ALL OF THE USUAL RULES APPLY

by Dick Kraus

Staff Photographer
Newsday

A photographer once mentioned to me how great it must be to work as a news photographer. His reasoning was that we didn’t have to worry much about good photography since most of our work consisted of news “grab” shots.

When I tried to explain to him that all of the usual rules apply, even in spot news photography, he regarded me as though I had two heads. I tried to tell him some of the things that the Director of Photography at my paper told me when he hired me as a staffer, many years ago.

The first lesson was that the only reason for any image I make to be on the page of a newspaper is to capture the reader's attention and stop him/her from turning the page. That might get him/her to read the caption and then, hopefully, to read the story.

He went on to explain the misconception that many people have. They think that because newspaper reproduction is so bad many people feel that it isn’t important to try to introduce quality into the picture from the onset. The paper is printed on a stock that can only be regarded as a minimal improvement over toilet paper. The letter presses that were used in those days just crushed blobs of black ink onto the lousy newsprint and the resulting images were fuzzy and smeared, at best. But, my mentor explained, it was important to start out with a superior product from the very beginning so that the subsequent degradation of the image as the printing process continued, would at least leave something recognizable.

He also insisted that his staff observe all of the standard rules of good photography, starting with good composition, sharpness and good contrast, proper exposure and above all, relevance.

Most of the work we do is not in the spot news genre. So, we do have the luxury of looking around for a clean background. We can move about to locate good composition and we can try different focal length lenses to create interesting perspective. We can use tripods for long exposures and flash to light the scene. There is certainly no excuse for submitting inferior photos to our editors. Even during spot news situations, when the scene may be chaotic and ever changing before our eyes, an experienced pro will keep his/her eyes open for an angle that will portray the event in a more appealing fashion. Next time you are at a breaking news story, watch the other photographers in action. Most of them will clump together and shoot the same scene from the same angle and with the same focal length as their competition. But, there may be one or two mavericks who will shoot the “safe” scene and then scramble to look for a better angle.

While every situation might not lend itself to a well composed photograph, you can generally perk up the scene with some “foreground/background” imagery. Or you can try a low angle “deck” shot for a different perspective. Sometimes you can jazz up a dull photo with a long focal length lens, or maybe a very wide angle view. You can look for some interesting design element to introduce into your shot to liven it up. Ah yes, my friends. All of the usual rules apply.

I would invite you to look at some of the photos I am about to show you. They are pictures that I have taken over the years as a staff photographer for a daily newspaper. Many of the stories and subjects were about ordinary people in ordinary situations. When I arrived at the location, I would size up the situation and look for things to make my photos interesting. Sometimes I had props, sometimes I didn’t.

The photo of the deaf/blind man was about the teaching tools that were used to teach someone who cannot see nor hear how to use sign language that is sensed by touch rather than seen. There were plaster casts of each sign, complete with braille lettering. I arraigned the casts in an interesting composition and then used a dramatic lighting to emphasize the subject.

I did pretty much the same thing with the young girl who was born with a deformity and had to use the various prothesis's as she grew up and eventually was able to discard them.

”Spring Walk” was just an ordinary weather shot. Not much to work with, but I liked the gentle “S” curve that was part of the scene and worked it into my composition.

“Canon VIP” was for a story on the Vice President of Canon, USA, and there was a show case of old Canon cameras available so why not use it.

Dr. James Watson won a Nobel Prize winner for his discovery of the “double helix” of DNA. I needed a shot of him at his Cold Spring Harbor (NY) laboratory and there in the hall was a model of the double helix. The low angle made it more dramatic. Plus, it was the only way I could include all of it and still have the man large enough to be recognizable.

The photo in the cemetery was done in Normandy, France during our coverage of the 50th Anniversary of D Day. The subject was a former German soldier who had fought on Omaha Beach where American GI’s were landing. He went back to Omaha Beach every year and would go to the German Military Cemetery there to pay his respects to his fallen comrades. The cemetery was filled with these large Teutonic crosses. I shot the scene from many angles, but it wasn't until I put on a 15 mm lens and laid the camera on the ground right next to the grave markers, did the scene come to mean something.

Every photographer who ever had to photograph a CAT Scan has probably framed it through the opening in the device. I’ve done it many, many times. And while I hate to shoot the same angle over again, it just works so well. This was something called at PET Scan and I made it a little different by lighting the doctor in a little more dramatic fashion.

The usual rules DO apply. As news photographers we have two responsibilities.

1. Make a relevant photo that explains to the viewer what the story is all about.

2. Make that photo as interesting as possible to draw the reader's attention to it and the story.

If you can do that, then you have earned your daily bread.

Dick Kraus

April 10, 1998

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