Do you just call up the newspaper and say you have a photo or what?

[willg]

If i took a newsworthy photo, what is the best way to expose it to the newspaper? also, do they ask for prints or negatives/files?

[IndyJeff]

If i took a newsworthy photo, what is the best way to expose it to the newspaper? also, do they ask for prints or negatives/files?


As soon as possible. Also determine what they will pay, who will own the copyright and what size file you need to send them. They won't ask for a print, if it is film they may want a negative but be sure to include a damage/lost clause in your agreement. Be sure to have a written agreement that states they sign and return the document before publication.

[willg]

how can they decide whether to use the photo or not? could i email them a small version with a watermark?

[DaveG]

If i took a newsworthy photo, what is the best way to expose it to the newspaper? also, do they ask for prints or negatives/files?

You call the newspaper's newsroom and ask for the photo desk. Then you tell the editor about what you have. They will then tell you whether they are interested or not. If they've staffed it already they won't be interested unless you have a decisive moment of an incredibly important event.

Offer to email them a small jpeg for their inspection and have it ready to go. You can overprint it with "Copyright 2005 XXX: Inspection only" but the small size (60K or thereabouts) should do it anyway.

If it's not digital you can pretty much forget selling it to them unless you've gotten it developed at a one-hour lab and have scanned it already. I would say that by now there's not one single daily newspaper in North America that still can process C-41 film, so it'd be up to you. If it's black and white the odds of them buying it appoach zero. To sell a B&W shot in 2005 there better be a guy with a gun and a dead president nearby.

I should say that this photo must have some news value. A shot of a pretty sunset isn't going to do it. They won't want prints and they won't want negs. They will want a digital file of some sort.

Now you're on this site so I presume that you have a digital camera of at least a digital Rebel quality. That is more than enough for a daily newspaper. If they see your small shot & like it you can email them a much bigger one. Most paper's will have an FTP "mailbox' but sending a few shots is probably easier by email.

Don't worry about calling the paper with your shot. The worst thing that they can say is no. No. I just said it! Did it hurt? Sometimes they staff it, sometimes they don't have room and sometimes there's a moron at the other end of the phone. Sadly sometimes the image isn't very good. BUT CALL. IT CAN'T HURT.

A couple of years ago I was driving home and ended up in the middle of a police chase. I followed the RCMP and the bad guy until his truck's engine blew up. I got some shots of the cops pouncing on this guy and zipped home. I called one daily newspaper who said and I quote: "We got enough pictures." I called the other paper in town, they bought it and ran two shots one in colour as the main front page image and the other as the main shot on page three.

All I know is that if you do call they MIGHT buy it. But if you don't call they certainly won't.

[willg]

You call the newspaper's newsroom and ask for the photo desk. Then you tell the editor about what you have. They will then tell you whether they are interested or not. If they've staffed it already they won't be interested unless you have a decisive moment of an incredibly important event.

Offer to email them a small jpeg for their inspection and have it ready to go. You can overprint it with "Copyright 2005 XXX: Inspection only" but the small size (60K or thereabouts) should do it anyway.

If it's not digital you can pretty much forget selling it to them unless you've gotten it developed at a one-hour lab and have scanned it already. I would say that by now there's not one single daily newspaper in North America that still can process C-41 film, so it'd be up to you. If it's black and white the odds of them buying it appoach zero. To sell a B&W shot in 2005 there better be a guy with a gun and a dead president nearby.

I should say that this photo must have some news value. A shot of a pretty sunset isn't going to do it. They won't want prints and they won't want negs. They will want a digital file of some sort.

Now you're on this site so I presume that you have a digital camera of at least a digital Rebel quality. That is more than enough for a daily newspaper. If they see your small shot & like it you can email them a much bigger one. Most paper's will have an FTP "mailbox' but sending a few shots is probably easier by email.

Don't worry about calling the paper with your shot. The worst thing that they can say is no. No. I just said it! Did it hurt? Sometimes they staff it, sometimes they don't have room and sometimes there's a moron at the other end of the phone. Sadly sometimes the image isn't very good. BUT CALL. IT CAN'T HURT.

A couple of years ago I was driving home and ended up in the middle of a police chase. I followed the RCMP and the bad guy until his truck's engine blew up. I got some shots of the cops pouncing on this guy and zipped home. I called one daily newspaper who said and I quote: "We got enough pictures." I called the other paper in town, they bought it and ran two shots one in colour as the main front page image and the other as the main shot on page three.

