No. 8: Dealing with photographs
Having good photographs in your newspaper is critical. Readers appreciate good photography probably more than they appreciate good reporting and writing. In a sense, good writing is invisible — readers notice only bad writing. But they definitely notice good photos.
Here is a list of things to do or consider when dealing with photographs. They don’t deal with HOW TO GET and KEEP a good photojournalist. That’s up to you and your budget!
1. Make sure the photographer understands the focus of the story as well as the reporter does. Sometimes we give detailed assignment instructions to the reporter and then just tell the photojournalists where and when to show up. Be sure you begin to coordinate story and photo at the assignment stage.
2. Good planning will help you avoid the “grip-and-grin” photo, in which people pretty much stand and look at the lens, sometimes shaking hands as one gives something to the other. As with cliches, avoid them like the plague! Put your subjects into the context of why you are out there in the first place. Think “environmental portraits.”
3. When the photo hits your computer, crop it more tightly and run it one column bigger than your initial inclination — if the quality can hold the size. People tend to run photos too small.
4. Use 2-picture packages whenever possible. One photo should be played large and show action or emotion. One photo should be played smaller. Often it is an overview of the event or a mug shot. It can even be a map or information graphic. Some people are tempted to run the “overview” as the large photo and the “emotion” or face shot as the small one because of the “scale” of the content. Always play emotion and faces big.
5. Make sure no face is smaller than a dime. Half-column mugs are fine, but no smaller!
6. When selecting photos, ask yourself: does this give me a sense of place? Don’t always choose the tightly cropped portrait shot if you have only one photo to go with (this is the beauty of planning for a 2-picture package — you get both). Sometimes the close-up alone looks as if it could have been shot anywhere, whereas a longer view might lend itself to the story better, e.g., a story about overcrowding at local dormitories.
7. Sometimes you have to include “fairness” as you choose photos. For instance, a colleague at a large newspaper recently had to choose between two photos of John McCain and Barack Obama. One, the better photo of the two overall, had McCain slightly out of focus in the background and the other was a less dynamic photo of the two speaking with each other. He went with the latter because they thought putting in McCain slightly out of focus would send the wrong message. Pay attention to sound editorial guidelines as you choose your photos.
8. Finally, do some “pixel peeping.” Make sure you look over the entire photo at 100% before you reduce it for the paper or website. It allows you to look at potentially questionable material, such as an inappropriate gesture in the background of a great shot at a sporting event. Pixel peeping an auto accident photo might help you avoid printing a gruesome detail missed when the photo was small on your screen. It’s much easier looking for a different photo than fielding a hundred angry phone calls from angry or upset readers.