Editing Photos for Publication

http://www.ted.com/talks/becci_manson_re_touching_lives_through_photos.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/erik_johansson_impossible_photography.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/taryn_simon_photographs_secret_sites.html

ETHICS PROHIBIT US FROM USING PHOTOSHOP IN MOST CASES

Photoshop

SLIPPERY SLOPE

National Geographic magazine once moved the Great Pyramids for a cover.

In this National Geographic magazine cover story on Egypt by Gorden Gahen, the Great Pyramid of Giza was digitally moved to fit the magazine’s vertical format.

SLIPPERY SLOPE

Time magazine manipulated O.J. Simpson’s police mugshot in such a way that it made him look darker and more sinister.

Let’s remember your job, as a PJ:

1. Document life, capture intimate, storytelling moments in a subject’s life.

2. Your readers must believe that what they see is what actually happened. This is based on trust

that you haven’t altered the image in any substantive way, shape or form. This gives you power to inform, persuade, and even change

society3. You do not recreate situations, unless it’s for an

environmental portrait or illustration. You do not direct, alter, or “touch” existing situations.

However, tone, saturation and selective color are tools you need to know how to use.

Before

After

Tone Saturation Color

Corrections also allow you to change the contrast, brightness, and sharpness of your images.

Before

After

Contrast Brightness Sharpness

Background Removal allows you to quickly and easily remove backgrounds to isolate items in your image.

Focus on the Star of Your Photo

Then, by layering multiple objects on a different background, you can create dynamic layouts

Photojournalism

Photoshop offers convenience, speed and reliability to photos. But Photoshop can destroy the integrity or “believability” of a photo.You should err on the side of conservatism. Don’t change the color of the sky or erase an unsightly beer can.Don’t remove an offensive sign or gesture.Once you start, it becomes easier to rationalize a change here, an addition or subtraction there. But once you’ve slipped into unethical territory, the trust is broken and the photojournalism dies a little.

That being said, Photoshop increases the quality of reproduction and saves time. The only way to master Photoshop is to practice.

Photoshop 101

First, crop the photo so you don’t waste time or effort correcting areas of the photo that you will crop out later - I use the rectangular marquee tool and hold down the space bar to fine-tune the crop.

Next, go to Image then Adjustments and check the brightness and/or contrast.Check the levels, curves and exposure, color balance. (There are different schools of thought on which method is best. I like Curves and Selective Color. More on that in a second.)

Check the histogram and info – make sure the white is white, black is black, red is red

Check the Image size – must be 300 DPI in the resolution box in order to print/72 for web

- DPI = dots per inch

CurvesWith Curves, you can use the Black Eye Dropper to set the black point. You do this to make sure you have the blackest black you can get.

This black will have no detail, so don’t use it when you want a black with detail.

When you click on the black eye dropper, the frame around it turns black. Then, click on an area in the photo. The area will change to black..

Do this for the white areas as well where you want the whitest white.

Other tools: Lasso parts of the picture to select edit

Feather

Dodge and burn

Rubber stamp

MORE ON CROPPING AKA CUTTING THE FAT

By including too much in the picture, you risk distracting the reader from the main subject.By framing too tightly, you could leave out important elements. That’s why you have zoom lenses.

Crop the excess –There should be a reason for leaving in each area of the picture. No corner should remain “just because.”The rule is: Save the meat of the photo by cutting the fat. That being said, cropping can improve a picture by eliminating irritating details but mindless cropping can ruin the intent of the picture.- Sometimes a blank area in the picture balances the action area.

Leaving a little room on the print in front of a runner helps create the illusion that the athlete is moving across the picture.

- Some blank space in front of a profile portrait keeps the subject from looking as if he or she is peering off the edge of the print.

THE PRICE OF CROPPINGEnlarging only a very small portion of the original photo or blowing up a part of the final image MAGNIFIES any defect in the original picture.

Cropping, therefore, involves a tradeoff between poor quality but better composition. (Taking a one-inch square segment of an 8”x10” photo and printing it on a half-page spread might produce a perfectly composed picture that is too fuzzy for the viewer to appreciate.)

Generally, a good photojournalist will opt for a dramatic image at the expense of some sharpness and grain. It’s better to catch the reader’s attention with an exciting photo than to lose the reader with a technically sharp but dull image.

SIZING UP FOR IMPACTCropping the human body- don’t drop off parts of the body but, if you must, the crop should not fall on a joint like an elbow or knee.- If you crop off the head from the body, you should leave some

of the neck and shoulder so the head will have a platform to sit on.

- If you crop into the face of a person, don’t leave half an eye or just part of a mouth.

SIZING UP FOR IMPACTAs the size of the photo grows, so does the number of readersUnless the subject is sexy, then it doesn’t matter: think girls in bikinis. Picture size is not the only determinant for reader attention. When Size is Needed: - Drama – a one column headshot is so small that it

communicates almost nothing vs. with a four column head shot, you can see the whiskers on a man’s face or the color in a woman’s eyes.

- Detail – a long shot such as an aerial from a plan loses bits of detail if it’s compressed into one column. A large, oversized photo becomes fresh and exciting when magnified.

ACHIEVING CONTRAST WITH SIZEIn a layout, one photo usually dominates the spread.Dominance is achieved through size.The dominant picture seems large especially when it is played alongside considerably smaller images. If dominant and subordinate images are too close in size, they compete for the reader’s attention.

Printing some pictures small and the others big heightens the contrast between them, adding to the interest of the page.

It’s similar to how journalists decide what to put in the leadof a story.

PAIRING PICTURESSometimes one picture can summarize an event. Oftentimes, however, you need several photos. Pairing photos causes readers to look at the photos separately and then mentally combine them. Picture sequences are sometimes necessary to tell the whole story – beginning, middle and end of a person running, tripping and falling.Packaging pictures – a story on commuting by train. Don’t just get a single picture of commuters. Package pictures of the conductor inspecting the train, of passengers partying or relaxing on the train while others run to catch the next one. Give a complex vignette of the commuters’ lifestyle.

PICTURE PAIRS

Some photos, when played together, deliver a strong editorial message better than either could alone.

UNRELATED PICTURE PAIRING

Different words can have different meanings but, with pictures, different pictures can carry similar messages. This allows the reader to see the common elements in the different images. Visual homonyms – some words like “to” “two” “too” sound the same but carry comcpletely different meanings.Likewise, photos can look similar but carry dissimilar info: a photo of the Egyptian pyramids and a pile of oranges. Both are triangle shaped.

Some pairs can be entertaining, but because the pictures share no editorial relationship, the reader could be confused. So, be careful when pairing unrelated photos.