First College PJ Assignment - Need Tips

Hey guys,

Have a few quick questions for you. I will be shooting a naturalization ceremony tomorrow for my first assignment. My paper says I must get names of people as long as there are less than 6 people. If it is a naturalization ceremony/presentation type thing, how will I get their names? They will probably announce them but how will I know spelling? Also, how can I easily link this info to each picture?

Also, I will have my T2i, 18-55MM kit lens and borrowing the photo editor's 55-250MM. It will be in an auditorium and I can't use flash so I'm guessing I'll have to use a high ISO, huh? Tv mode? Any idea what shutter speed I can get away with for a presentation type shoot?

Thanks guys!

Try actually talking to the people at the event. Photojournalism is more than just taking photos but also talking to the people that are in your photos as well as those in charge of the event.

Hmm, the kit lenses will make it tough due to the lack of wide/fast apertures...I've done OK indoors with shutter speeds as slow as, say, 1/80 of 1/60 at f/2.8 and ISO 800, but that's not dealing with a lot of movement. When dealing with moving people, I up the ISO to 1600 if needed to get a faster shutter speed. In a crunch I'll hit ISO 3200...

As to getting names, well, do the footwork! Talk to people ahead of time and make sure you get names that go along with photos!

If its just a presentation/ceremony, there won't be a lot of movement. Shoot in Av and leave the lens wide open. Shoot at a high ISO and don't worry about noise.

Talk to people and most importantly, find the person that handles the media. They'll be able to give you everyone's names, titles, etc. Other than that, if you take a guest's photo, you just ask them for their name.

You can talk to your editor about captioning and IPTC info.

Thanks for all the great responses!

I'm not sure why I said PJ it's actually just a photographer position but anyhow! My editor recommended Tv mode but I'm thinking Av wide open would be best as long as there is enough DOF.

Getting there early and talking to people is a good idea too. I'll definitely do that.

I actually have a T1i I'm trying to sell and my T2i I should go with both with the two lenses mounted on each haha just kidding.

The IPTC looks very interesting I was wondering how I would go about linking text with the photos. Thanks!

Well, I'm not sure what Staszek is specifically referring to -- the IPTC has a bunch of fields that the camera and other software can write info into, but by default I believe they are blank unless your camera has settings to enter certain things into. But you can have software that can enter things like captions, contact/copyright info, etc.

Now, Exif as a whole is another matter -- your camera does enter info for things like camera settings in your file exif data.

tonylong wrote in post #13248286
Well, I'm not sure what Staszek is specifically referring to -- the IPTC has a bunch of fields that the camera and other software can write info into, but by default I believe they are blank unless your camera has settings to enter certain things into. But you can have software that can enter things like captions, contact/copyright info, etc.

Now, Exif as a whole is another matter -- your camera does enter info for things like camera settings in your file exif data.

As a freelance PJ, there is a ton of info I fill out in the IPTC that agencies require, this includes keywords and cutlines.

Staszek wrote in post #13249006
As a freelance PJ, there is a ton of info I fill out in the IPTC that agencies require, this includes keywords and cutlines.

Ah, OK, that would make sense!

Exposure will be a major issue. I've done events for Habitat and dark skin colors present a problem that require a fair amount of post-processing so make sure you expose for details in the shadows (dark skin) so you can bring this out. Conversely, you don't want blown out highlights so it can be very tricky.

Well it went alright. Lots of other photographers and family members taking pictures so it was difficult getting good placement but it worked out. The lights on the stage were barely on so I was at ISO 1600 and 3200 most of the time unfortunately. Considering they'll be on newspaper they should come out ok, though.

Like you said KCMO, getting the perfect exposure was difficult but since it's not vital the pictures are perfect, this was a good first learning experience!

Thanks for all the advice guys