Hey all,
Was surfing The New York Times online right now and came across one photographer’s photo collection of New York at nighttime (“Scenes from the Night Shift“) — some really unique perspectives and lots of interesting nighttime lighting to be seen here. Enjoy!
<3, shrestha
NEWS PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
Tuesday, March 22,2010 Feature Photo: “Proactive Porcelain”
Mordechai Treiger/DP Staff Photographer
This week’s news photo of the week is actually two photos which were presented in a package as a feature photo, and serve as an excellent example of how to approach a photo assignment. By photographing both the main attraction (the toilet) and the number of students present (top photo), Mordechai gave context to an event with two very different angles that presented a more comprehensive and true-to-life portrayal of the event. The first photo really portrays a depth to the scene, conveying how many people were at the event and what they were doing, while still having a point of focus (the girl with the water bottles in the foreground). The second photo captures a really quirky and interesting event with great composition. It’s always good to get as many angles as possible, whether you’re approaching your subjects from above, below, at eye level, and horizontally/vertically. Some of the greatest news photos are able to give both context and a unique/quirky main attraction in the same frame, but for situations like this, taking multiple images of the entire scene is a great idea – you might even get the chance to have countless photos published in an online slideshow!
SPORTS PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
Monday, March 22, 2010: Four up, four down for Quakers
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Sathvik Ganesan/DP Staff Photographer
This week’s sports photo is another great action shot that includes a player interacting with the ball (hint hint: player + emotional face + dynamic composition + ball = awesome action photo!) The expression that Sathvik captured on this player’s face is full of emotion and focused on the action, and the composition makes me feel like I’m about to catch the ball (or more likely, knowing my hand-eye coordination skills, get hit in the face). Baseball can be challenging because there are limited moments of action, so remember to keep your camera on the Continuous-Low or Continuous-High shooting mode (located on the left-hand wheel on top of the camera: press down the little button and turn the base dial), so that when something does happen, you’re ready to fire off multiple frames in succession in order to get money shots like this one.
So, most of the time when you shoot an assignment, you can only shoot with natural light that’s in the room. And that’s great, shooting with natural light is simpler, less intrusive, and often gets you a more “real” looking feel to your images. But sometimes, it’s too dark to just shoot naturally. Sometimes, you want to be able to give your images a little bit more flare. Sometimes, as Lady Gaga puts it, you’re “ready for those flashing lights.”
Fortunately, there’s the Strobist, the pseudonymn of former Baltimore Sun photographer, David Hobby.
Photographer/Blogger David Hobby a.k.a. "The Strobist"
The blog is devoted entirely to discussing flash, particularly in regard to editorial photography and photojournalism. Much of the main blog is overwhelmingly nerdy, but in addition to the daily postings, Lighting 101 will fill you on everything you could possibly want to know about on and off camera flash, and then some.
Welcome back from Spring Break, photogs! I hope that you are all well-rested and ready to jump back into DP Photo!
The 126 photo department is determined to bring the DP Photo Blog back to stardom, and we’re starting with weekly awards for Photo of the Week for both sports & news.
Without further ado:
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE WEEK:
Friday, March 19, 2010 with ‘D’-ing it up in the dog pound
Allen Ruan/DP Staff Photographer
This photograph, taken during Allen’s first lacrosse assignment, is an excellently composed shot that captures a crucial moment in the women’s game against St. Joseph’s (although the photo was used as a preview for the game versus Yale). The photo frames the player within the goal, while emphasizing the ball hovering right above the stick through a contrasting darker background. Allen also captured a great expression on the player’s face as she focuses on catching the ball.
NEWS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE WEEK:
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 with Kicking off 14 Arabian Nights
Heidi Scherz/DP Staff Photographer
Heidi Scherz, who doubles as the current master of the Copy Department, is someone who’s exploring the different areas of the DP – we encourage all photographers to explore writing, copy, design, etc, and vice versa! This photo is a great example of how to turn a potentially boring event into an interestingly framed photo. By including the elements of the students, the materials, and someone explaining at the table, this photo speaks to what was actually happening during this event. The different textures of the student’s clothing and the materials on the table make this photo compelling even in black and white, and the diagonal framing draws the reader’s eye into the photo. It’s also great that she managed to show the faces of the three main people in the photo – that’s a good rule to start with for any engaging photo.
