Submitting to Local Newspaper

[snerd]

From what you posted of her requests, I had no trouble seeing that she wanted an unedited image. I know it's hard for most of us to want to send something sooc, I know it would be for me, but that's what she wanted. I think you're making it way too complicated. Next time, if there is one, take your basic shot and send it to her!

ETA: shoot in jpeg and use a customized picture type.

 

[tirediron]

Journalist are not allowed to modify picture in any way.. has to be straight out of camera or they cant publish it. no crop, no color balance, no nothing...
most just shoot in Jpeg on auto..

Photojournalists do what the editor/photo editor/person paying their bills tells them to do! Period. Granted, most PJ work is SOOC, but as already mentioned a small town weekly is not neccessarily going to have the same requirements as AP or Reuters.

 

[curtyoungblood]

Y'all have some serious misconceptions about how photojournalists work, specifically people who work at newspapers. A lot of terms are used very differently in the journalism world than they are understood by the general public and/or art world. No one is turning in photos SOOC for publication in the newspaper. Every image has some amount of exposure correction, color balancing, dodging, burning, sharpening, or cropping. This is called processing an image, and the goal is to make the image pop, and look good in the paper and on the screen. The process will not alter any information in the image or be so heavy handed as to change the general appearance of the scene.


The problem with the images that you submitted to the paper isn't that you used a photo editing software on them. The problem is that your editing makes the image look fake. Specifically, you brought the highlights down WAY too much and created an HDR look. A more appropriate technique would have been to dodge the crowd a little and add some contrast, and perhaps burn the trees and sky just a little bit.

 

[dennybeall]

Every news outlet has their own policy and we see from the posts here that there are significant differences. The basic rule is that changes can in no way change the story. Can't change time of day or remove people or things or add smoke (as one no longer employed photojournalist discovered) or anything that changes the story. Our local will crop if it doesn't change the story, he will lighten or darken a tad for clarity or blur up any gore but nothing that changes the story.

 

[tirediron]

Y'all have some serious misconceptions about how photojournalists work, specifically people who work at newspapers. A lot of terms are used very differently in the journalism world than they are understood by the general public and/or art world. No one is turning in photos SOOC for publication in the newspaper.

Fair point - what I meant was that the photographer is turning over his work SOOC to the photo desk for whatever enhancement is required. Granted, that won't be the case in smaller periodicals, but in the "old school" PJ work of Reuters, AP, United, etc.