Select three of the photos from the news photo assignment. You cannot select photos that your group shot. Critique each of the three photos based on what you heard Sam say in his lecture on Tuesday morning. Whether you liked the photo is secondary, what merit does it have as a news photo? Be sure to consider the information included in the caption as well.
After you critique three photos, describe the process your group went through from when the photos were assigned to when your group posted them on facebook. Articulate the process. Be specific.
Write your comments here on the watchdog blog. Your deadline is Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Part 1:
ReplyDeletePhoto #1: Making Ends Meet by Eeva Kaun, Teona Kanashvilli and Rehman Azhar
The composition of this photograph is well thought out. The background is uncluttered, making the main focus clear. The blurred background implies motion, which is a difficult element to portray. The composition is simple. Yet, the picture would be improved by cutting down slightly on the negative space. Sam spoke of achieving a proper balance. Perhaps cropping the top of the picture would have made the photograph even stronger. The bold red color of the car also enhances the picture.
The first sentence of the caption stands on its own. It is descriptive and states all of the information that is necessary to understand what the photograph portrays. Thus, I would suggest making the caption more concise. Though the information about the cost of index is salient, it might be best to describe this in the article that the picture would be accompanying. Sam explained that images ought to assist stories.
Photo #2: Nana, Sarah, Tricia - picture of man playing saxophone
The quality of light is excellent. Only the trees are shaded, which causes ones' eyes to be drawn to the man who is playing the saxophone?the main focus. The trees pictured at the top right and left side of the picture also serve as a frame. This picture tells a story. Sam explained that images have the power to evoke emotion and to provide "content in context." Having some sign of Prague in the background, gives the audience a sense of the man?s location and a glimpse of the city's culture.
It seems as though the first sentence of the photo's caption would be sufficient. The caption should describe the actions of the photograph itself. The first sentence presents the name, who the man is, where he is from, and where the picture was taken. This sentence is clean and concise. I would only suggest adding the man's age to the caption and removing the two sentences that follow.
Photo #3: Emilia, Simona, Sebastian - unemployed German man
Considering the photograph, graphically, it is apparent that this group made great use of the street's lines and patterns. The way that the camera is angled, with all of the lines running horizontally across the photograph, makes the picture clearer. Sam encouraged the class to "focus on the focus." This group was successful in that respect. It is quite evident who the focus of the picture is and there are few distractions. However, if possible, it may have been better to wait a few seconds for the yellow taxi to pass before capturing the picture. This would greatly improve the quality of the photograph.
The caption of this photograph is well done. The sentences are short and descriptive. Though the caption explains that the man was imprisoned in Germany for quite some time, it does not state whether he is from Germany. This is a minor detail, but would give the audience a better or more complete understanding of who the man in the photograph is.
Part 2:
The group had two cameras available. We separated into two groups, at first, to search for news. The approach consisted of first taking a picture using a few different angles and then approaching those who were captiured in the photographs to obatin their information and more detail about the situation.
In the afternoon, we traveled together as a group. We found a few news stories involving the police. One of the members even chased after the car that had been pulled over by some policemen to retrieve his name and to ask a few questions about what had happened.
At the end of the day, we sat down at a computer and uploaded the pictures. We looked at each picture individually and eliminated the ones that did not capture the event as well as we had wanted. We also utilized photoshop to crop the pictures in order to cut down on the amount of negative space and to frame the picture better. We wanted to give the audience a better sense of who or what the focus was.
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ReplyDeleteImage 1 - Jaroslav Valka (Picture 14)
ReplyDeleteThe image is well taken and gets the message across.
The comment should have explained the background of the Police Check, whether it was part of a drive to clear the streets of unwanted elements, or a check on foreigners illegally here. Also it is factually incorrect, unless Valka committed a crime he would not be arrested. At most he would have been fined or physically removed from the scene for begging.
Image 2 - Grey and Dishnonoured Czech (Picture 12)
Again a well taken image showing the subjects frustration at the situation.
The caption though informative is factually incorrect. Current pension levels are actually high (too high for most economists' liking) so people get enough money now especially once they cross the age of 65. A caption on rising levels of alcholism amongst the elderly would have been apt. This man looks high and dry and in desperate need of his next tipple.
Image 3 Olaf (Picture 4)
Olaf with his bemused smile does nothing for me as a news picture. Not unless he is the bouncer at an illegal dance party happening at a construction venue.
