Photojournalism is the process of story

telling using the medium of photography as your

main story telling device.
• While a journalist will use their pen and paper to tell stories,
a photojournalist will use their camera to capture the
visual representation of a story.

• Is more truthful representation of reality

• Looking at the good and bad side

Do you ever read the newspaper or read news
online? People who write the news stories that you
read are called journalists. A Photojournalist does
pretty much the same thing, except instead of
writing stories using words, tells stories using
images.
 Main functions of photos
• To attract attention
• To illustrate a point in the story
• To tell a story itself through the aid of
captions
How can a photo tell a story?

“Migrant Mother”

"Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother

of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo,
California."
Tips for getting the
perfect shot
Try to avoid posed pictures
Try to capture emotion
Get faces; not backs
Identify the star of the picture
Let your pictures tell a story
Use different angles
Avoid inanimate objects; focus on people
Don’t crowd the picture
Action is exciting; blurry is not
Use the rule of thirds
Leave out unnecessary details
Crop at eye level
Don’t cut off limbs at the joint
Captioning photos is an important part of
journalism. Captions must be accurate and
informative. In fact, most readers tend to look
at the photos, and then the captions.
Things to remember
when writing
a caption
• Check your facts- one of the most
important aspects of any type of
journalism is accuracy. If you use
incorrect info, the story or photo loses
credibility
• Describe something that isn’t obvious- if a photo
caption simply describes the visuals in the photo, it’s fairly
useless. If you have a photo of a sunset and simple caption
it as “sunset” you are not adding any additional info for the
reader. Instead describe details are not obvious, like the
location, the time of day or year or a specific event that is
taking place.
Pacific coast sunset, March 2016 from long beach,
Vancouver Island
• Do not start a caption with certain words- a caption
should not begin with the words “a” “an” or “the”.
These words are too basic and take up valuable
captioning room when they aren’t necessary.
A blue jay in the forest Blue jay flying through the boreal forest
• Identify the main people in the photo. If your photo
includes important people, identify who they are. If you
know their names, include them (unless they’ve asked to
remain anonymous). If you don’t know their names, you
might want to put a description of who they are instead (e.g.
“protesters on the streets of Washington, DC”).
Protesters on the streets of Washington, DC
• Be as specific as possible. This advice goes hand-and-
hand with being accurate. If you are unsure of where the
photo was taken, or who is in the photo, find out. Showing a
photo without any specific information may not be useful to
the reader, especially if you cannot inform them of the
context in which the photo was taken.
Governor Imee Marcos (right) and Mayor Sarah Duterte (left) PRIDES FOR
TRANSFORMED ILOCOS NORTE, SUCCESSFUL ILOCANOS ON SOPA 2015
That’s all <3