How Photography is a Tool of PR?
How Photography is a Tool of PR?
Photography is all about communication.
Photograph is an
undeniably powerful medium. Free from the constraints of language, and
harnessing the unique qualities of a single moment frozen in time. The reason
you click a photo is because you want to share the best parts of your
environment with others. Communicating a scene or an object is similar to
communicating in writing and It makes more sense if there is an order i.e. in a
visual way a photographer has to arrange the subjects / objects in a scene so
that they make sense, and provoke emotions.
In photography, one of the most important communications is
that of emotion. You want the viewer to share your feeling of when you were
there. This basically comes down to being able to compose, expose and focus
while being in the right place at the right time. For this you have to
practice, composition, focus and exposure and be at many different places at
different times until you get the right combination.
Photography gets closer to art when the photographer communicates
well and that’s why photography is a powerful tool to communicate so much
without uttering a single word.
How a Photograph Communicates?
There are few technique and strategies by which a photo
conveys meaning:
Angle: The vantage point or direction from which the artist photographs the
subject.
Framing: By deciding where the edges of the image will be, the photograph
determines what you will (and will not) see—whether the subject will fill the
frame and appear “close up” or will be seen at a distance as part of a larger
context.
Light: Light is one of the most powerful tools of the photographer. The
manipulation of light and dark and the sharpness of contrast between light and
dark contribute to the mood a photograph conveys.
Focus: The clarity or blurriness of the image. The range between the nearest and
farthest things that appear in clear focus defines the photograph’s depth of
field.
Composition: What is in the foreground? Are the elements arranged in any
particular pattern? Do you see any geometric shapes? Are the lines of the
photograph straight or curving, thick or thin? Do any visual elements repeat?
Is the visual weight of the photograph balanced: on each side? top to bottom?
Diagonally?
By using the above mentioned techniques, a photograph
can be interpreted and understood by anyone.
What is Photo
Journalism?
Journalism is based on the medium of words whereas Photography
is based on the medium of pictures. Photo journalism (the collecting, editing,
and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) is the
combination of verbal and visual mediums of communication. In photo journalism,
we use words and pictures to describe the whole event which is covered by the
journalists and in photo journalism, the photographer has to click a picture
which is strong and can summarize the whole event in one picture.
A news photographer is very different from a
regular photographer. Photo journalists are well informed and knowledgeable
about events happening right outside their homes. They deliver news in
a creative format that is not only informative, but also entertaining. Some
experts compare photographic journalism to the oriental concept on unity in
which the ‘YIN and the YANG’ the two indivisible elements which make the whole.
In Taoism, a Chinese philosophy, there are two fundamental
principles: one negative, passive, earthy, dark, cold, wet and feminine –YIN
and the other positive, bright, heavenly, active, dry, hot and masculine –
YANG. Yin and Yang complement each other perfectly and are the balance of
intellect and emotions, so is the Photo Journalism.
What are the different types of Photo
Journalism?
There are different aspects in photo journalism. A photo
journalist cover latest news, accidents, politics, terrorism news events, social
injustice issues and many more. Feature
photo journalism involves in human interest activities like art
exhibitions, fairs, fashion events, movies, business events, science and
technology events etc. It is a creative job for photographers they can use
diffident photographic technique to connect audience.
Sports photo journalism is very interesting field which
is all about losses and wins. The sport photo journalist attend different
games, leagues, event where sports personalities are presented.
Environmental portraits capture the essence of subject. It portraits a newsworthy figure like
construction workers soldiers etc. in their natural setting. Through a portrait
it is easy to understand about the subject matter of the photo.
War photo journalism is the earliest form of
photojournalism, where photojournalists have covered wars and sent photos from
the centre of action. We see a lot of photographs in newspapers and magazines,
of conflicts within the country such a terrorist activity or a riot where the
photographer is in a dangerous situation and yet he manages to send us
pictures, risking his life.
Celebrity photo journalism covers film stars and other famous
personalities, who have become a major
part of news coverage as most people want to peep into the lives of the rich
and famous. There are photojournalists who specialize in this kind of
photography only are also called paparazzi, an Italian tag for such
photographers.
Travel photo journalism involves the documentation of an area’s landscape, people,
cultures, customs and history. Travel photographs are taken by professionals or
even amateurs. Photographs taken by amateurs are shared online with friends,
relatives etc. through photo sharing websites.
Wildlife photo journalism is regarded as one of the more challenging forms of
photojournalism. Advanced photographic equipment as well as a good knowledge of
the animal’s behavior as well as the terrain is needed to take wildlife
photographs.
Spot news photojournalism means covering events that make day to day news, like
political events, crime, accidents etc. This is in fact the most common type of
photojournalism and is most demanding for a photojournalist.
