Chapter Four - Working in the Digital Age

 Working in the Digital Age

               The Merriam-Webster’s definition of  blog is “a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style”.  Blogs are a great tool for people to post photos and posts about things that they like and are interested in. Blogs in my opinion had a huge impact on photojournalism. Blogs enabled people to post digital images online for large groups of people to see. Tim Hetherington talks about how digital photography helped mass communication. Blogs really helped mass communication because anyone can create a blog and post photos and news so people all over can see it. Digital photographs enabled blogs to be able to show images to large groups of people quickly.

Photo By: GOOGLE
Image Source: https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en

 Year: 2015

This is a photo of Blogger a popular place for people to create free blogs.

                Blogs are a quick way to get information online. Creating a blog is free and it is fairy simple to maintain. Since it is very easy to put pictures and news on a blog it really had a large impact on photojournalism. As professor Nordell said in his video “news papers a becoming nonexistent”. This is because it is easy for photojournalist to put there photographs on a blog in a quick fashion. They do not have to wait for their photo to be published in a news paper, almost instantaneously they can take a digital photo and then post it to their blog and along with a story. Most people do not want to wait until the news paper comes out in the morning to see the news when they go online and look at blog and get information in almost real time. Blogs along with other online media sites are really putting a damper on the printed news paper business. 

The rotogravure was a major breakthrough during the pre digital era. The definition of rotogravure is, “a printing system using a rotary press with intaglio cylinders, typically running at high speed and used for long print runs of magazines and stamps”.  Professor Nordell talks about how rotogravure was used in World War I news papers could print photos using these process. Professor Nordell talked about how on Sundays they used the process to create a section of photographs that became the most looked section of the paper. He also talked about how people payed lots of money to advertise their company in this section. This process revolutionized how photos could be shown to people. This process is, "Characterized by quality halftone reproductions printed at high speed on a variety of paper stock, gravure printing allowed the newspaper industry to reproduce photographs and art work on a mass scale on inexpensive newsprint paper".  It was only efficient to print lots of images because it cost a lot to do this process. It was only economically smart to use this process when lots of copies were being made.

Photo By: "Ryzon the perfect Baking Powder." New York Times
Image Source: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/rotogravures/rotoprocess.htmlhttp:

 Year:1916

This is an example of the things the rotogravure could produce.

                 In another video Professor Nordell talks about how they used to use blimps to get photos to New York after World War I.  Both the rotogravure and the creation of blogs were both huge accomplishments in there respective times. The rotogravure made it possible to print large numbers of photographs to get out to people in news papers. This was huge in mass communication. While the creation of the blog was just as big of an accomplishment. The blog made it possible to post digital images so that people can view and comment on others photos and ideas. Blogs make it possible to post things for free. It also can get photos to large masses of people quickly and easily. Photojournalists do not have to wait for anything they can just tale a photo then post it to there blog for everyone to see. Both of these accomplishments were very instrumental to mass communication and photojournalism.

Chapter Three: The Art of Photojounalism

 Photo By: The Advanced Press
Image Source: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/30/houdini-conan-doyle-sandford-review
Year Created: 1899


 1.Contrast Appropriate-

The contrast is high in this photo, there are a lot of dark and light areas. One side of his face is brighter than the other. I do not feel like the contrast really affects the feeling or mood of the image. The light and dark areas caught my eye the second I looked at the photo.


2. Obvious main subject

The obvious main subject of the photo is Harry Houdini.  He is in the center of the photo and takes up almost the entire photo. Harry (the main subject) is in the middle and stretches from the top edge to the bottom edge. Nothing would happen to the image if certain things were taken out unless Harry was taken out and then it would be a photo of a black background.



3. Is the Image black and white or color

The image is black and white. The image is black and white because there was no color photo’s when this photo was taken. The photographer did not have a choice to make the photo color or not because color was not an option. This is a very cool black and white photo.


4. Why did I choose this photo?

I picked this photo because it caught my eye the second I looked at it. It is really cool how he is chained up like that. The amazing thing is how he gets out of the restraints. While looking at the photo I am trying to figure out how he gets out of all that.