Congratulations to Heidi & Allen! And remember, you have a chance every single week to get the honor of Photo of the Week, so keep shooting as often as possible! 
With love,
Your New Photo Manager
With the 2010 Winter Olympics starting to heat up, I thought some of the more sports-minded among you might find this piece interesting. It comes from the New York Times photography blog, Lens, and features the work of photographer Doug Mills.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/assignment-32/
Currently on assignment in Vancouver, Mills is tasked with capturing much of the fast paced action during the skiing events of the Olympics (this is his seventh Olympics) . In the attached video, Mills explains how preparation and awareness can make all the difference for an assignment. This means watching medal contenders practice, and keeping track of their particular nuances (which can translate to how they will compete later on).
These habits are good ones to pick up, especially while here at the DP. Next time you’re shooting a sports assignment, take a little extra time to find out standout players on both teams, watch them practice, or even talk to coaches or sports writers to find out who may be on a streak or who may be due for some action. For example, if you were shooting a Penn wrestling meet, knowing the three wrestlers who came back from suspension may be of benefit. Or if you’re shooting basketball, knowing that Jack Eggleston and Dan Monckton are good for dunks or knowing that Rob Belcore is good for stealing the ball can help you anticipate the action of the sport you are shooting.
Keep those things in mind, and give it a shot next time you’re on assignment.
With Snow-pocalypse 2010 wrapping up, I thought it might be good to showcase some of the awesome photos captured by several DP Photographers.
It is important to remember that, as DP Photographers, we are preserving historic moments through the photos we take. Years from now, when students and faculty look back on the snowstorms of 2010, they will most likely be looking at photos to jog their memories. (Fun fact : The winter of 2009-2010 is now the snowiest on record in Philadelphia, with 71.6 inches of total accumulation so far. More snow, though considerably less than we’ve been seeing lately, is expected this coming Tues/Wed).
Special thanks to Maanvi Singh, Michael Chien, Alex Remnick, Andrew Garnder, and Shrestha Singh for braving the elements and snapping some truly memorable shots.
Welcome to Exposure, the official photography blog for the Daily Pennsylvanian. We’ve revamped and revitalized our old blog, giving it a new look and a more interactive layout. Starting this week, the editors and associate editors in the department will begin posting regular updates on all things photography and media related. Expect to see helpful tutorials, eye-opening articles, regular photo critiques of your assignment photos, and our Photo of the Week winner.
Feel free to explore the new layout and features all you like, and if you have any comments, questions, requests, or feedback, feel free to send an email along.
We hope you enjoy what you see; expect tons more to follow soon!
Cheers,
Pete
Lens, the NY Times blog on photography and photojournalism, has a good recent post on authenticity and iconic imagery. The post doesn’t deal with digital imagery, instead focusing on photos that have become symbols of famous events or historical periods. Issues of authenticity predate digital photography.
Commencement at Penn in 1953 (check out the lady’s hat in on the bottom right, that’s fierce).
This happened a while ago, but I only just got around to playing around with it- Google and LIFE got togethter and now you can search their photo archives online right here.
Penn-Princeton 1952. And they mean it when they say -all- (even unpublished) photos are on there, I found this boo-boo in the Penn-Princeton set:
Marvelous shot indeed. But honestly, I couldn’t even imagine shooting this stuff without autofocus…
Lessons:
(1) Get inspired by vintage photoj
(2) Don’t be afraid to mess up (as long as you get the shot) (and can laugh about it later)
[edit: I just saw that Chris posted about the archive back in '08, but I'm keeping my post cause it's snarkier]
The folks over at the Digital Photography School have some awesome tutorials. Looking to brush up on my still, sI was sifting through some of their articles and I ran into this one about shooting baseball in particular. Baseball season has come and gone for Penn, but for those of you interested in the game (or whose moms have comissioned you to shoot your sibling’s little league games) here’s the link.
It’s got some extremely relevant advice like what settings to use (f/ 2.8), when to pay attention, who you should always get shots of (the starting pitcher), where and how to find the action, etc.
