8 August 2011 - Week 3 Lecture

This is a good date, well it is a good month after all, but there is an extra 8 in the date (8-8-2011). Good omen for the day. It is quite late to write the blog now, but I decided to write week 3 now.

This week lecture is about reporting with pictures. Using pictures to tell stories has been around for a long time, pictures actually exist long before writing after all. It started from 15000 BC with cave painting to now, the digital manipulation. In 1860's first newspaper with pictures was published, the pictures were made using line drawings. Then, in 1879, "Stinway Hall" became the first published photo in newspaper, but the actual news photo was published in 1880, "Shanty Town". The photos on newspaper during this era were black and white until the breakthrough of colour photo on newspaper in 1936.

There are some aspects which need to be considered to take great photos: framing, focus, angle and point of view (POV), exposure or light, timing and editing, and capturing "the moment". To take great photos requires great practices especially on timing, when taking photo of moving objects, untrained skill can only root on luck, where the photo may come out before or after the moment, this also relate with capturing "the moment" point. Practices will help to know the shutter speed so we know when to press the shutter button.

Another important point is The Rule of Thirds. This rule is often use by photographers and art students. The Rule of Thirds divides a picture into 9 equal area using two horizontal and two vertical lines. The object should line up with these lines to make good composition, To put the focus object in the middle of the picture may overcrowd the people who look at it. While following this rule, will give those who look a room to breathe. An example of rule of thirds is below:

The left picturedoes not follow the rule while the right picture follows the rule

The picture on the right is better to be looked at even though both are the same scenery. Using the rule of thirds helps the picture to look more professional.