Photo By: George Burke
Image Source: http://www.legendaryauctions.com/babe_ruth_poses_with_boy_in_dugout_george_burke_or-lot153552.aspx
Year Created: 1929


1. In or out of focus-

This photo is in focus. I can tell because Babe Ruth and the ball boy look really clear. The picture is really nice and you can see Babe and the ball boy perfectly. The two of them are clear and everything behind them is a little blurry but it makes the two of them look even clearer.

2. Keep It Simple-

The photo is very simple. It is of Babe Ruth one of the best baseball players of all time and a ball boy. This photo is very simple it shows the ball boys arm around Babe and them appearing to be watching the game. This is a really cool simple photo.

3. Depth of field-

I think that the right amount of area is in focus. The image uses shallow depth of field. This is because Babe and the bat boy are in perfect focus and the fans in the background are blurry. This directs my attention directly to the two of them.

4. Why did I choose the image?

I chose this image because it was a really nice photo of Babe Ruth. This photo showed a different side of Babe that normally you would not see in photos.  This photo showed his softer side and how he really cared for his fans. It must have been a great experience for that ball boy to get a picture with a player who would go on to be arguably the best of all time.

Photo By: Bill Smith
Image Source: http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Jordan-Famous-Vintage-Sports/dp/B0045FUSW6
Year Created: 1988


What feelings does the image create? 

This photo is a great photo. This photo is really inspiring. It inspires me because Jordan changed the game of basketball with his crazy dunks and ability to jump to the moon (depicted in the photo). He worked hard and was able to do something that not many people before him even new could be done in basketball. This inspires me to be the best I can and work hard.


2. Subjects expression

Jordan looks focused and serious. This is not a posed photo is a photo of him about to dunk in a slam dunk contest. This is a candid photo of Jordan. His body language most definitely fits is facial expression. He looks ready to dunk the ball.



3. Exposure time

This was an action shot. The shutter speed was key to capture this photo perfectly. The fast shutter speed froze Jordan while he was about to dunk. The photo makes you feel like he is frozen in mid air but somehow I can almost see him moving still. 



4. Why did I choose this photo?

I chose this photo because it is so iconic. I am a big fan of sports and follow them closely. This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Michael Jordan is one of the greatest basketball players of all time and this showed some of his talent.

Pre-Digital Photographic Technology

               The Leica 35mm camera is very interesting. Theses cameras were made in Germany and came out in 1925. These cameras used small roles of 35mm film. With one roll of the 35mm film you could take 34-36 pictures per roll.  “The Leica 35mm was really the first successful commercial 35 mm camera.”  Oskar Barnack actually was the one who created the 35 mm photography and really helped changed photography.   With this camera you had to "load film cassettes" into the camera yourself manually.  Also when looking through the viewfinder it could not necessarily be what you where taking a photo of. This is because the viewfinder was not connected to the actual lens so framing the photo was very important.

Photo by: Sam Stockhamer
Photo of an accident I witnessed yesterday while I was passenger in another vehicle. I took this photo with my Iphone 5.



               The Leica 35mm camera really affected photojournalism and photojournalists. One way is that it made the photojournalists job a little easier. This is because the camera was small and easy to carry. Instead of always having to carry around a large bulky camera photojournalists had the option to carry a much smaller camera. It affected photojournalism because this small camera was able to take a nice clear photo which helped to evolve photojournalism.  Also since the camera was small and easy to hide it made it easier to get photos of things without people really noticing.

Photo By: Piotr, Motion VXF Team
Image Source: http://www.motionvfx.com/mblog/most_expensive_camera_ever,p1441.html



              It seems from my research and experiences that using a digital camera is way easier than using a Leica 35mm camera. The quality of a digital camera’s photo is a lot better than what the Leica 35mm camera can take. This is because of the tremendous amounts of new technology. The ability to electronically zoom and focus the photo makes the photos so much clearer. With a digital camera it is easier to see and print photo’s because you do not have to worry about film or developing film. Having digital images makes it easier to store and send them to other people. It was really easy for me to take a photo and post it on this blog it would have been nearly impossible to take this quality photo on a pre-digital camera.



             It is important to remember that without the Leica 35mm camera what we most likely would not have the technology we have today.  This is because that camera and that technology was a huge transformation of photojournalism. The design of that camera was the basis of lots of other cameras that came after it. Its unique small design revolutionized talking photos. It is important to remember how big of an impact this camera and design did for photojournalism, and how it is was a big building block for what we have today.