Photojournalism - Assignment Techniques

The initial concept was to capture all images using  Large Format with coloured Polaroid film. However, with several discussions with the tutorial staff at the university it was advised to use full frame 35mm digital equipment. This was due to the time frame and nature of my conceptual idea which included a fair bit of traveling over a short period of time. Also, advice was given to follow the Large Format principles  to obtain the look and feel of analogue prints for the finished project. The techniques applied for this assignment are as followed.

1. Full Frame Digital Camera
2. Tripod weighted down
3. Wide angle  prime lenses and Telephoto lens (dependent on composition)
4. Aperture set to F8 to F11 
5. Setting - Aperture priority
6. Focus point at a third of a way into frame (Hyper Focal Distance)
7. Mirror Lock-up
8. Camera release

These techniques enable the camera to be extremely stable reducing any camera shake. This also helped in the composing of images, to ensure all images were in focus from front to back of frame.  Researching the hyperfocal distance found a table that indicated what distance into the frame to focus, from the camera. This was dependent on focal length and f.stop and sensor size. Eg F8, focal length 20mm - focus 5.6ft into the frame from camera (full frame). The other rule applied was to focus a third of a way into frame, which is slightly less accurate but does achieved acceptable results. The settings was set to aperture priority as a small range of f.stops from F8 to Fll the speed was negated with the use of the weighted tripod.

All images were captured in colour but the option of converting them into grayscale was achieved  by capturing images with more variation in texture and tone.


All students had to present their initial images at a 20/20 session (20 images talked about for 20 seconds per image). At this presentation the images shown came straight from the camera with little or no  Lightroom manipulation. As the images were captured on two separate days with different weather conditions, and were of different subject matter they didn't quite fit together. The whole project's success depended on the creative treatment applied. Yet again with discussion with the tutorial staff, instruction was given on how to obtain the black and white film large format style. This technique involved converting the image into grayscale with the use of a customised preset. Then exporting into PS4 and converting to a PDS file, before exporting back into Lightroom. This enables the user to add extra creative treatment to the exported file.

By converting all images to grayscale it brought the project together and provided a common theme over varying subject matter.