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03/27/2011 02:05:11 AM · #1 |
| I just witnessed (and photographed) one of the craziest things I've ever seen. A low speed vehicle chase ended outside of my house, and the suspect was apprehended, handcuffed, but then fled on foot, pursued by several police officers, only to be run down by a Porsche! I took photos of the fire department / ambulance workers treating him while he was lying under the car. When they took him away, I really wanted to know if he was okay, why he was being arrested in the first place, and how the story ended, which prompted me to think of contacting local newspapers... I figured it might make an interesting story. I have some pretty good photos to go along with it... Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience in selling a story and photos to a local newspaper? How much did you receive in payment? Any help / tips would be appreciated. Thanks! |
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03/27/2011 05:40:17 AM · #2 |
That's pretty much how my PJ career started, Bri! (see this thread and this follow up post).
Pick your best images, slightly (and i mean only slightly) process them (think basic/minimal editing + crop/rotate), and size them to 12" on the longest side and save them at 200dpi.
With whatever editing tool you're using, edit the IPTC info in the EXIF. Find the following fields (they may be on different tabs, depending on the tool. it's a lot easier in Lightroom, because it's all in one place; in Photoshop it's on different tabs in the File Info dialog window).
Document Title: Short and sweet
Author: this is you
Description: this is a detailed description of the photo. complete sentences telling who, what, when, where, why.
Description Writer: this is you
Copyright Status: copyrighted
Copyright Notice: Copyright © Briana Hunter 2011
Fill in all the IPTC Contact Info fields (name, address, phone number, etc)
Date Created: today
Location: where the photo was taken
City:
State:
Country:
Credit: this is how you want your name to appear under the photo
Source: this is you
Save as a jpg quality 10 and you're almost good to go. Next, size it down to 640px on the longest side and save it as a jpg quality 8 (use a different name by adding something like "-lores" before the ".jpg"). Contact the paper's news desk and tell them you have photos of a bizarre crime incident and ask them who you can email some low-res photos to, and let them know that you also have the high-res ready and available.
It's too late to get them in today's print edition, but they might run them online. Depending on the publication, they might pay anywhere from $0 to $150. It really depends on their policy and the uniqueness of the event (A guy here in Richmond was paid $25,000 for a photo of Frank Sinatra after collapsing from a heart attack on stage - it was the ONLY photo available to go with a worldwide major story.). You can ask how much they normally pay, but don't be surprised if they tell you they don't pay for contributed content.
Good luck!
whaddaya-know...I actually did a tutorial on the PJ prep-process a few years ago...
Message edited by author 2011-03-27 09:51:07. |
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03/27/2011 01:15:15 PM · #3 |
| I've done this numerous times...after a while the local newspapers just friended me on facebook and when they saw a photo they liked they contacted me. |
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03/27/2011 01:18:37 PM · #4 |
| Our local paper has a place online where users can submit photos to them. Of course you give them a RF agreement when doing so and they don't pay for them. I think they are deperate to stay in business. |
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03/27/2011 01:40:14 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by MinsoPhoto:
Our local paper has a place online where users can submit photos to them. Of course you give them a RF agreement when doing so and they don't pay for them. I think they are deperate to stay in business. |
If you're lucky, they might give you a subscription as payment.
But the byline is nice.
Disclosure Statement: I am a photographer for my local newspaper.
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03/27/2011 03:59:42 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by Skip:
With whatever editing tool you're using, edit the IPTC info in the EXIF. |
I'm a little confused about whether you mean to edit the IPTC info, the EXIF, or both -- they are separate entities. I prefer not to modify the latter, but have been able to permanently modify (one of) my camera's firmware to embed my name and a modified copyright/contact notice in the Owner_Name field of the EXIF (see sample below). I also use the relevant IPTC fields to enter copyright info.
Can anyone list what should go in the other IPTC fields, such as "Category" and some of the others, or is there a list of definitions somewhere?
Originally posted by Partial EXIF from a random photo:
File: - L:\Photos_Originals\11_Photos-Originals_2011\1103_Photos-Originals_Mar_2011\110326\IMG_8674.JPG
Make - Canon
Model - Canon PowerShot S3 IS
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 4.50
DateTimeOriginal - 2011:03:26 17:50:20
DateTimeDigitized - 2011:03:26 17:50:20
Image Number - 1058674
Owner Name - PMarcus©POB4653Berkeley,CA94704 |
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03/28/2011 05:36:28 PM · #7 |
Thanks for all the feedback Skip - appreciate it! I e-mailed a couple newspapers but haven't heard back yet, surprisingly... I thought it was an interesting story and am curious to know more about what happened. Here are a couple of the images:
Wonder if they're too graphic? |
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03/28/2011 05:56:24 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by Breeee123:
Wonder if they're too graphic? |
Not in the least, but that's only my opinion.
Ray |
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03/28/2011 05:59:50 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by Breeee123:
Thanks for all the feedback Skip - appreciate it! ...snip...
Wonder if they're too graphic? |
you're welcome, and no, not too graphic, no moreso than this...
@paul: i've mostly heard of the IPTC referred to as a subset of the EXIF, considering that the EXIF was there to begin with and the IPTC was added into the data header later on.
i have a hard copy of the AP guidelines, but it's not readily available. i found this AP guide online and it will give you some insight; just keep in mind, not all news agencies have the same requirements. |
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03/28/2011 11:26:07 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by Skip:
@paul: i've mostly heard of the IPTC referred to as a subset of the EXIF, considering that the EXIF was there to begin with and the IPTC was added into the data header later on. |
Thanks! My (very) old version of Photoshop can access the IPTC (File > File Info ...) fields, but not the EXIF. IrfanView sees them both, but acceses them with separate buttons.
That link was reasonably helpful in explaining what some of the more obscure fields are used for (by the AP) -- I have been using some of them a bit differently than what they say ... under "Source" I've been putting the camera model, not the originating organization ... :-(
I guess as long as I'm not submitting to the AP it doesn't matter too much, though most of the stock agencies do seem to parse the caption and keywords fields, and I know how to use those. :-) |
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03/29/2011 06:23:23 AM · #11 |
To clarify, the IPTC is a subset of image metadata that is editable; the EXIF is typically not editable.
It's been years since I've looked at IrfanView, so I don't know the extent of what EXIF data it extracts; Lightroom not only extracts the camera make, model, and serial number, but also the lens and focal length, as well as GPS data. The data *should* be there, captured when the image is created, depending on how old a digital camera is and whether or not its firmware is up to date. However, any and all of this data may be stripped out by various software editing programs.
Here's the wiki on the jpeg file format (which is pretty interesting, even if you don't understand the math).
Here's a link to the International Press Communications Council website; lots of interesting stuff there, if you're so inclined. |
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