Photo Journalism? Opening Day shots

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

04/04/2006 12:18:25 AM · #1

I took my camera to the parade today, as Opening Day in Cincinnati is somewhat of a holiday. I've not been very comfortable with taking candids of people and thought this might be a good time to try and overcome that feeling a bit.

I'd like you opinion on how these shots convey the spirit of the day and event...would you consider them journalistic in nature? Do you think any of these would have been publishing worthy if I had been asked by someone to take photos? Thanks for your input.

Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Parade

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

04/04/2006 12:34:08 AM · #2

I have a few thoughts...

Is this a war protest? I'm a little confused about the event itself because of some of the photos you are showing here. In photojournalism, if you have an assignment, you don't normally want to deviate from that in the work you actually show. If I was an editor and I had sent you to cover the Cincy Reds opening day parade for what it is, I would think you, the photographer, had a personal agenda when I saw the protest photos. It's not a good idea to convey bias when in the journalism field. I know it's done all the time, but that still doesn't make it right.

The girl in the marching band who is wearing the C hat makes a great photo IMO. It DOES convey the 'assignment' nicely. If you wanted to be following journalism, you would have to collect the names of the people in the photos and where they are from.

bvoi

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

04/04/2006 12:39:29 AM · #3

Here are some of my favorites. Good contact with the subject and framed well for content. Too bad you didn't get off a real clean shot of the mayor, but still good content. It seems like you might need to take more frames of a given subject. A lot of the shots are almost there except there is an element that gets in the way. The pig for example is a great shot, but the red truck is blocking the face partially. Anyway, keep up the good work.

//www.pbase.com/jpochard/image/58172116
//www.pbase.com/jpochard/image/58172115
//www.pbase.com/jpochard/image/58172104
//www.pbase.com/jpochard/image/58172099

Message edited by author 2006-04-04 00:40:46.

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

04/04/2006 12:40:40 AM · #4

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

There were a few protestors around because George W. was in town to throw out the first pitch. The "Peas now" person was actually marching in the parade, but the other guy was just in the crowd.

Since I was not actually there "on assignment", some photos are just for my enjoyment for particular reasons (for instance my youngest LOVES dogs..so a bunch of dog pics)

Thanks for your comments John. I was actually thinking about some of your shots while trying to do some of these. I was also trying out the alservo focusing on my camera, which I had never used before.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

04/04/2006 12:54:23 AM · #5

Originally posted by jpochard:

I was also trying out the alservo focusing on my camera, which I had never used before.

I think you learned that it's not a good choice for stuff like this :)

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

04/04/2006 01:00:18 AM · #6

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

Originally posted by jpochard:
I was also trying out the alservo focusing on my camera, which I had never used before.

I think you learned that it's not a good choice for stuff like this :)

No? Why is that? Perhaps I misunderstood why it is used since I'm still new at this DSLR stuff. I thought it was useful when trying to focus on a moving object...such as in a parade? To my understanding, it "follows" the focused subject and adjusts to maintain focus even when the distance changes?

Were my shots out of focus? (well, I know a couple appear soft to me, but for the most part I thought they were pretty sharp.)

Would appreciate a followup on your thoughts.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

04/04/2006 01:03:44 AM · #7

AI Servo is useful for tracking moving subjects, but it works best when the subjects are moving quickly and either towards or away from you. In a daylight situation such as a parade, I believe the results would be better with normal AF.

04/04/2006 01:11:42 AM · #8

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

I'll have to try it out in some other situations. I have found that the one feature of the 10D that I dislike somewhat is the very small review screen. It is pretty useless when trying to determine if a photo is sharp. If I have time, I will zoom in on an area and check it out that way, but still not much help. Since I am still working on the consistancy of getting good, sharp shots in a timely manner, I thought Al Servo might be worth a shot.

Thanks so much for your imput! You do fantastic work.

04/04/2006 08:08:02 AM · #9

morning bump