BY: Nick Ratzloff

Using the best photos  The photographer, design editor, and page section editor picks the best photos from the contact sheet.  Contact Sheet: Sheet of photos printed in a negative size.  Good photojournalism is about people which means the photos should include people.  Ex: When you look for pictures you look for you and your friends not random people.  Next, those people should be doing something constructive.  The best photograph is when people are not looking.  Action should be unusual  The more unusual the more attention you will get.

Working with the Layout  Make sure that the photo fits with the layout of the story.  Design the article around the strongest photos.  Horizontal photos wont fit in vertical spaces.  Redesigning the page is always easier than retaking a photo.  Photo editors always lobby, the better the photo fits with the story the harder he needs to lobby.

Cropping a Photo  Cropping: Removing unnecessary elements from the photo.  Two purposes:  One: Removing unneeded elements from the photo (Draws more attention to center)  Two: (BAD) Forcing a photograph to fit into a layout.  Ex: Vertical picture into a horizontal hole.  Maintain rule of thirds = don’t crop too close to the persons head or joints (ankles, knees, waist, wrist)  Rectangle = best photo shape 3 by 5

Preparing photos for the printer  Printing actual size of photo is time consuming so crop it.  Good photographers will crop the picture right after the photo is taken.  Proportion wheels and cropping devices make the process easier.  Before printed must be in halftone.  Halftone: Series of black-and-white (Color) dots so that it can be printed solely in black ink and still pick up more than 200 shaded of gray in the average photo.  Halftone can be done on the computer or marked on a photo.

 Always good to use a checklist!

THE END!!!!!