The caption is well written and informative however if the idea was to show a buoyant czech economy and development boom, Olaf should have been moving some metal sheets.
1. The picture taken by Ana Dabrundashvili, Jessica Corry and Miko Schneider with the construction worker is a nice portrait picture, but it doesn’t work as a news picture. Even if we are offered a lot of information in the caption and we can see he works in construction, the composition doesn’t help the reader understand the same story. Also, the picture is a bit blurry and the focus is not on the man. The framing would have been better if his legs weren’t cut off in the photo. Because the light comes from his right, the picture has parts was its overexposed, but I don’t find it too disturbing. The contrast works here- the jacket is in contrast with the background. In this case the photographer should have waited for a specific moment to take the picture and make it newsworthy.
ReplyDelete2. The shoe shiner picture, taken by Monika and Debbie, speaks for its self. It has action; the man has a nice figure and tells the story of the oldest shoe shiner in Prague. The photo is a bit noisy because there are so many people in the background. Probably, the framing should have been tighter, focused on the man and the shoes. It would have been recommended that the shoe shiner would have looked at the shoes, the man he is serving or in the camera. The caption informs the reader and offers balance within the picture.
3. The photo of Monika Lipinova (32) manager of the Gallery “La Femme”, taken by Anil and Puja, has a very soft light for a portrait. If the woman would have been selling a picture instead of posing, I guess it would have had more action and meaning as a news. The picture has balance due to framing. Still, the light coming from the window makes shadows on her face. The paintings take your attention from her and there are too many elements included in the photo. It’s good we can see her work, but maybe catching another moment with the gallery visited by people would have been better.
Group 10 - description
Group 10 worked quite fast for the assignment. Hrishabh came with the idea that the Communist party its close and we may go and ask some questions considering that they still win a lot of votes at the last election. So, we did. We find this representative willing to talk about their work. It was not actually news; it was more of an interview. We took pictures during the interview in the office and in font of the picture with Marx and Engels. We were not sure if to use the picture with Marx and Engels because it would seem like a set up, but we considered it important for the story. We had another picture with the leader regretting the era. The second picture with the cop was taken on the street near the party. There were two of them. We asked them if the street is a dangerous one because there were like three homeless and some drug users. One started talking a lot. He told us about crime and other facts and Hrishbah took his picture. If in the first case, all of us took pictures, this time the cop said we only can take on picture. We considered the story interesting and decided to go along with it.
Anamaria
Three photos by Eeva
ReplyDeleteThe first photo I chose was Arielle Mellen, Ruslan Kavatsyuk, and Nina Terol-Zialcita photo of mechanic Meno and his assistant repairing a Mustek metro station escalator. I chose this photo because I think it has all the necessary components of being a good news photo. For one the people on the photo are doing something as opposed to just posing. Secondly the photographer has managed to capture an interesting moment and third the caption is informative and well constructed.
I agree with Sam that a lower angle would have given a better perspective of the busy background- parked cars, pedestrians rushing and street activity, as well as emphasise the most interesting aspect of the photo the submerged worker and broken escalator.
My second choice was Anastasia, Sara and Labinot's photo of a local family listening a Czech street band in Mustek metro station. It's a very clean photo and despite of being shot in a very public place it has a certain intimacy. The families position, father and two sons comfortably squatting down, listening intensively tells a moving story. I like that the caption has a direct quote from Mrs. Kolvadova.
There is nothing much to criticise about this photo. I don't know how many photos the group took but I think a shot from behind the band towards the family.
The last photo I chose was Nana, Sarah and Tricia's picture about the pregnant woman fined by the police officer. I chose this photo because for one it is a strong news photo. It has an interesting twist to it (the woman was pregnant). Compared to all other police photos taken by other groups, this one has the best composition and facial expressions.
Again I agree with Sam here when he said that there is a little too much information on the photo. Cropping the photo would give a stronger emphasis on the interaction between the officer and woman.
