Photojournalism CURRICULUM GuideBY BRADLEY WILSON Spot News Still Life Feature Photo by Bradley Wilson Photo by Kelly Glasscock Photo by Rob Mattson PHOTOJOURNALISM 1 Grade: 9,10,11,12 Credit: /2 or 1 Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation A good syl- labus should contain: very day, people are bom- other hands-on production tools as • Course title barded with thousands of vi- well as modern darkroom facilities. • Course times (include sual images. The media of This course can serve as the pre- conference E period) the 21st century and beyond will requisite to newspaper production • Instructor continue this visually-oriented and or magazine/yearbook production biography • Grading graphic trend. One of the key com- and may provide students insights system • Required ponents to the success of these visual into college and career choices. materials print publications is photography. Some out-of-class time will be re- • Class rules • Course out- Photojournalism introduces students quired including the time to shoot line • Important to the world of photography and at least three photo assignments dates journalism. The law, ethics and his- per grading period. Completion • Student info form tory of photography will complement of photo assignments includes tak- • General per- mission form the major units of study: operation ing the picture, processing the film, • Student sig- and care of the camera, taking making a contact sheet, selecting nature line • Parent signa- pictures, film and print processing, the prints, making the prints and ture line digital photography, teamwork and turning them all in with a completed management skills. evaluation form on time. Late assign- In addition, students will have the ments result in a grade of 0 for that opportunity to use state of the art assignment. computer-aided publishing tools and Photo- Photo- journalism journalism Curriculum Curriculum Guide Guide By Bradley By Bradley Wilson Wilson ©2002 ©2002 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 Sports Portrait Photo Illustration Photo by Paul Kelly Photo by Victor Junco Photo illustration by H. Rick Mach COURSE OUTLINE I. CAMERA BASICS 2. Equipment/chemicals A. Camera parts 3. Process B. The lens a. Dodging and burning 1. Different types of lenses b. Making test strips C. Film c. Using polycontrast filters 1. Different types d. Mounting 2. Film speed (ASA/ISO) C. Troubleshooting D. Filters 1. Dust spots on print 2. Over/underexposure II. COMPOSITION 3. Over/underdevelopment A. Rule of Thirds 4. Film developer blotches B. Balance 5. Other problems C. Framing, S-curves, repetition of shapes, leading lines V. DIGITAL D. Evaluating composition A. LPI, PPI and DPI B. Prepare a photo for reproduction using Adobe III. TECHNICAL QUALITY Photoshop A. Focus 1. Cropping B. Lighting 2. Sizing 1. Direction 3. Sharpening 2. Intensity 4. Color correction using levels/curves 3. Color 5. Dodging/Burning 4. Artificial 6. Saving in JPEG, TIF, EPS or PSD 5. Metering C. Import a. Bracketing 1. Flatbed scanner C. Stopping action 2. Negative scanner 1. Fast shutter speeds 3. Digital camera 2. Panning 3. Hand holding with slow speeds VI. PHOTOJOURNALISM D. Depth of field A. Caption writing 1. Blurring the background B. Writing/editing stories and headlines 1 2 2. /3 in front, /3 behind C. Page layout E. Equivalent exposures 1. Modular layout F. Evaluating technical quality 2. Typography 3. Cropping photos IV. DARKROOM PROCEDURES D. Different types of photojournalism A. Film developing 1. News 1. Theory 2. Feature a. The latent image 3. Sports Photo- b. Film structure 4. Still life Photo- journalism c. The chemistry of development 5. Portraits journalism Curriculum 2. Equipment/chemicals E. Staff organization Curriculum 3. Process 1. The role of the photographer Guide 4. Push processing 2. Filing negatives, contacts and prints Guide By Bradley B. Printing and making contact sheets 3. Working on deadline By Bradley Wilson 1. Theory F. Law and ethics Wilson a. The latent image ©2002 b. Paper structure ©2002 PAGE 2 c. The chemistry of development PAGE 3 and not ‘field’ work. Help students set up a Plan photographs ‘studio’ in the classroom using whatever light sources are available. You might try illustrating in relation to assignments ‘drug use’ using flour and a mirror and a dollar from an editor bill. You might try illustrating crime with a pair of handcuffs and some other props from Activities: • Put a topic on the board and have students come your local law enforcement agency. You might up with (on their own, at first) different ways try illustrating ‘spring’ with some flowers. to cover this subject going beyond the obvious. Experiment. The point here is to look beyond Then discuss these ideas, noting the time frame the obvious and to realize that some ‘news’ events in which they can be accomplished. require more thought. • Have students list what types of photos they Assessment: • Given an ethical dilemma, what is students’ would like to see in the yearbook. Have them solution? Is it adequate? be specific, listing