Photojournalism, the Reporting Method of Shooting

for any camera
This series explores "reporting" — the opposite of "creating" a studio photo, where you can control every aspect of the image. When going out to shoot an event or situation, you often can only control a few things: focal length, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, and — sometimes — angle of view and framing. But you have no control over lighting or placement of subjects. And you can't ask people to move this way or that. So you have to look for what you CAN get, given the limitations of the situation.

Nicole was giving a piano lesson to Victor. I modified nothing about the situation. I told them to ignore me. My only variables were where I put myself, what lenses I used, aperture, shutter speed, and how I framed and focused. (When you list what you DO control, the list is still pretty powerful.)

Bottom Line: Even when you have very little control over the situation you can still take good pictures.

at the piano
closer
looking up
foreground - background
catching a highlight
into the light
finding an angle
a glimpse
at the piano
closer
looking up
foreground - background
catching a highlight
into the light
finding an angle
a glimpse
at the piano
closer
looking up
foreground - background
catching a highlight
into the light
finding an angle
a glimpse
Left
Right

A reflection — I noticed the shiny surface of the piano front and hunkered down with a very wide angle lens.

16mm, 16-35 zoom, f2.8, 1/30, ISO800

Want to see more reflections?

In the same spot as photo 1, I wanted to frame Nicole inside Victor and isolate her by focus, letting the window light put a nice highlight line on her cheek.

115mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

Still on the floor where I shot photo 1, I saw I could capture Nicole looking at her student.

115mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

I wanted to get how Nicole put her chin on one finger, but it needed the context of the lesson - or it looked like a woman poking her chin with a finger. Had to compensate toward the bright side to keep the window from taking over the light reading and makin the whole shot too dark.

70mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

1/15f4.5 120mm 70-300 zoom ISO 800

I just wanted Nicole with the blue window light versus the warm tungsten room light. But pretty dark — I had to go to 1/15. Thanks to Canon for the image stabilization.

From across the piano I decided to challenge the bright desk lamp — to shoot right through it, along with shooting through the curved music stand. Shooting through things give the photos a bit of a voyeuristic quality — as if I sneaked in and took the photo without asking.

70mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/20, ISO 1600

Nicole as the thoughtful teacher. I shot from behind Victor where I could isolate Nicole against the wall.

100mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

Here I decided to get artsy and focus (literally) on the possibly bored hand of the teacher, and let the student go out of focus.

This photo probably works best as part of a sequence; alone it doesn't say enough about what is going on.

65mm, 24-105 zoom, f4, 1/20, ISO 1600

A reflection — I noticed the shiny surface of the piano front and hunkered down with a very wide angle lens.

16mm, 16-35 zoom, f2.8, 1/30, ISO800

Want to see more reflections?

In the same spot as photo 1, I wanted to frame Nicole inside Victor and isolate her by focus, letting the window light put a nice highlight line on her cheek.

115mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

Still on the floor where I shot photo 1, I saw I could capture Nicole looking at her student.

115mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

I wanted to get how Nicole put her chin on one finger, but it needed the context of the lesson - or it looked like a woman poking her chin with a finger. Had to compensate toward the bright side to keep the window from taking over the light reading and makin the whole shot too dark.

70mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

1/15f4.5 120mm 70-300 zoom ISO 800

I just wanted Nicole with the blue window light versus the warm tungsten room light. But pretty dark — I had to go to 1/15. Thanks to Canon for the image stabilization.

From across the piano I decided to challenge the bright desk lamp — to shoot right through it, along with shooting through the curved music stand. Shooting through things give the photos a bit of a voyeuristic quality — as if I sneaked in and took the photo without asking.

70mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/20, ISO 1600

Nicole as the thoughtful teacher. I shot from behind Victor where I could isolate Nicole against the wall.

100mm, 70-300 zoom, f4.5, 1/45, ISO 1600

Here I decided to get artsy and focus (literally) on the possibly bored hand of the teacher, and let the student go out of focus.

This photo probably works best as part of a sequence; alone it doesn't say enough about what is going on.

65mm, 24-105 zoom, f4, 1/20, ISO 1600