Group assessment
At first we had a group meeting trying to decide where to go. I think our original ideas were a bit too much (as professor Kelly pointed out) so we decided to concentrate on city centre and angle to story towards tourism and local workers in tourist section. We headed towards the old town square. We photographed a tourist group from Germany bell ringing ceremony. Rehman interviewed the tour guide. In the town square we got more great photos- children with horses and construction workers. Rehman was set on a story about car drivers because he met a young Georgian man who worked as a guide to pay his university tuition. Unfortunately the photos of this guy didn't come out so well. As we walked around we noticed an old drunk man sitting in the bench. He was dosing off. I snapped some photos and Rehman went over to talk to him. He didn't speak any English so we found a local shop keeper who was willing to translate. We decided to tie the photo with ageing Europe story. As Rehman headed back to hostel to do research on ageing Europe and tourism in Prague I went to search a better photo of the car driver. I didn't find the guy but I managed to take many other photos of different drivers.
The last photo was taken on the other side of the river of a driver who was driving around the block as he was waiting one customer who went to toilet. I got a few chances to shoot a moving car. I asked the drivers name and few other things. Luckily one of the shots came out pretty good. We got our story.
During the selection process me and Rehman had an argument. He wanted to use the Georgian guys story even though the picture wasn't too good. I wanted to use the moving car photo even though the story was weaker. We argued which was better- a mediocre photo yet great story or a great photo and mediocre story. Sam said both have to work.
Eeva
1st photo:Jiri,a 32-year-old,homeless Czechy has been living on Charles Bridge for 5 years.Jiri chooses not to reveal his face while begging,as a sign of homage to the numerous passerby. He is unemployed since 1998 and chooses not to seek state financial aid.
ReplyDeleteThis photo is showing one of the biggest social problems- homeless people. The angle is good. The photo is emotional, but it would be more emotional and worthy if there were more shadows at the right top of the image. That would show us ignorance of the people passing by.
Michal Grivalský (51), claims to be the only shoeshiner in Czech Republic. He cleans shoes since 1993 in Old Town Prague and has about 10 clients a day (approximately 600 Crowns daily). This is his worst year because he used to have 20 to 40 clients a day ten years ago.
This photo is interesting because of two reasons: it´s showing us that old craft still exists, and the other one is the hard life of the old man. Photo is very realistic, the moment is the right one (especially the expression of man´s face). It would be better without the person in white T-shirt at the left top of the image, but these are the things which are hard to control.
Thomas Scheer and his son pull up in their hot red Volvo Amazon 1969. This is one of many vintage cars popularly seen on the streets of Prague, although the half-German, half Czech resident claims he bought the car for 'reliability' and not as a 'fashion statement'.
The biggest mistake in this photo is lack of human elements. We cannot see persons in the car very well. There should be at least an elbow or a head out of the car. This does not mean that photo is not interesting. It is telling us about czech aspirations to reliable and tasteful cars.
Assignment: Melda, Nate and Maggie
ReplyDeleteWe have taken cca. 10-15 photos. First we eject some photos, those which were not proper because of tehnical reasons. We also eject some photos which we have taken but haven´t got any information about it. That was the way we narrowed the choice on three photos. One with the police and three unemployed persons we have put immediately, and the other one (with workers on the street) we have put after consideration. There was the photo with those same workers, while they were resting. Although it showed us the moment of break in the middle of the hard work at these hot days, we chose another one because there is more action.
Bohemian artist Vladimir Pinta. (Nana, Sarah and Tricia).
ReplyDelete1. You can see where the photo was taken from the pictures and signs.
2. The man is acting.
3. There are no other people distracting from him.
4. Although the face is not clear
Members of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna. (Anit and Puja)
1. Good colors.
2. People are moving.
3. In the left part of the picture are not necessary personages.
4. On right – someone’s foot got into the picture.
Two young Russian film directors, Maxim Roskow and Mike. (Rita, Ezgi and Koray)
1. Beautiful picture.
2. There’s no enough of a bear.
3. Too much of a van.
4. Very good colors.
5. The yellow car on the left shouldn’t be there.
Ruslan
Photo 2 of 22 (Rita, Ezgi and Koray)
ReplyDeleteThe picture simply speaks for itself: we can observe immediately the two main subjects, the Russian film directors, and easily understand what they are doing there. Their video camera, almost pointing at us, leads our view to the subject of their shooting, the little grey teddy bear. The photo is clear and bright, using the light to emphasize the two points of interest: the movie directors and the teddy bear. The picture uses also the compression as a composition element, creating the impression that the subjects are closer than they really are.