All I know is that if you do call they MIGHT buy it. But if you don't call they certainly won't.

good advice..thanks...yeah i have a digital rebel...don't you think a point and shoot would be good enough for a newspaper though? even a 4mp because they dont print very high resolution

[DaveG]

good advice..thanks...yeah i have a digital rebel...don't you think a point and shoot would be good enough for a newspaper though? even a 4mp because they dont print very high resolution


An image that a newspaper is going to use has to be excellent. It should be indistinguisable from something that one of their staffers took with a 1D Mark II.

There is an off chance that a point and shoot camera might produce such a image but it's unlikely that someone with that kind of camera would have the compositional skill, the ability to choose a decisive moment and the technical abilities to get the photo right. The 4MP part of the P&S is pefectly OK for a newspaper. The lens' quality, focal length and speed probably won't be. The shuttterspeed that the P&S inflicts on the photographer may be too slow, and so forth. But Nikon sells (well tries to sell) that D2H, which is only a 4MP camera and except for newspapers it has no use at all.

I mean holding the camera out at arms length so they can see the full time video might be OK when the goal is pics of the kid's for grandma is one thing while having it on the front page of a newspaper is something else.

The content of the image is something else as well. Obviously if it's a once in a lifetime shot like a crashign airliner then technical imperfections are unimportant. But it's got to be an important photo. As I said above a pretty sunset won't do it.

[willg]

yeah all that makes sense i suppose...the speed of a slr can't be beat by any point and shoot...even the higher end ones like the coolpix 5700/8800

[Steve Parr]

To sell a B&W shot in 2005 there better be a guy with a gun and a dead president nearby.

That's gotta' be one of of the funniest things I've read in a long time!

Steve

[Avalonthas]

Many big city newspapers now have email addreses where people can submit there work with a phone # and if they like it they will call you asap with a price and arrange for the full version to be sent. They used to do this for both the Toronto Star and Toronto Sun here, im not sure if they still do as i havent submitted for a long time. Wether it is public too, i dont know... i will look for it if i still got it.

Also you dont have to just submit pics of the days event or on the spot kinda shot where u have to submit it asap before the news gets old. A profitable newspaper gig, is to get recent shots of politicians, celebrities, and other important people, so when they run a storey on this person, they will use that shot. They dont have to be regular full body or face shots, they can be shots of a politician yelling at another in the legislature or something else embarassing so when the paper runs a storey they can stick it in the add effect to there article. The picture itself doesnt neccessarily have to be from the same exact time, as long as it fits the theme of the article or fits the purpose if u know what i mean. They wont pay as much per photo, but you can submit alot more if ur good at it and they dont have any good/recent ones on file. My buddy has done this alot with City councillors and federal cabinet ministers and the Toronto Star paid him a descent amount. So look into this possibility to rather then just looking for hot events or hot on the spot news oppertunities.

[Avalonthas]

If you into the on the spot news type photos you can always pick up a cheap 150-200 police scanner and basically try to make it to the scene before other photographers do. Most people in the business make the money by getting there first and basically getting the photo to the paper first. Ive known freelance photographers who would buy a 300 dollar police/radio scanner and they would race to the scene, get some good shots 5 minutes on the scene max, and run to a net cafe, and upload them from his laptop with Wifi and basically beat any other photographer by a long shot as they might be at the scene for 30 minutes trying to get every possible angle. So theres alot of competition. If you happen to be at the right spot at the right time, then its a good little extra cash, but unless u can do it quick, its no way to make a living.

[DaveG]

If you into the on the spot news type photos you can always pick up a cheap 150-200 police scanner and basically try to make it to the scene before other photographers do. Most people in the business make the money by getting there first and basically getting the photo to the paper first. Ive known freelance photographers who would buy a 300 dollar police/radio scanner and they would race to the scene, get some good shots 5 minutes on the scene max, and run to a net cafe, and upload them from his laptop with Wifi and basically beat any other photographer by a long shot as they might be at the scene for 30 minutes trying to get every possible angle. So theres alot of competition. If you happen to be at the right spot at the right time, then its a good little extra cash, but unless u can do it quick, its no way to make a living.

Yeah except if the paper staffs it they won't buy anything. And they'd rather send THEIR photographer to a scene than possibly pay a freelancer for a better shot. Cheap trumps good at a paper about 99% of the time.