people, angles, time of day, • Given a legal dilemma, what is student’s reasoning location, etc. for the legality or illegality of the situation? • Have students locate a staff box in a relatively • Have students write a persuasive paper trying small newspaper or magazine, preferably one to persuade an editor to use a questionable which lists more than just the editor. Discuss photo. They should take the position of being the roles and responsibilities of each person the photographer. on that staff with students speculating at first. • Have students pick the ‘most’ appropriate photo Have students write a job description for a staff for a given event and explain their reasoning. photographer. Then, have them refer to their Vocabulary: caption, cutline, photojournalism, ‘fill the manual for the responsibilities of each member frame’, originality, ‘meaning’, camera obscura, on their staff, including photographers. Nicephore Niepce, William Henry Fox Talbot, • Have students complete a photo assignment Louis Daguerre, Ansel Adams, Edward Westin, form. George Eastman, Julia Margaret Cameron, Assessment: • Evaluate ideas for coverage given by students. Edward Steichen, Alfred Steiglitz, Paul Strand, • Evaluate job descriptions written by Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange photographer. • Evaluate completed photo assignment form. Vocabulary: candid, posed shot, appropriate subject matter Operate a 35mm single-lens reflex camera with Illustrate events with a variety of lenses appropriate photos Activities: • Complete photo assignments as requested. and captions • Using cardboard or other material, cut out a frame approximately the size of a 35mm piece of film. Activities: • Discuss what is ‘appropriate.’ Have students hold it 6-8 inches in front of their • Discuss ethics and law: what is legal and what is face to simulate a camera, looking around the ethical. school for assignments. • Using examples of photos of questionable ethics • Using a variety of lenses, demonstrate the (including examples of war photos, disasters, different angles of view by allowing students to suicides, murders, etc.) discuss why these photos look at a fixed subject from a fixed distance with were used. Given the situation, who would use different lenses. Be sure students understand the them? Why? basic lenses: wide angle, normal lens, zoom and • Pick a photograph out of a magazine and explain telephoto. what it means to you – in depth. Look at the • As an alternate assignment, have students shoot technical quality and composition, of course, but the ‘macro’ world. Using a close-up lens or also look beyond that. Look at what the image filters, students should take pictures of a piece means to you. of something and have others guess what it is. • Look through a local newspaper, a daily or weekly, It’s fun to post these and have other students and find examples of timely, photojournalistic guess what the pictures are of. Any photographer photo. Have students discuss why these photos whose picture remains unidentified should win are appropriate or why they aren’t. some award. The idea here is to look beyond the • Go through a series of magazines, newspapers obvious and to pay attention to detail. Be careful, Photo- and other publications and cut out 10-15 images these pictures often require additional light. Photo- journalism that tell the rest of the class something about you. Assessment: • Evaluate photo assignments. journalism Each image should give everyone some insight • Test how well (and fast) students can load film in Curriculum into your character. This is a good assignment a camera by having them load it while walking Curriculum Guide to do at the beginning of the semester. Make across the room. Give them room to walk about Guide sure each student orally presents the clippings, 30 steps at a fast pace and evaluate them on By Bradley By Bradley mounted on construction paper (or whatever) whether they can securely load the camera before Wilson Wilson to the rest of the class and explains what they walking the distance. ©2002 mean. Vocabulary: wide-angle, zoom, fisheye, telephoto, normal, ©2002 • Some ‘news’ events require photo illustrations single-lens reflex (SLR), filter, film rewind, lens PAGE 4 PAGE 5 release, focus, focus ring, battery check, film all using available light or studio lights. No flash rewind knob, ISO dial, PC cord, hot shoe, shutter allowed. release, shutter speed dial, aperture dial, depth • Under various circumstances, have students of field preview, lens speed, exposure, parallax, evaluate the quantity, quality and direction of aberration, angle of view, bellows, focal plane light. shutter, infinity, lens mount, lense tissue, lens • Take a photo using backlighting, front lighting hood, self timer and sidelighting and evaluate the various effects of each. • Display photos taken under daylight, tungsten Operate a flash light and fluorescent light illustrating the various problems of each. Activities: • Allow students to use a flash either for one of Assessment: • Evaluate meter-reading map.