Photo journalism works within the same ethical approaches to
objectivity that are applied by other journalists. What to shoot, how to frame
and how to edit are constant considerations. Photographing news for an
assignment is one of the most ethical problems photographers face. Photo
journalists have a moral responsibility to decide what pictures to take, what
picture to stage, and what pictures to show the public.
Photo journalism is a unique and powerful form of visual
storytelling originally created for print magazines and newspapers but has now
morphed into multimedia and even documentary filmmaking. Through the internet,
apps and the mobile device explosion, photo journalism can now reach audiences
never before imagined with immediate impact, while continuing to write our
visual history and form our collective memories.
What is P
R Photography and how we can use
Photographs in PR Practice?
PR Photography is at the heart of shaping and maintaining a
positive public image of an organization and is an essential part of its
success. The public, or anyone that will form an opinion about an organization,
needs to be constantly communicated to through traditional media or the social
media platforms i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
PR photographs are candid pictures taken before, during, and
after an event. PR Photographers have more flexibility and artistic discretion
when taking images to be used as a tool for PR. They explore the creative side
of the photography to help capture the true spirit and emotion of the event. I
read somewhere that a picture is worth a thousand words. Often, photographs in
editorial coverage carry more weight than the words written in the release
itself.
PR professionals promote their clients through editorial
coverage. Their stories can appear on websites, in magazines or on TV. Their
goal is to make their clients seem trustworthy and honest, as well as
presenting their successes and achievements. But what makes these stories look
even greater is the addition of an image that represents their clients in its
righteous way.
Remember that without a great image, there is
no story. Often, a story does not even reach publication due to the lack of
right illustration or one that is of poor resolution. The illustration of a
story is the first thing the audience sees. This can often determine whether
they decide to continue reading the publication or flip past it.
Organizations that aim at promoting their products and
services successfully understand the significance of photography during this
process. They invest in hiring those photographers, who understands the PR angle
of the photograph, to receive more coverage and visibility on the market.
Being a PR professional, remember that the press release
should include an outstanding photograph and a well thought out, articulate
caption to capture the attention of the reader. Photographs tell stories and
they also provide the eyes with a rest in between copy. Readers first notice
the photograph, then the headline, and if these elements interest them, they’ll
continue to read the article. If the photo is below standard, the chances are
the article won’t be read.
Reading a long article can sometimes take a lot of time and,
for some people it can be boring, especially compared to looking at a
photograph and reading a caption. Research has proved that people generally
have a powerful reaction to photographs; and the more impressive the
photograph, the more emotive the response – even though the reaction is mostly
subconscious. According to a research, just by adding a photograph to a press
release will get you 14% more hits and that’s a lot of eyes.
What is News Photo and Photo Feature?
Photographs can greatly support news headlines in print and
electronic media as well as feature stories. The photograph serves as a
definition for words. No two people imagine identical photographs through words
alone. Groups of words rarely
cause similar mental images in
everyone. Different people see
different photographs in their mental
interpretations of verbal descriptions of
a given scene based on their own
experiences and narratives. But from a photograph,
everyone gets the same mental picture.
News Photo
News photographs also have news elements and those elements
are - immediacy, proximity, consequence, prominence, suspense,
oddity, conflict, sex, emotion and progress. These elements are
essential for successful photo journalism. One can easily judge the
newsworthiness of a photograph by the degree to which these elements are
present. The newsworthiness of a photograph, like that of
an event, depends on the strength of intensity of
the news element it contains.
Nearly all news photography is classified into two
categories: Spot and Feature News. This
applies to sports as well as any other type of newsworthy activity. Since the
spot news photograph achieves a dramatic
quality, the unrehearsed action is obvious
to the reader. Feature photograph, on
the other hand, consists of
elements that allow it to tell its story with a brief cutline, or on many
occasions, without a cutline.
In spot news unrehearsed action, control
over the kind of photograph a photographer will get is somewhat limited by the
situation. A photograph without action, regardless of
the prominence of the personality, is not
in itself a storytelling photograph. The successful and
usable news photograph has action and impact.
Photo
Feature
Photo feature or feature photograph is one of three major
categories of work captured by working news photographers. The other two major
categories are of course news and sports. There are almost as many definitions
of a feature photograph as there are photographers involved in the genre.
However, a feature photograph might be described as a news image that
supplements the headline stories - one that has no compelling reason to run but
which provides further in-depth cover for news or recent-news story.
When an important person or significant event has recently
been in the headline news, an editor may decide to run a feature article based
upon the background to the original story. A feature photographer might
therefore seek to show a particular person at home in their family environment,
perhaps talking about their lives and how events led to their appearance in the
news headlines. The stories told in this way may not be of particular
importance individually, but cumulatively they portray our culture. They may
also add a positive side to stories that balances predominantly negative news.
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