From a journalistic point of view, this photo is clear, it gives us a new, interesting and original information, being suitable for a Fun or Entertainment page.
Photo 12 of 22 (Eeva, Teona and Rehman)
I think this is the most expressive picture of all. This old man's position, standing with his back bent and his eyes looking down, with his hands clasped in prayer, all this state his difficult situation. The photo is representative not only for this old man in particular, but for all elders living in the same circumstances.
The only problem I find with this picture is that it doesn't give us any element to help us identify the place where Yezik Bohosla is. It could be Prague, but it also could be anywhere else.
Photo 20 of 22 (Nana, Sarah and Tricia)
Another photo with an old man, but this time an old man happy to do his job and to show his tallent. The subject, named Vladimir Pinta, a Bohemian artist who sings in Old Town Square, has in this picture his own life portrait. We see him playing happily at his old saxophone, next to the posters and newspaper articles that he collected during his long career.
The photo was taken from a low point of view, looking up at the subject, and at the same time, framing him with the dark outline of the trees.
From a journalistic point of view, the picture gives us an interesting information, very original and complete, presenting very well the character and his life.
Working with my group (my teammates were Sebastian and Emilia)
My group worked very well and fast. We decided to simply take a walk in the city and look for interesting subjects and we were quite fortunate to find them pretty quickly. We found actually 4 or 5 interesting subjects, and at the end of the day we decided witch ones are the best ones to be posted on our blog. We chosed those two because we thought those are the ones with the most interesting stories.
The pictures were taken mostly by the girls, while Sebastian was the one talking with our subjects. We had a little bit of luck with this too, because our two main subjects were both speaking German.
Simona
The first photo I chose is the picture of the shoe polisher taken by Monica and Debbie. I think it is a balanced photo in the sense of how every item is placed, taken according to the rule of thirds. There are both contrasting and matching elements in the colors: the trousers of the client match shoe polisher’s shirt, and his trousers and apron provide contrast. I think the focus is good as well; the blurry tourists in the back give a good idea about the everyday working environment of the polisher: sitting at a single spot as people go by. The expression on the face of the man is well caught, there is some sort of expectation on his face which makes better sense when we read the caption, and he is probably expecting customers. The movements of his hands are captured as well, emphasizing the nature of the job he does every day. I think the caption is well written too, because when I read it, it combines with the picture in a way that helps me put it in context. I can easily see this photo as a part of a feature on occupations in Prague streets.
ReplyDeleteThe second photo is the picture of a family listening to the violinists in a metro station. Though I like the photo, I realized that when I looked at it from a distance -as I did yesterday during the slideshow in class- I was distracted by the empty space and the family, failing to notice the violinists at first sight. Maybe it could have been more compressed, shot from a lower angle slightly more behind the family, bringing the family and the violinists closer. The lines on the floor give the photo a direction as if they provide a connection between the family and the violinists. Maybe the lights on the ceiling could be avoided – I find their brightness distracting as well. When I read the caption, I thought that it would also be nice to see the expression on the family’s face as well, but I think that would have to be a totally different photo.
The last photo I have chosen is of the saxophone player. I think this one is framed really well, the saxophone player slightly on the right rather than the middle of the picture, and trees are protecting the scene from too much light. The movement of the player is captured in a contrasting manner, with his knees bent to right and the saxophone bent to the left, which makes the movement balanced. The face is not very clear, but it is not a problem as it is not exactly a portrait. The posters and pictures hung behind him provide context to the viewer. Maybe the caption could contain more information on why he prefers playing on the streets.
When Koray, Rita and I went around the city together to make pictures, we first felt as if nothing worth taking a picture was coming across our way. But as we went along, we came across some really interesting things. Working as a group, I think the most difficult thing was making the others also notice what you have noticed, because when one wanted to make a picture of someone walking by, we had to call to each other and also run after the people we wanted to photograph at the same time. Another issue was to get information from the people. We managed it as a group because as one asked questions, the other was taking pictures. I wonder how I would manage both taking a picture and getting information if I was all by myself. We chose these two photos because the bear picture had a good story and the picture was good as well, and we preferred the accordion player story to some other pictures we had taken. I think our evaluation was primarily based on the story behind the photo and secondarily on the quality of the photo. We had to struggle with the captions a bit, because we wanted it to be short but informative, and we tried to find the best expressions in English.
Ezgi