tips to share, and I'm sure I've left other important stuff out, but these are good starting points.

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